The Bard

When Patrick Mills started drinking at The Bard, he dreamt of owning a place like it.

Then running a garden centre in Widnes, the 26-year-old would stop at the pub on Prescot's High Street as he made his way home to Huyton. The Bard made Patrick fall in love with micropubs and inspired him to swap selling top soil for cask ale.

Patrick's dad Eric Mills has long worked in the hospitality industry, so he decided to follow in his footsteps. Together, they have run Cask on Queens Drive in Stoneycroft since 2020.

The father and son team took over the micropub just as the pandemic hit but they were able to navigate lockdowns by selling takeaway beer. In May of this year, they bought The Coach House on Maryland Street in Liverpool city centre - widely acknowledged to be the city's smallest pub.

Their growing micropub empire now includes The Bard, found on High Street in Prescot.

Eric and Patrick took over the pub earlier this month and reopened it under their Cask umbrella last Friday (October 20). Like their other venues, it is compact and has a focus on real ale, though it does also sell keg craft beers and lager.

For Patrick, 26, owning The Bard is extra special. He spoke to the ECHO before he opened for business on Thursday as he took deliveries of casks of ale.

He said: "This is where it all started. My first business venture was a garden centre in Widnes and I used to make my way home coming through this way.

"This was a hotspot for good ale and from there the passion grew. With my dad being in the pub game his entire life, I wanted to dip my toe in with a small site.

"That's how we ended up with Cask but if this place had been on the market then, this would have been my first. It's nice to own the pub where I fell in love with pubs and local breweries.

"We have so much great beer to offer and the way that people are in these sorts of establishments is what I fell in love with."

The Shakespeare-inspired pub first opened in February 2018. It coincided with the start of construction of the Shakespeare North Playhouse, now found on Prospero Place.

Inside, the pub is decorated with Shakespeare quotes and regalia from local breweries. With low ceilings and rustic wooden furniture - including a church pew - it is cosy and feels perfect for an autumn evening's drinking. 

The Bard is also among a growing number of hospitality venues in Prescot. Patrick believes the Knowsley town is in the middle of a renaissance - one which he is happy to be part of.

He said: "Prescot was an area that we'd targeted for some time. There have been some fantastic developments with business, architecture, the theatre being absolutely stunning.

"We're getting people in before the theatre. We're going to try to work as closely with that as possible.

"We were offered this coming out of lockdown initially but it didn't quite work out. This is our second attempt at buying this site - second time lucky.

"We've come in - as we do with every site - we don't want to reinvent the wheel as such. We just try to build on the foundation it's got.

"It got to a rocky foundation here but we're confident that we can get it on par with our flagship of Cask in Stoneycroft and we've had tremendous feedback from customers.

"It's a home away from home for any of our customers coming. There's a group of lads who drink in all three sites - whether that's town or Cask on Queens Drive, last night they were here.

"It's definitely showing signs already that it's going to be a good venture.

"In Prescot there's the hustle and bustle going for you. We've got a new development going on opposite us, a new restaurant going in.

"It has got its massive pluses these days. The nightlife that goes on from the theatre to Pinion to us - we do get a nice trickle coming through."

Against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis which has hit the hospitality industry hard, Patrick is being daring in taking on another venture. He is not daunted, however, instead he is pleased to have the responsibility of ushering his favourite pub into a new era.

"A lot of people are running away from the idea of expansion with the industry being where it is", he said. "But we've not. It's either brave or stupid.

"We couldn't let this place go to waste and run the risk of someone coming in and ripping away the heart and soul of what it was - a cask ale pub. I've no doubt somebody would've done that if we hadn't stepped in.

"It could've been something that it wasn't and to take that away from the people in Knowsley as a whole would be a crime in my eyes.

"We want to keep spirits up in the place. It did lose its spark but we're trying to relight that and get the customers as passionate about that as we are - that's key to any pub."