Cheers to Duke Street bar serving the best cocktails in St Helens!

The Duke Street bar, which opened its doors in May 2021 when Covid-19 restrictions eased, fought off tough competition from other pubs and bars to take the latest Best of 2023 title with Cinema Bar – last year’s Best Pub – coming a close second.

Each week, we will be searching for the best St Helens has to offer in different categories.

Hair by Alice Michelle took the first Best of 2023 title – Best for Hair in St Helens – and Blackburns is officially Best for Pies with Kreative Kirsty being crowned Best for Nails and The Brown Edge Pub is Best for Roast Dinner.

Voting for St Helens’ Best for Breakfast is currently taking place and we’re also looking for nominations in our latest search - Best for Fitness.

Cocktails on the menu at the Townhouse (Image: The Townhouse)

Next up was cocktails and as we toasted the best six cocktail places in St Helens, The Townhouse came out on top.

Bradley Garrity, from Windle, rebranded Bar 87, refurbishing the building into a quaint bar offering a variety of premium world beers, spirits, wines and cocktails, open Thursday to Sunday.

The 26-year-old worked for the previous owners at The Tapas Bar, which was the venue’s original name in 2012, doing weekend shifts around his studies.

Brad said: “I always knew I wanted to take the leap and make my own success of the bar with my own vision and identity.

“This is my first business and I’m so proud of everything we’ve achieved in the last two years.

“We’re located on a popular street for night life with several other venues, each with its own identity offering different drinking experiences for customers.

“I find the intimacy in our bar, due to it being quite small in size, enables me and my team to get to know our customers.”

The Townhouse opened its doors two years ago

So, what do the customers think about The Townhouse? What makes it the best place to sip a cocktail?

One review on their Facebook page said: “An amazing bar and I highly recommend the staff who are absolutely fab.

“The cocktails are unreal and not overly priced.”

The Townhouse offers a selection of cocktails from the classics to their own original creations, which change seasonally and often feature speciality themed cocktails that aren’t available on the standard menu.

A Bakewell Tart

There’s the much-loved Cherry Bakewell cocktail, that is served with a cake of the same name, the Bahamma Mamma, which features Malibu, Bacardi, pineapple, orange and gomme syrup, and a Strawberry Sling, which combines strawberry, elderflower and apple juice with cucumber, mint and lemon as well as gin and soda.

An array of cocktails covers all the spirits with a selection of premium gin, rum, whiskey and vodka-based drinks and also some spritz cocktails for the summer.

The best seller at this time of year is the raspberry blossom martini.

The popular raspberry blossom martini

Brad said: “I felt so proud to be shortlisted and recognised with some of the other great cocktail places in St Helens, who are all equally deserving of the recognition.

“It’s a tough industry at the moment so to be recognised is an achievement in itself and simply surviving in the current economy is a win every day.

“I was so shocked to hear that The Townhouse had won Best for Cocktails 2023.

“We celebrate two years since we opened this weekend and in some ways we’re still finding our feet, so to be voted the winner is amazing.

“It gives our confidence a huge boost and shows that what we’re doing is right and our vision is working.”

The Townhouse

He added: “I can’t thank our customers enough for their continued support over the past two years.

“We’re still meeting new customers each week and have become friends with so many of our regulars.

“Without them, we wouldn’t have come this far and we’re so grateful that they took the time to nominate us and then vote for us to win.”

For more details go to facebook.com/thetownhousebarsthelens