ONE of the last times I set foot inside The Feathers on Bridge Street was to argue the toss about some glass-collecting money.

Reluctantly the then-landlord handed over the meagre sum owed and I was promptly barred from the premises.

But it was a much different hostelry which greeted your correspondent this week for a sneaky 40th birthday lunchtime treat.

Gone was the whiff of old-fashioned and forlorn boozer, and in its place were little alcoves, saw benches, a whisky menu to die for and hearty fare that went way beyond bags of pork scratchings and dry roasted.

And with a slightly different twist, effectively a couple of hundred yards up the main thoroughfare, the same pleasant surprise awaited at The Blue Bell, with my fellow diners more than sated with either the hunter’s chicken or minted lamb rack for tea.

Plenty of print is given over in the Guardian (even here) to what’s gone wrong with our evening economy, occasionally with some justification.

But as more than one seasoned observer has remarked, it’s heartening to see some of our old-established names fighting back.

Increasingly there are, with the likes of Nando’s, Café Carruso, Ask and the new Prezzo, more opportunities to dine out in the town centre.

The likes of Las Ramblas, Mr Lau’s, The White Hart and the Grill on the Square have also added style and substance to the Cultural Quarter. If the new Bank Street can extend that diversity of diversions, then actual grown-ups might return to our heartland streets once again.

  •  First signs of the steelworks for the new temporary market maintained Podium’s good humour this week.

Not before time – but the framework is a timely reminder that this portion of town should be seeing substantive progress sooner rather than later.

If you’re bobbing by to catch a glimpse of the operation for yourself, then take a sidestep into the market and treat yourself.

The food hall has always been the hub of the enterprise for me, now with added Latin American and Caribbean garnish (and they still stock Arden’s pies).

  •  Rewinding back to The Blue Bell, it’s hats off to the guy who turns out with his trowel and spade to fashion sand sculptures (often canine-related) for land-locked Warringtonians.

Not quite up there with the guy who does headstands in Bolton – but getting there.

n Another overhaul for St Elphin’s Park means the kids don’t even have to shin over the boundary wall to get their balls back any more.

But the removal of the brickworks on Salisbury Street does serve to open out the park to the whole estate, so fair’s fair.

However hopping over walls and scaling the fences of Willis Street and Manchester Road for mistimed shots used to keep the young footballers of Fairfield agile and nimble.

And playing on concrete doesn’t half strengthen your shins and knees. Roy Hodgson take note.

  •  One swallow does not a summer make – so giving the Wire the bird after a torrid spring was maybe premature.

Isolated with the refugees in the West Stand at the Select Security last Friday, the indefatigable Away Day Crew at least saw the first-half platform Warrington built on to stuff The Chemics.

Joe Westerman, one of the few redeemable features of the Hudds debacle, excelled again and Stefan Ratchford looked like a player reborn with the ball in hand or on the boot. And when you’ve got wild cards like Ben Jullien and Jordan Cox coming off the bench, the entertainment value remains high. All that remains now is to find a British bar in Brisbane showing the Pies game.