#256 The Poacher's Pocket, Gledrid, Shropshire : 1996 to 2018

Our first boating trip all the way up the Llangollen Canal was in 1996, although we'd gone as far as Whitchurch in 1981. Our first visit to The Poacher's Pocket was at lunchtime on Monday 26th August 1996.

This was the view from the canal side entrance to the pub. As I recall it was a pleasant pub and the first we'd come across in quite a few miles resulting in a very late lunch (we moored up at 2:25 pm!).

On our next trip along the Llangollen Canal, The Poacher's Pocket provided the ideal spot to rendezvous with our third crew member Andrew.

This was on the evening of Thursday 30th August 2007 and the pub was, remarkably, unchanged.

Our next visit was an Easter trip when we'd hired a boat from Chirk Marina and this was our final stop before handing the boat back in the morning.

This was on the evening of Monday 21st April 2014 and, for some reason, I'd decided to take a photo of the more attractive front of the pub (rather than provide a consistent view through the years!). Despite the change of perspective, there's no hiding the wholesale redevelopment and expansion of the pub into a substantial Marston's pub/restaurant. Even the name has been changed! After eating and a couple of pints we chose to leave and finish the session in the Bridge Inn, just a short(ish) stroll away.

Our most recent visit was a lunchtime stop on Friday 31st August 2018 on our way to Llangollen.

Pretty much unchanged from the previous visit, but this time I did take a shot from the canal side entrance which properly shows just how much the pub has been expanded.

#191 The Vine, Rugeley, Staffordshire : 1999 to 2015

Over the years, we've found Rugeley to be a bit of a desert for memorable pubs and so we've tended not to stop there as often as you'd expect. However, with the new boat being moored on the Trent & Mersey Canal just an hour's cruise away, this may change.

We discovered The Vine somewhat by accident at lunchtime on Tuesday 31st August 1999.

I have little recollection of what it was like inside, but I get the impression that it was more pleasant than some Rugeley pubs.

We've been back to Rugeley on several occasions since 1999, but it was only on a recent visit that we rediscovered The Vine.

This was on the evening of Monday 6th April 2015. It was Easter Monday and it had been quite a pleasant day. We'd been to a couple of the pubs in Rugeley and were looking for somewhere slightly different. At the time, I didn't realise that we'd been to The Vine previously.  As would be expected, the exterior is somewhat changed over the 16 years between visits!

It is now a 'community' pub and inside it is furnished in a fairly basic, non-descript style - probably because they didn't have thousands of pounds to lavish on it!

You can find out more about it in the Oficial Pub Guide including a brief history.

#103 Ye Olde Boot Inn, Chester : 1996 to 2012

If you want to find lots of 'Olde Worlde' pubs, then Chester is one of the best places in the country. Our first canal visit to Chester was in 1996 after having paid our first visit to Llangollen. It was like finding pub Eldorado...and just as mystifying...as we so easily managed to lose our bearings with so many pubs and so many streets that looked similar  to each other!

This was taken on the evening of Friday 30th August 1996 as we embarked on our first pub crawl through Chester. To be honest I don't really remember too much about it other than it was a proper 'Olde Worlde' pub with the entrance on the upper level of the shopping centre. I do recall that it was a Sam Smith's pub and consequently somewhat cheaper than most other establishments nearby. However, for a full description of the bar and it's history, this website fills in all of the gaps!

We spent two sessions in Chester before heading back on the Saturday afternoon. We didn't make it back to Chester for another nine years, mainly because of a canal blockage in 2002 that prevented us getting there, but in 2005 we made Chester our destination.

This was on the evening of Saturday 27th August 2005. As the pub has been there for over 350 years it is unlikely that the outside will change very much...and, indeed, it hasn't, apart from a few minor changes to the signage. However the shop next door has changed and Accessorize, below, was up for sale.

And so we come to our most recent visit, Monday 9th April 2012 (Easter Monday), for the first of our two stops in Chester on that trip. Again, the pub has hardly changed and the shop next door is also unchanged (apart from the 'nutter' leering from the balcony! Ooops! That's no nutter, it's Andrew!) Downstairs, Accessorize has gone to be replaced with Ecco. Ye Olde Boot Inn is still a Sam Smith's pub and still cheaper than any others around...sadly it wasn't my round! It does rate a mention on The Lonely Planet website.