Canal Pub Crawling - Part 2

Last time you left us at the Navigation Inn, Lapworth at the end of our second day of boating in our week-long trip around the Midlands.

DAY 3

STRATFORD CANAL - Lapworth (Lock 14) to Kings Norton Junction

WORCS & B'HAM CANAL - Kings Norton Junction to Worcester Bar

BCN MAIN LINE - Worcester Bar to Old Turn Junction

B'HAM & FAZELEY CANAL - Old Turn Junction to Saturday Bridge

 The day started off cloudy and dry, but this soon turned to persistent rain and by the time we'd passed through 13 locks and two lift bridges we were ready for a drink and some sustenance...but not here!

The Wharf Tavern, Hockley Heath B94 6QT is a place we've stopped at on many previous occasions, but it was only 12:05 and we still had a long journey into Brum. So we sailed on by.

The next pub along is also one we've stopped at on many occasions.

The Blue Bell Cider House, Earlswood B94 6BP was perfectly placed as it was now 13:15 and we were a few miles closer to our intended evening destination. Since our last visit the pub had been redecorated and had less of a 'tired' feel and the food was very good - still proper straightforward pub grub.

After the refreshment we were back on the water for the long afternoon's journey to Birmingham which necessitated passing more watering holes! First up was Lady Lane Wharf, Earlswood B94 6AH (at 16:05) which is a place we've never visited.

It gets good reviews for its food and beer (it has been, maybe still is, in the Good Beer Guide) but because of its position (relative to our other regular stopping places) and the lack of nearby moorings we are unlikely to break our duck any time soon.

A bit further on (16:55) is a place that we've stopped at on many occasions, usually when we're heading away from Brum, but not today.

The Drawbridge Inn, Shirley B90 1DD is situated next to an electrically operated lift bridge which is on a very busy cut-through so we tend to encouter quite a few impatient drivers as we operate the bridge. Today it was rush-hour on a Friday, so it was even busier than normal!

Further along towards Birmingham is another pub that we've stopped at on previous occasions, but nowadays there is nowhere to moor up as the banks have become overgrown.

The Horseshoe, Kings Heath B14 5EL is an old school boozer on the Alcester Road, not far from the Maypole (for those who know Brum). It was now 17:50 and it was still a couple more hours before we reached Central Birmingham for a safe place to moor.

Further on we come to Kings Norton Junction where we turn right and head in towards Birmingham on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. There are no canalside pubs along this stretch as the canal and railway line (Cross City) keep each other company all the way to Five Ways.

Once we hit the city centre there is a 90° turn by The Cube where, somewhat inevitably, we meet one of the party boats heading out of town, but manage to avoid any collision.

As we pass through Gas Street Basin we successfully negotiate the Worcester Bar which leads us onto the BCN Main Line for a short stretch. We pass by the Tap & Spile B1 2JT (not pictured) and the Canal House B1 2JR which was formerly the James Brindley. It is now 20:10 and we're ready for a drink!

But we're still not quite there; we pass through Broad Street Tunnel and turn right at Old Turn Junction to enter the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal where we moor up by Saturday Bridge - it is now 20:20 and we'd passed The Malt House B1 2NX, again without entering!

After mooring up, it was straight out to The Shakespeare B3 1JJ and an Indian meal at the Raj Doot, neither of which can be considered as canalside venues.

Day 4

BIRMINGHAM & FAZELEY CANAL - Saturday Bridge to Curdworth

Saturday started out grey and drizzly as we set off down the Farmer's Bridge flight of locks that head north taking you down and under Birmingham. Before we've even passed through the first lock there's a canalside pub.

It is way too early for a drink (09:50) in The Flapper B1 2NU. I haven't been there for many years and it is likely to have been closed and replaced by flats by the time we pass this way again. When I was a student this was the Flapper & Firkin, but now it is a music venue and feels more like an estate pub. A brief summary of the situation is here.

We pass no more canalside pubs until later in the afternoon following lunch at The Bull B4 6JU and after descending the Aston Lock flight. Towards the edge of the city comes a pub that I've never been in and, when you see the canal frontage, you'll understand why.

I give you...Tyburn House, Castle Vale B35 6AA. From this view, if you didn't know there was a pub there, you'd be none the wiser. It was now 17:15 and we had no plans to stop! Britain Beermat has visited the Tyburn House and put his thoughts on his blog Life After Football.

We still had the three Minworth Locks to negotiate before we passed by a pub that we've visited on numerous occasions, but at 18:10, we still had a bit more travelling to do.

The Boat Inn, Minworth B76 9AE is another lovely little local boozer that also does food and, for us, is more suited to lunchtime stops.

We passed one more (that I failed to photograph, being otherwise engaged) which was the Cuttle Bridge Inn, Minworth B76 9DP. This is a place we've frequented both in it's present guise and in it's previous incarnations as The Kingsley, but our destination of Curdworth was just along the cut, so we didn't stop.

So, two more days into the journey and we've passed by another dozen canalside pubs, but this time we only went into one of them! That is a pretty poor return. If we had stopped, and had a pint in each one, the trip would have taken three times as long.

However you dress it up, these statistics are a definite surprise to me!

TO BE CONTINUED.....

#226 Hare & Hounds, Minworth, West Midlands : 1986 to 2016

Our first visit to the Hare & Hounds at Minworth was on the evening of Wednesday 30th July 1986...the first year that I took a picture of every pub we visited.

As I recall it was a fairly large Ansell's pub split into a Lounge and a Bar - a common enough arrangement in those days.

With our boat, Emma Jane, being moored 'Up North' and the 'Darn Sarf' for a few years, we didn't return to the Hare & Hounds until the evening of Tuesday 5th September 1995 as part of her return journey to the Midlands.

And what a change it had undergone in the passing 9 years - it was now a Mr Q's Pool Lounge! Inside there were a large number of pool tables of varying sizes and shapes! It was still an Ansell's pub.

This experience put us off returning until the evening of Sunday 14th June 2015 - a gap of almost 20 years!

In all honesty, if The Boat (#180) had done food on a Sunday evening, we wouldn't have needed to leave and visit the Hare & Hounds at all. I'm glad we did because the Hare & Hounds was now a pub restaurant which caters for both drinkers and diners and, most importantly, they were still serving food for us!

It was no longer an Ansell's pub and the Wacky Warehouse is now Fuzzy Ed's Fun House (not that we went to either!)

We returned just 12 months later on the evening of Sunday 12th June 2016.

This time we were even later getting there, but the staff were great and we got food even though they had, technically finished serving. Excellent service, which is all too infrequent as we travel the canals.

As I was doing a bit of research to see who owns the pub, I discovered that it has changed again into a Sizzling Pub & Grill which is one of the brands of Mitchell's & Butler's. Hopefully they will maintain the excellent service levels.

 

#180 The Boat, Minworth, West Midlands : 1986 to 2015

In the early 1980's The Boat was, technically, my local pub as I lived just around the corner in Minworth for a few months. It sits at the side of the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal and is the last, reasonably safe, overnight mooring before the centre of Birmingham. Over the years, we have been intermittent visitors having passed by more times than we've stopped.

Our first ever boating visit to The Boat was on the evening of Sunday 22nd August 1982, but sadly there's no pictorial record of the visit. I do, however, have a photo taken the next day as we made our way down the windswept Curdworth Locks.

Our next visit to The Boat was in the year that I'd decided to start taking a picture of each pub we visited. This was on the evening of Wednesday 30th July 1986.

Back in those days it had a cosy lounge and a fairly standard bar with pool table and dart board, but (as I recall) didn't do food.

Our boat, Emma Jane, moved away from the Midlands for a number of years and so we didn't stop there again until the evening of Tuesday 5th September 1995, close to the end of the journey bringing Emma Jane back to the Midlands.

On the outside, a complete transformation from a fairly standard Ansells pub into a 'Big Steak' pub!

We returned less than a year later, on the lunchtime of Friday 31st May 1996. This was a pit-stop on an 'epic' journey that took us from Fazeley Junction to Catherine-de-Barnes on the Grand Union Canal in a day (10 hours 20 minutes travelling time!).

Even in just 9 months, part of the exterior signage had disappeared and the paint was starting to peel!

It took us another 10 years before we came back to The Boat. This was mainly because we'd worked out that we could travel from Birmingham city centre to The Kingsley or Curdworth in a day's boating so we sailed on by The Boat on many occasions.

This was at lunchtime on Thursday 8th June 2006 and we still made it into the centre of Birmingham by evening - a 5 hour journey! Another complete transformation of the outside of the pub including a small extension at the front.

We returned at lunchtime on Thursday 6th June 2010 as part of what was, essentially, a repeat of our 2006 journey - this time it took us 5 hours 20 minutes to get into Birmingham!

Not too much of a change apart from the sheltered smoking area that has been added.

This next picture was taken on the afternoon of Sunday 11th May 2014 as I happened to be in the area following a Craft Fair at the Brook Marston Hotel. (There seemed to be little likelihood of us stopping here in the near future, so I thought I'd add a photo to the collection.)

Yet another external transformation. The smoking area remained, but the new extension has been radically altered.

Having predicted that we wouldn't be stopping here in the near future, our next visit was on the evening of Sunday 14th June 2015.

 Little change in a year. The internal layout of The Boat has hardly changed over the years, but it has been refurbished several times. The Boat has its own website and will hopefully be able to survive as a proper pub that does some food. 

#002 Dog & Doublet, Bodymoor Heath : 1986 to 2011

I first visited the Dog & Doublet in the early 1980's when I lived in nearby Minworth. It is not easy to find from the road, but was a popular country pub. The photo above was taken in 1986 (30th July - lunchtime) on a canal trip which had taken us to Nottingham from our (then) mooring at Earlswood (and back). The pub is part way up the Curdworth flight of locks on the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal and is a welcome break on the journey for either lunch or an overnight stop.

Now we move on to 2000 (June 1st - lunchtime) and to all intents and purposes the pub hasn't changed at all. However, there is no M&B on the sign which is indicative of the change of pub ownership over the intervening 14 years. The pub is still owned by M&B (Mitchells & Butlers), but they are no longer a brewer, but are now a pub and restaurant company. Inside, the pub has been slightly modified and redecorated, but it still retained the characteristics of a good country pub.

We move on to a cool and damp lunchtime stop on 27th May 2007. No real changes, except that the trees/bushes need a bit of trimming. For quite a number of occasions, whenever we ventured through the Curdworth flight of locks it would be cool, damp and windy!

And so to 2011 (1st June - late afternoon) when we passed by on the journey up the Curdworth flight in, surprisingly, warm and sunny conditions. We didn't stop there this time as we were running a bit behind our schedule, but it is good to see that it is still thriving with many people enjoying the warm sunshine and the canal scenery outside.
Should you fancy a visit to the Dog & Doublet you can find their webpage here.