#270 The Wheatsheaf, Weedon, Northants : 1991 to 2019

I'm fairly sure that we'd visited The Wheatsheaf on previous trips, but this is the first pictorial record that I have.

This was on the evening of Thursday 24th September 1992 as we made our way north on the Grand Union Canal. Back then, as it is now, The Wheatsheaf is a standard little boozer which is now becoming an endangered species.

Although we did stop in Weedon the next year it wasn't until lunchtime on Wednesday 31st August 1994 that we revisited the pub.

No apparent change, but some maintenance work being applied to the front door.

We were back again the next year on our last trip from Winkwell.

This was on the evening of Wednesday 30th August 1995 and the pub was still largely unchanged.

Our next stopover in Weedon was on the evening of Monday 27th August 2001 as we headed south on a trip to Aylesbury.

Still no change to the pub, but the Weedon Takeaway (next door) has transformed to Riverside.

Our next visit to Weedon was as part of a short trip to take our boat Emma Jane to Nuneaton for roof repairs/replacement.

This was on the evening of Sunday 29th May 2005 and the pub was again as before...but next door it was now the Lucky House!

So, in 13 years of visits, The Wheatsheaf barely changed one bit...how would it be when we finally returned another fourteen years later, on the evening of Friday 19th April 2019?

Externally, a complete makeover, but we didn't actually venture inside as we were headed elsewhere for some food. (The mobility scooter is a bit of a giveaway regarding the inside, though!) The Lucky House, however needs a bit of tlc!

We didn't have long to wait to sample the delights of The Wheatsheaf as we returned on the evening of Friday 9th August 2019 and this time we did go inside!

I can confirm that it is still a basic boozer with a few regulars in when we were there. We were also treated to an impromptu music session as the gaffer's daughter and a couple of her friends performed a number of popular classics for us. Of the chanteuses, two were what you could categorise as enthusiastic, whereas the third was good enough to be a professional!

#268 Plume of Feathers, Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire : 2001 to 2019

Back in 2001 we visited Weedon Bec twice on our journey to Aylesbury and back. On the second visit we ventured into the lower half of the village where we made our first visit to the Plume of Feathers.

This was on the evening of Tuesday 4th September 2001 and I don't recall much about the pub.

With Peggy Ellen being moved to Napton our first opportunity to revisit Weedon Bec came on our Easter outing to Northampton and back. Again, it was on the return journey that we decided to venture into Lower Weedon and we popped into the Plume of Feathers.

This was on the evening of Sunday 21st April 2019. The pub is a standard village local style boozer, with most people being in the garden as the weather at Easter was remarkably warm.

In the intervening 18 years the exterior decoration had changed markedly, but the building itself is remarkably unmodified. It was good to see that it was still there and doing a reasonable trade.

#266 The Globe Hotel, Weedon Bec, Northamptonshire : 1992 to 2019 RIP

Weedon Bec (usually just referred to as Weedon) is one of those villages on the canal that for part of my boating life has been a regular stopping off point, then it wasn't on the itinerary for a while...but now it is back!

In it's heyday there were many more pubs in Weedon, but considering it's modest size, five is still quite a good number in this modern era!

My first visit to Weedon was on my very first canal boating trip back in 1980 when Emma Jane was moored at Woodford on the River Nene. This made Weedon a regular stop and we were back there in 1982 and 1984, all before I started taking photos of every pub we visited.

For the first half of the 1990's, Emma Jane was moored on the Southern Grand Union Canal at Cowley Peachey and then Winkwell. So, our summer/autumn jaunts would take us up the Grand Union to Braunston and beyond...and then return the same way (hopefully stopping at different pubs on the way down!)

I can't say that the Globe was our 'go-to' pub, but it was a pleasant enough place to visit and this first time was on the evening of Thursday 24th September 1992.

We were there again on the evening of Wednesday 22nd September 1993, but it was so late that the photo isn't great!

We were back again at lunchtime on Wednesday 31st August 1994.

Largely unchanged, although the Rooms Available sign has been replaced by a hanging basket.

We returned a year later in what would be our last visit for a few years as Emma Jane was returning to her 'old' moorings at Lapworth.

This was on the evening of Wednesday 30th August 1995. Although the signage had changed, I think that everything else was pretty much as before.

For the next few years our boating trips didn't take us through Weedon until we decided to revisit the Grand Union on a trip to Aylesbury and back. This time we stopped at Weedon twice and visited the Globe on both occasions.

Evening of Monday 27th August 2001.

Evening of Tuesday 4th September 2001. Little change, again, but the hanging baskets had bitten the dust!

A few years later, we had a little bit more time than we'd anticipated, so we added Weedon onto our itinerary.

This was on the evening of Sunday 29th May 2005 and still the signage hadn't changed...apart from the missing 'O'.

With the new boat, Peggy Ellen, now being moored at Napton returned on the evening of Friday 19th April 2019 (Good Friday) to be greeted with this scene.

It is a scene that is repeated up and down the land as large pubs/hotels become less viable and are turned into Tesco Express (or Sainsbury's or Co-op or Morrison's...etc). Sad, but inevitable in the modern age.

Looking through the historic pictures on Google Street View, the Globe was largely unchanged in 2009 (earliest picture), boarded up by 2012 (with a new main sign!) and was a Tesco Express by August 2014.