#177 Fool's Nook, nr Macclesfield, Cheshire : 2000 to 2015 (RIP?)

Until the past year or so the Macclesfield Canal was a rare treat for us, only to be considered if we were doing the mammoth trip to Manchester and back in a fortnight. And so it was for my only ever visit to the Fool's Nook.

Between Congleton and Macclesfield is a long stretch of canal and the only easily accessible pub along the way was the Fool's Nook making it an ideal lunchtime stop on Thursday 31st August 2000. As I recall it was a cosy, welcoming stop after nearly five hours of travelling through the rain including Bosley Locks.

We did pass this way in 2010, but didn't stop here. Our next visit was in 2014 when this had been our planned lunchtime stop on Sunday 22nd June 2014, but unfortunately it was closed!

At this stage we weren't sure if it was terminal or just a temporary closure, but it meant that we'd had a nearly seven hour journey before some respite (for the 'parched and starving' crew) at the Puss in Boots in Macclesfield!

As we were to learn subsequently, things don't look good for the Fool's Nook and this was the view as we were passing by on Thursday 22nd January 2015.

Still closed and from this link, it would appear that it is unlikely to open again. That's a shame, but not too surprising given its location away from any population centre. For us it meant exploring new possibilities and we found some interesting new pubs that may appear here in the coming years!

#176 Rose & Crown, Warwick : 1998 to 2014

There are lots of pubs in Warwick and, on a short stop, we don't manage to get to all of them. However, in the summer of 1998 our boat Emma Jane broke down (on August Bank Holiday) so we had the opportunity to explore the town more fully. One of the beneficiaries of our misfortune was the Rose & Crown which is just off the Market Square.

 This picture is from the evening of Sunday 30th August 1998. As I recall it was a busy pub that was a bit more upmarket than just a town boozer, but essentially it was a proper pub!

In the intervening years we visited Warwick on many occasions, but never went back to the Rose & Crown, and we still haven't been back inside!

On the evening of Saturday 27th September 2014 we again found ourselves in the centre of Warwick and, for the first time in ages, we ventured into the Market Square with the intention of going back to the Rose & Crown, but this is what we found.

The pub had obviously undergone something of a transformation since our previous visit in 1998. Unfortunately for us, the transformation was still going on and it was closed for further refurbishment. Nevertheless, we still managed to have a good time sitting outside the Tilted Wig (#166) in the unseasonably warm evening weather.

Having done some subsequent research, the Rose & Crown is part of the Peach Pubs Group and is now more of a gastropub than the proper pub it was before. If that means that it will survive for many years to come, then I'm all for it!

#175 Sun Inn, Llangollen, Denbighshire : 2007 to 2014

As previously mentioned, we don't get to Llangollen very often, so we do like to have a look around.

Our first visit was on the evening of Friday 31st August 2007 and we only popped in for a pint. As I recall it was a typical local boozer which are all too rare these days - then it was only a couple of months after the Smoking Ban had come in!

We were back in Llangollen on the evening of Saturday 19th April 2014 and we decided to retrace our steps along the A5 to see what pubs were still there.

We didn't go in this time because the music was a bit loud (and we're becoming old gits who don't like music that's too noisy!!) and they don't do food. I was, however, pleased to see that it had survived, almost completely unchanged in seven years.

It seems to be thriving as a music venue - here's a link for more information.

#174 Hatton Arms (aka The Waterman), Hatton, Warks : 1998 to 2014

As any regular narrowboater will know the lock flight at Hatton on the Grand Union Canal is a daunting, but magnificent challenge. At the top of the hill overlooking the flight sits the Hatton Arms (for many years called The Waterman) which is a welcome sight after several hours hard work coming up the locks or a last chance for refreshment before the arduous journey down the hill!

As far as I can determine this was my first ever visit to The Waterman although we'd passed through Hatton Locks several times in the previous 18 years of canal travelling. This was at lunchtime on Friday 26th June 1998. As usual I don't really recall the visit, but I do remember that it has always been a bit of a more upmarket pub that has always served food.

We paid another visit that year at lunchtime on Friday 11th September 1998, but I don't have a photo for that visit!

Our next visit was at lunchtime on Friday 31st May 2002. The only photo I have is a view from the canal looking up the hill to the pub which you will see below.

We were next at The Waterman at lunchtime on Saturday 16th August 2003.

You may have noted that, so far we'd always stopped here on a Friday. This is because the top of Hatton Locks is about half a day's boating away from our moorings at that time, in Lapworth, making The Waterman, potentially, our last stop on the way home and the first stop on the way out (if we started early enough!) On this occasion it was at the start of a journey that took us to Leicester.

Our next visit was on Friday 1st June 2007, again a lunchtime 'pit stop'!

The Waterman had undergone somewhat of a makeover since our last visit and was one of the first pubs I recall having the pastel exterior that is so common these days. Although the hanging sign still shows a kingfisher! (I also find the 'Canalside Pub' description somewhat amusing as you will see from the later pictures!)

Inside it had gone more upmarket, so much so that you couldn't buy a simple ham sandwich, even though they possessed all of the ingredients and you could order a ham ploughman's!

We were back again, twice, two years later.

This was at lunchtime on Saturday 23rd May 2009 at the start of a short trip around the Midlands. Not much had changed, but the kingfisher was no more!

We returned on the evening of Friday 11th September 2009 after an epic 6 hour afternoon journey from the Two Boats at Long Itchington. That's just the 33 locks, including the 21 at Hatton which we did in 1 hour 55 minutes. This must be a record for a 3-man crew! (I was steering, so I did all the difficult bits!!)

Our next visit marked the end of an era, it was on the evening of Friday 4th November 2011 at the start of what turned out to be our last journey on Emma Jane.

It was also the end of another era as this was our last visit before the name changed.

In the era after Emma Jane, we hired boats around the country which enabled us to visit parts of the canal system we'd never been able to visit previously. However, we were back again at lunchtime on Sunday 28th September 2014.

And what a transformation! Now called the Hatton Arms it had become the full gastropub and was largely unrecognisable compared to the days as The Waterman. However, despite my misgivings, it turned out to be much better than the previously average service offered by The Waterman in its later years!

Earlier, I promised you the view of this 'Canalside' pub, from the canal - here it is over the years.

May 2002

June 2007

May 2009

September 2014

It isn't a particularly long walk up the hill to the pub, but is it close enough to call it 'canalside' - I'm not so sure.

#173 The Vaults, Knowle, West Midlands : 1999 to 2014

This is going to be a short post about a pub that I've only been into once...and I don't remember what it was like inside!

We don't visit Knowle very often on the canal and when we do go there we end up in any/all of the other pubs. Our first (and so far, only) visit was on the evening of Sunday 4th April 1999. It was Easter Sunday and we'd finished our regular Easter trip to Stratford and back. So, rather than drink locally in Lapworth we caught a taxi to Knowle to see what the village had to offer.

Although it has a High Street address, the entrance is on one of the side streets (next door to Loch Fyne restaurant). We must have had a pint in there because in those days I didn't take pictures if we didn't go in, but I have no recollection.

We were once again in Knowle on the evening of Sunday 28th September 2014 and, as we were strolling along the High Street, I took this picture.

To be honest, I wasn't sure if it would still be there, but it appears to have gone from strength to strength. (I discovered, whilst researching this entry, that it has been the Solihull CAMRA Pub of the Year nine times since 1992, most recently in 2013!)

The Vaults now advertises itself as a 'Real Ale Bar' that seems to have filled a niche in the area. Despite the major changes to the outside it is interesting to see that the hanging sign is still the same...even if it has been turned around in the intervening 15 years!

#172 The Market Hotel, Ellesmere, Shropshire : 1996 to 2014

A trip along the Llangollen Canal is a rare treat and so we've only visited Ellesmere on a few occasions, the first being on the evening of Sunday 25th August 1996.

As I recall it was a fairly bog standard town centre boozer -relatively commonplace 19 years ago!

We did visit Ellesmere again in 2007, but didn't visit The Market Hotel. Our next visit was at lunchtime on Monday 21st April 2014 (Easter Monday).

Not surprisingly, the outside decoration has changed quite a lot in the intervening 18 years, but inside it is still a town boozer having survived (so far) the economic downturn and the smoking ban. A good description of the pub can be found here.

#171 Red Lion Hotel, Atherstone, Warwickshire : 1995 to 2014

Atherstone sits on the Coventry Canal and boasts a pretty, but maddeningly frustrating, flight of locks (they are very slow to fill, but empty quite quickly, thus leading to queues of boats even in not-so-busy times!).

Although our visits to Atherstone are quite sporadic, there are many pubs to choose from, although some have, sadly, disappeared over the last few years!

Our first visit to the Red Lion Hotel was on the evening of Monday 4th September 1995.

On this occasion we'd moored above the locks and the Red Lion was our second port of call for the evening. I don't remember too much about the inside and I suspect we had one pint and moved on!

We visited Atherstone several times in the following years, but didn't go back to the Red Lion until the evening of Tuesday 26th May 2009.

Although the outside appears to be superficially unchanged, there are several subtle alterations - a new hanging sign, flag poles with flags, outside seating and canopy. Also there is a new bench seat and the litter bin has had a makeover - not a great deal of change in 14 years! Inside? Still no recollection!

Finally, we move on to our most recent visit - another evening stop this time on Sunday 5th October 2014.

Again we'd moored part way up the lock flight and the Red Lion wasn't our first port of call. Some more subtle changes in the intervening 5 years - the outside seating has transformed into standing room only and the hotel has added an Italian restaurant to its offerings.

Indeed, it was this latter addition that attracted us there. As it was a Sunday evening we were struggling to find anywhere to eat and an Italian meal sounded like a good option - if only we'd known! The place was quite empty, but the staff were very helpful so we decided to have a meal. It is safe to say that it was the worst Italian meal I've ever had and one of the worst of any cuisine I've had anywhere! I ordered a pasta dish which had a cream sauce (might have been carbonara, but I've blocked the details from my mind!) It had no taste of Italy and apart from the overall complete blandness of it, there was an underlying, slightly rancid taste to it. I regret not sending it back, but the other dishes served to our table were no better!! (If only we'd seen the Trip Advisor reviews!)

Next time we're in Atherstone, we won't be going into the Red Lion Hotel!