#116 Knightley Arms, Yelvertoft, Northants

The Knightley Arms is a pub we've only visited once, for a lunchtime stop, on Tuesday 22nd July 1986.

This was an unscheduled stop and it looks like we got there before the pub was open. We'd been cruising along the Leicester Section of the Grand Union Canal after having spent the previous evening in Crick. However, our propeller had become 'weeded up' and needed clearing. Unfortunately, the access to Emma Jane's weed hatch wasn't easy and we needed to let the exhaust pipe cool down before it was possible to de-weed. (Any excuse for a drinks stop, I hear you say!!)

I don't really remember too much about the pub, but it did have a skittles table and during our game, one of our party managed to nearly break the ankle of a local with a misdirected skittles cheese! We've not been back since that incident, but the main reason is that Yelvertoft falls between the 'natural' stops along this stretch of canal.

I was in the area recently and took the opportunity to revisit Yelvertoft to see whether the pub had survived.

The Knightley Arms was alive and well on Sunday 16th December 2012, but I didn't venture inside. Considering it had been 26 years, the changes were minimal compared to what might have happened. New signs and new windows, but the external layout looks to be pretty much the same as before. Note: the George & Dragon is still above the hanging sign!