The Black Star is a canalside pub in Stourport that should be thriving. Our first visit was on the evening of Tuesday 1st June 1999, which still surprises me as we'd been to Stourport previously at least on two occasions.
From what I remember it was a cosy little canalside pub that did good food.
Our next visit was a lunchtime stop on Tuesday 27th May 2008.
It had been extensively redecorated on the outside, but inside was largely unchanged.
Our most recent trip to Stourport was on the evening of Thursday 16th May 2013. Although this was a scheduled stop on our trip it also proved to be the end of our journey as the River Severn was running several feet above its normal level and was closed. The incessant rain from Sunday had worked its way down from Wales and we were unable to get our boat back to the hire base on the river near Worcester.
So, it was time for a pub crawl!
Again the Black Star had been externally redecorated, but the internal layout was still pretty much the same - a smallish, quite cosy, front bar/lounge and a larger room at the back set out for dining. The only problem was that it was almost deserted! From what I can glean from t'internet the lease is currently available and it sounds like an attractive proposition...but only if someone can make it work. It should be thriving, but when we were there the canal was full of boats that couldn't go further and yet there was no-one in the restaurant part of the pub!
Hopefully someone can turn it around and here is their website.
Hopefully someone can turn it around and here is their website.
Unfortunately in recent years it got a bad reputation and that puts decent people off . Once you get that sort of reputation it is very difficult to recover. The recent people did their best to turn it round but it didn't seem to work. It has now closed (July 2014) and the equipment & contents are being sold off. But the good news is that a well known local brewery are going to re-open it and it seems clear that they will completely revamp the inside, which is badly neded, especially the little front bar which always smelt musty to me! Really this pub, in its excellent position, ought to be making a mint so hopefully the new management will turn its fortunes around.
ReplyDeleteI can confirm that the fortunes have been turned around. It was bought by the Wye Valley at the end of 2014. They put in a great landlord/landlady - who have done so much for the pub (complete refit) and the community (other bars and pubs in the area have taken off, as people came back to stourport for a night out. Its now in the CAMRA beer guide and does great pub food.
ReplyDeleteA real success.
I've been going there since the early 80's but it's latest incarnation is great (Sept 17)good beer decent food.
DeleteNick wood