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Friday, 16 September 2016

UPDATE : #106 Jolly Tar, Wardle, Cheshire : 2005 to 2016 (RIP)

The text below in italics is what I wrote in my original post in 2013.
 
Whenever we pass through Barbridge Junction on the Shropshire Union Canal, there is only one place where we regularly stop...and it isn't The Jolly Tar! We'd normally visit Ye Olde Barbridge Inn which is right by the canal. However, many's the occasion when I've thought that we should pay The Jolly Tar a visit. So in 2005 we finally decided to pop in for a pint.
This photo was taken on Friday 26th August 2005. As I recall, the pub was fairly quiet and a bit of a throwback to the 70's and 80's in style.
We haven't been back inside since then, but I took this photo as we were passing by at Easter on Thursday 12th April 2012.
It has obviously been repainted in the intervening years and the colour scheme has changed from blue to red. This place always reminds me of a seaside pub.
Each year, in recent times, when we've passed by I've been surprised to see that it has still been open. Although it is advertised as a canalside pub, there is the slight problem of the A51 which runs between the pub and the canal, which must make it difficult to 'sell' to the visiting public. Sadly my fears have been confirmed and, as of writing, The Jolly Tar is closed. It would appear, from this statement, that the lease ran out on 10th March 2013 and new tenants have not yet been found. Sad, but in this current economic climate, not too surprising. 
 
It would appear that tenants were found and the pub was running into late 2014, but we passed by during our recent summer boating trip and found the following sad sight! 
 
I've tried to recreate the view from previous visits - not entirely successfully! These shots taken on the afternoon of Tuesday 9th August 2016. The whole pub has disappeared, almost as though it had been abducted by aliens who'd forgotten to take the pub sign! Grass grows where the pub once stood, but the car park continues to resist nature.  

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