On my second ever canal trip The Old Broken Cross was our first port of call after leaving Preston Brook on Saturday 8th August 1981 - sadly I don't have any photographic evidence!
It stands on the bank of the Trent & Mersey Canal on the outskirts of Northwich along a stretch of the cut we don't visit very often and, although we'd passed by a couple of times, we didn't actually visit the pub again until lunchtime on Monday 4th September 2000 on our return from Manchester.
This photo gives the perfect illustration as to just how close to the pub a boat can moor. As ever, I recall little about the interior of the pub, but that it was pleasant enough and served food!
Our next visit was at lunchtime on Saturday 2nd September 2006.
It was on this trip that we realised just how close to the centre of Northwich the pub is, having visited the town from the River Weaver the evening before. It's difficult to tell what changes, if any, there were in the intervening years as I chose to take the picture from the road bridge. This time we moored even closer to the pub!
Our next visit to The Old Broken Cross was an evening stop on our way back from Manchester on Sunday 5th September 2010.
The outside had undergone a refurbishment, but little else had changed. However, our recently discovered knowledge of local geography stood us in good stead when it became apparent that there was no food on offer on this Sunday evening, so we ventured into Northwich for sustenance.
This was the view of the pub (and our mooring) the next morning.
Our most recent visit to The Old Broken Cross was at lunchtime on Saturday 13th August 2016.
The pub had undergone another refurb and inside it was pleasant and served food, so we were happy!
This is the view from the other side, again to show just how close we'd moored!
Love that last photo in particular. Out of interest, do you find most pubs these days (particularly canalside) don't do food Sunday evenings ?
ReplyDeleteWe often find that many independent pubs stop serving food at around 6pm (which is no use to us), but the chain pubs are much better - Wetherspoons, Ember Inns, Hungry Horse, Vintage Inns, etc.
DeleteLast year we moored at Acton Bridge on the River Weaver on a Sunday evening. The nearest pub was the Leigh Arms (a Robinson's pub), but food stops at 5pm on Sundays! Fortunately it wasn't too far to walk to The Riverside (a Marston's pub) which was serving food until much later. As a consequence, The Riverside was busy and the Leigh Arms 'dead'!
The other frustration about pub food on a Sunday is the near impossibility of getting a sandwich at lunchtime! Sunday means Roast Dinner...and that's it in a lot of places we've visited over the years; often in pubs that do sandwiches the rest of the week...aaaaargh!!