#291 The Navigation, Kilby Bridge, Leicestershire : 1986 to 2021

 Our first ever visit to The Navigation Inn was on the evening of Wednesday 23rd July 1986.

This was our summer vacation and my first time along the Leicester Section of the Grand Union Canal. I remember little about the pub then apart from the fact that it was a pleasant, traditional canalside boozer (the photo is taken from the bridge over the canal).

We didn't return for many years and, when we did, it was a disappointment on the evening of Wednesday 27th August 1998!

The disappointment wasn't that it had become an Ansell's pub; no, it was that it was closed! We'd travelled for 5¼ hours in an afternoon from Foxton only to find that the landlord had, seemingly, done a 'runner'!

Peering through the windows was like looking into the Mary Celeste - there were still empty glasses and crisp packets littering the tables, but no sign of life.

We managed to slake our thirst and assuage our hunger in the not so nearby town/village of Wigston. According to the locals it's just "5 minutes" away...but that was obviously in a fast car as it was a good 20 minute walk (not what you really want after a 5¼ hour afternoon boating session through a dozen wide, heavy locks)!

It was another five years before we were back in Kilby Bridge for a lunchtime stop on Wednesday 20th August 2003.

This time it was open as just The Navigation and a free house as well. I have no recollection that particular visit, but over the years the pub has changed very little. (This time it took us just under 5 hours from Foxton!)

 

Boating trips that take us to Kilby Bridge inevitably entail a visit to Leicester (and often Nottingham) which are places that are only accessible (for us) on two week holidays. Thus, there is usually a significant gap between visits.

 

It was another six years before we returned, this time on the evening of Monday 7th September 2009 having had a lunchtime session in Leicester whilst waiting for our third crew member to join us for the rest of the trip.

There appeared to have been little change to the exterior of the pub (apart from a 'token' shelter over the external seating).

 

It would seem that our routine has changed from a visit every five years to six - we were back again at lunchtime on Friday 28th August 2015.
 

Again, no discernible change.

 

Another six years on and we made our most recent visit at lunchtime on Tuesday 10th August 2021.

The exterior is again largely unchanged (ignoring the fading of signs that have been there for at least 18 years!) but the doors and windows have been painted grey and the hanging sign has been replaced.

 

We sat in the front bar which is a proper old school canal pub bar and had a very pleasant lunchtime pub experience as I reported here.
 

The Navigation is a little gem of a pub and do I hope that we will be visiting it in the years to come (at 5 - 6 year intervals!)

#066 The Mercat, Digbeth, Birmingham : 1998 to 2021 (RIP)

 Following on from the architecturally attractive Market Tavern we move on to the somewhat less beautiful, brutalist Mercat Bar & Grill (formerly The Mercat Cross). As part of the Birmingham Wholesale Markets complex it had a healthy trade, back in the day, but when I first came along with my camera I think its best days had passed. Here's what I wrote in 2011: -

"I'm pretty sure I've never been in The Mercat or The Mercat Cross as it was known when I was a student in the late 70's. It has always been (in my experience) a rather unattractive building, but maybe there was an older pub there before the Wholesale Markets were rebuilt in the early 70's.

I'm not sure when it dropped the 'Cross' from its name, but by 1998 it was just The Mercat.

When I came back in 2011 I wasn't sure if it was even open, but I still took the photo.

Obviously it is no longer an Ansell's pub, but beyond it's 'oirishification' I can't add much more about it! (Better class of car driving by, though!)

However, as was reported on the Digbeth is Good blog, it is now open for business again as The New Mercat Bar & Grill. I wish them well in the currently difficult climate for pubs.

This is the thirty-first in my 'Birmingham Eastside' series."

 

Ten years later and, from the outside, very little has changed, but the pub is definitely closed and has been since at least 2018.

As the redevelopment of the Wholesale Markets site progresses this will be demolished and (more) flats/apartments will take it's place in what is now known as the Smithfield Development.

Whilst not one of the more striking examples of Brummie pubs, it is always sad to see their eventual demise!

#261 Royal Oak, Gnosall, Staffordshire : 1996 to 2018

On our fairly frequent trips along the Shropshire Union Canal we haven't stopped at Gnosall/Gnosall Heath as often as we probably should given the number of pubs within walking distance of the cut!

The Boat Inn (#241) is canalside, so often we don't venture any further and, the first time we did was on the evening of Tuesday 3rd September 1996.

I remember little about it; we probably had a pint and moved on!

It was a while before we returned, although we'd stopped at Gnosall on other occasions.

This was on the evening of Tuesday 30th August 2005 on our way back from Chester. In the intervening nine years it had undergone considerable changes and, seemingly, a change of ownership from Ansell's to (I assume) a pubco.

It took us another thirteen years before we returned, this time on the evening of Sunday 26th August 2018.

Unsurprisingly, it had changed again, both externally and inside. The interior is now somewhat soulless and modern. Although we got there just in time, we decided not to eat as it still wasn't yet 7pm - that turned out to be a miscalculation on our part (as detailed in the entry for the Boat Inn)! Again, we had one pint and moved on.

#251 King's Head, Napton-on-the-Hill, Warwickshire : 1994 to 2018

If you're a canal enthusiast, you will have heard of Napton, but if not you almost certainly won't...until someone mentions that it's that place in the Warwickshire countryside with a prominent windmill on top of a hill that you can see for miles around.

Fortunately for us, the canal goes around the hill, so it is a flat walk to the pub. The Kings Head has never been one of our 'go to' pubs in Napton, but we may become more frequent visitors now that the good ship Peggy Ellen is moored near by and The Bridge Inn is now closed!

The first time we visited the King's Head was on the evening of Thursday 1st September 1994.

The reason that we ended up here was because we'd stopped quite early and had eaten in The Bridge Inn we decided to explore Napton for the first time. We walked into the village...up the hill...had a pint (or two) in the Crown and then headed back down the hill where we found the King's Head. As I recall, it was a typical (for the time) country pub that also did food.

It made such an impression on us that we didn't visit again for 20 years! This time we'd hired a boat from Wigrams Turn Marina and this was our destination on the last evening - Thursday 9th October 2014.

Amazingly, it was no longer an Ansell's pub, but had transformed into a fully fledged gastropub. It was what you'd expect in the Warwickshire countryside - somewhat upmarket with prices to reflect this.

We returned with the new boat Peggy Ellen for her new permanent mooring at Wigrams Turn Marina and so we ended the journey with another visit to the King's Head.

This was on Thursday 1st October 2018 and the pub had hardly changed in the intervening four years. It still is a place where you could just have a drink...but it is a restaurant, really! Just for those who like this sort of thing - they now serve Hook Norton ales, a guest ale and craft brews such as Carling, Estrella and San Miguel...bring your cheque book! We did enjoy the food and the evening so it worked on both levels!

#018 Subside (aka The Dubliner), Digbeth : 1998 to 2018 (Revisited)

I'll begin with what I wrote back in 2011 and then add the latest image.

When I first came to Brum as a student in the late 70's this was the Barrel Organ, but I never visited it. There are some reminiscences of the old Barrel Organ from the 1980's here when it was a popular music venue as well. I'm not entirely sure when it changed its name to The Dubliner, but when I took this photo in 1998 it had been that for a few years.

I still had never set foot inside the place until Thursday 19th September 2002. We were returning from our second trip up the Caldon Canal. We'd planned to go to Chester, but a lock gate had 'blown out' ahead of us on the Shropshire Union Canal and we were forced to make an alternative plan. 

Often, the penultimate night of our canal trips are spent in Birmingham and, in those days, I tried to visit pubs that we'd never been to before. The Dubliner was one of the pubs we visited that night. My only two observations that survive are that it was cavernous inside and the lager was the most expensive of the night! One pint was enough!

In 2006 it was the victim of an arson attack and didn't reopen until February 2008 as reported here. I have been back since the reopening, but again only stayed for one pint. It was about 9:30 on a Saturday night and the place was virtually empty. A disco was being set up, there was a bouncer on the door and, in the Gents, a bloke was setting up his range of perfumes and emollients for later in the evening! We discovered that they had a licence until 4 am! I'd like to say that I've become too old for that sort of scene...but I think I've always been too old for it!!

 

In 2011 it is still there and still thriving. It looks pretty much like it did in 1998, but closer inspection shows that the windows are new (not surprisingly) and the Ansells sign has gone (praise be!). Next door is the completely rebuilt Digbeth Birmingham Coach Station.

 

And so, we arrive in 2018 and The Dubliner is no more it is now called Subside (Birmingham's Rock & Alternative Bar). Apparently, the name changed in 2015 when Subside was closed in Fletcher's Walk (to make way for the Paradise development) and needed a new venue - details here.

 I have no plans to revisit the place as it probably isn't my sort of place anymore (if it ever was!). However it is open from noon every day if you just want a drink, so that can't be a bad thing.  

 

#226 Hare & Hounds, Minworth, West Midlands : 1986 to 2016

Our first visit to the Hare & Hounds at Minworth was on the evening of Wednesday 30th July 1986...the first year that I took a picture of every pub we visited.

As I recall it was a fairly large Ansell's pub split into a Lounge and a Bar - a common enough arrangement in those days.

With our boat, Emma Jane, being moored 'Up North' and the 'Darn Sarf' for a few years, we didn't return to the Hare & Hounds until the evening of Tuesday 5th September 1995 as part of her return journey to the Midlands.

And what a change it had undergone in the passing 9 years - it was now a Mr Q's Pool Lounge! Inside there were a large number of pool tables of varying sizes and shapes! It was still an Ansell's pub.

This experience put us off returning until the evening of Sunday 14th June 2015 - a gap of almost 20 years!

In all honesty, if The Boat (#180) had done food on a Sunday evening, we wouldn't have needed to leave and visit the Hare & Hounds at all. I'm glad we did because the Hare & Hounds was now a pub restaurant which caters for both drinkers and diners and, most importantly, they were still serving food for us!

It was no longer an Ansell's pub and the Wacky Warehouse is now Fuzzy Ed's Fun House (not that we went to either!)

We returned just 12 months later on the evening of Sunday 12th June 2016.

This time we were even later getting there, but the staff were great and we got food even though they had, technically finished serving. Excellent service, which is all too infrequent as we travel the canals.

As I was doing a bit of research to see who owns the pub, I discovered that it has changed again into a Sizzling Pub & Grill which is one of the brands of Mitchell's & Butler's. Hopefully they will maintain the excellent service levels.

 

#224 Bridge Inn, Brewood, Staffordshire : 1987 to 2016

No article on the village of Brewood should start without the obligatory, "How do you pronounce that?" question. The answer is; Brewood is pronounced 'Brood'.

Brewood is a great village for canal trips. It stands on the Shropshire Union canal and there are lots of mooring places and plenty of pubs, but for us it has proved to be an awkward location, particularly when heading back to Lapworth as the next viable pub stop is about five hours away in Wolverhampton.

Our first visit to Brewood and the Bridge Inn was on the evening of Wednesday 8th July 1987.

As I recall it has always been quite a cosy pub that does proper pub grub. Note, in 1987 it was an Ansell's pub.

Our next visit was a lunchtime stop on Wednesday 4th September 1996 on the way back from our first ever canal trip to Llangollen.

Externally the pub had undergone a full refurb, I assume when it was taken over by Burtonwood. Inside was still as cosy as before. 

For the record, it took us 4 hours 15 minutes to get to Wolverhampton Top Lock!

Our next visit was on the evening of Wednesday 6th September 2000 on our way back from Manchester.

The pub appeared largely unchanged apart from the now hardly noticeable hanging baskets and the main door has gone back to black.

This time the journey to the top of the Wolverhampton flight of locks took 5 hours 10 minutes!

That journey time almost certainly explains why we didn't revisit Brewood until the evening of Wednesday 8th September 2010, again returning from Manchester.

No longer a Burtonwood pub, the Bridge Inn had become a free house with all of the external signage replaced/removed. However, despite the external changes, it maintained it's original character.

Trip to Wolverhampton Top Lock - 5 hrs 10 mins...again!

Our most recent visit was at lunchtime on Sunday 7th August 2016.

Our first non-Wednesday visit because the new boat Peggy Ellen is moored at Kings Bromley and so Brewood again becomes a more attractive stopping off point as there is no need to go through Wolverhampton.

What has now become subtly apparent is that the Bridge Inn is now a Marston's pub as evidenced by the small sign on the chimney breast. We had a very pleasant Sunday lunch in a pub that, although it has changed hands over the 29 years, has maintained it's character. 

#214 The Bull's Head, Bishopsgate Street, Birmingham : 1950's to 2017

Breaking one of my own rules we start off with a picture not taken by me and in all probability it was taken before I was born...just!

The photo was taken in the 1950's by Birmingham City Council Public Works Dept and can be found here along with a few other Birmingham pubs then and now.

It is a classic James & Lister Lea pub that in all my years in Birmingham had been known as the City Tavern. Also interesting to note that it was an Ansell's pub back in the 50's.

This is another picture not taken by me - I've purloined it from the Images of England website - it was taken on Saturday 21st August 1999 by Mr Peter Garratt. This was a year after it had been Grade II listed, but was looking in a pretty sorry state. During this closure it was rumoured that the interior fixtures, including the classic bar had been stolen.

Just four years later and I finally make a visit to The City Tavern as part of a canal trip on the evening of Wednesday 27th August 2003. Inside, it was just as I'd hoped, a proper old school Birmingham pub with the bar either replaced with a look-a-like or it maybe hadn't been stolen after all. (I'm sure someone will know the truth of the matter.) From the outside, all of the upstairs windows had been replaced, but the downstairs look like the originals are still in place. Attractive lanterns had also been added. In the intervening four years, the sites either side of the pub had been fully redeveloped.

 I frequently go past the pub for various networking meetings and took this picture on the morning of Tuesday 12th August 2014.

In the passing years the signage has changed with the name Davenports appearing and the downstairs windows having been replaced.

Moving on to the present day and momentous changes have occurred.

I took this photo on the afternoon of Friday 24th February 2017. The name had reverted back to The Bull's Head and it is now, officially, a Davenports pub. Interestingly, the downstairs windows have been changed again and there's a hanging sign on the corner. A full description of the refurbishment and resurrection of the Davenports brewery can be found here on their website.

In the interests of completeness, I actually went inside the pub and had a half of the Davenports Imperial IPA!

I would have sampled the Original Bitter, but it had run out. They also had some Dares beers on offer (details here), but of more interest, to at least one of my friends, is the resurrection of Highgate Old Ale and Dark Mild. The manager explained that Davenports had bought the rights to these beers and were making them to the original recipe.

For those of us who like lager, there was a fine selection with the taps on the back wall of the bar in the tiled area visible in the photo.

The interior of the pub is just as it was all those years ago when I'd last visited and hopefully it will have a great future as a proper pub.

It wouldn't surprise me if the newly revamped Bull's Head found it's way into the Good Beer Guide within the next few years.

© Photo Digital Art 2017

Well, I couldn't resist!

#180 The Boat, Minworth, West Midlands : 1986 to 2015

In the early 1980's The Boat was, technically, my local pub as I lived just around the corner in Minworth for a few months. It sits at the side of the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal and is the last, reasonably safe, overnight mooring before the centre of Birmingham. Over the years, we have been intermittent visitors having passed by more times than we've stopped.

Our first ever boating visit to The Boat was on the evening of Sunday 22nd August 1982, but sadly there's no pictorial record of the visit. I do, however, have a photo taken the next day as we made our way down the windswept Curdworth Locks.

Our next visit to The Boat was in the year that I'd decided to start taking a picture of each pub we visited. This was on the evening of Wednesday 30th July 1986.

Back in those days it had a cosy lounge and a fairly standard bar with pool table and dart board, but (as I recall) didn't do food.

Our boat, Emma Jane, moved away from the Midlands for a number of years and so we didn't stop there again until the evening of Tuesday 5th September 1995, close to the end of the journey bringing Emma Jane back to the Midlands.

On the outside, a complete transformation from a fairly standard Ansells pub into a 'Big Steak' pub!

We returned less than a year later, on the lunchtime of Friday 31st May 1996. This was a pit-stop on an 'epic' journey that took us from Fazeley Junction to Catherine-de-Barnes on the Grand Union Canal in a day (10 hours 20 minutes travelling time!).

Even in just 9 months, part of the exterior signage had disappeared and the paint was starting to peel!

It took us another 10 years before we came back to The Boat. This was mainly because we'd worked out that we could travel from Birmingham city centre to The Kingsley or Curdworth in a day's boating so we sailed on by The Boat on many occasions.

This was at lunchtime on Thursday 8th June 2006 and we still made it into the centre of Birmingham by evening - a 5 hour journey! Another complete transformation of the outside of the pub including a small extension at the front.

We returned at lunchtime on Thursday 6th June 2010 as part of what was, essentially, a repeat of our 2006 journey - this time it took us 5 hours 20 minutes to get into Birmingham!

Not too much of a change apart from the sheltered smoking area that has been added.

This next picture was taken on the afternoon of Sunday 11th May 2014 as I happened to be in the area following a Craft Fair at the Brook Marston Hotel. (There seemed to be little likelihood of us stopping here in the near future, so I thought I'd add a photo to the collection.)

Yet another external transformation. The smoking area remained, but the new extension has been radically altered.

Having predicted that we wouldn't be stopping here in the near future, our next visit was on the evening of Sunday 14th June 2015.

 Little change in a year. The internal layout of The Boat has hardly changed over the years, but it has been refurbished several times. The Boat has its own website and will hopefully be able to survive as a proper pub that does some food. 

#107 Bull's Head, Moseley, Birmingham : 1998 to 2012

The Bull's Head in Moseley was always at the bottom of the list of pubs we used to visit in Moseley when I was a student...but we did still go there quite a lot!! Back in those days (the late 70's), the Bull's Head was one of the pubs that was swapped and became a Courage pub in a ploy to give Midlanders more choice other than the M&B/Ansell's near monopoly in Birmingham.

I don't have a picture from those days, but I do have this one from some years later.

This picture was taken some time over the Easter Weekend in 1998 when we'd been thwarted by the elements in our attempts to get to Stratford on the canal. I don't remember too much about it, though I think the inside was relatively unchanged from previous years!

It was another four years before we returned to Moseley.

This was taken on Wednesday 15th August 2002 during an evening tour around the delights of Moseley. The Bull's Head was completely transformed. From the outside you can see that the entrance door had been moved (to what looks like it's original location) and the ground floor windows have been replaced. Inside was a complete revelation...not necessarily in a good way...the room had become open plan with lots of 'leather' sofas and armchairs - very modern. It no longer felt like a pub and the beer prices were noticeably higher than in the other nearby pubs. But, although it wasn't to my taste, it was good to see it reopened and under new ownership as it had been closed for a while.

I haven't been back for a drink for quite a few years now, but I took this photo on Sunday 11th November 2012.

As far as I can tell, the Bull's Head was almost completely unchanged, apart from the small advertising boards either side of the doors. I didn't go inside, so can't comment on the interior décor, however judging from the Bull's Head website, I'd guess that it has changed a bit, but it hasn't gone back to being a traditional boozer! Still, it is good to see it thriving which is the main thing! 

#091 The Fighting Cocks, Moseley, Birmingham : 1996 to 2012

Back in the days when I was a student, The Fighting Cocks was a vibrant pub that was always full and it was often difficult to get a seat. As I recall (and this is going back 30 ish years!) the front bar was split into two, one being self contained and the other half leading to the 'Lounge'. In those days it was an Ansells pub.

Fast forward now, to 1996.

If you're thinking, "I didn't realise Moseley was on the canal", you'd be correct. This picture was taken on the evening of Saturday 25th May 1996 at the start of a week long canal trip around the Midlands. Our aim had been to get into the centre of Birmingham and moor at Gas Street Basin, but the Drawbridge at Shirley had been inoperative when we arrived and the delay, when British Waterways finally fixed it, meant that we could only get as far as The Horsehoe on the outskirts of Kings Heath. So, after a pint there, we headed off to Moseley to revisit the 'dens of iniquity' of our youth!

I don't recall what it was like inside, but it was now called the Fieldmouse & Firkin at The Fighting Cocks.

We returned again in 1998, but I'm not sure of the exact date, however I do know that it was the Easter weekend. We had planned to take our 'traditional' canal trip to Stratford-upon-Avon, but things conspired to prevent us setting off. Firstly, the battery on Emma Jane was flat when we got there (almost certainly because I'd forgotten to charge it!), but this shouldn't have been a problem. We set it to charge and went to the pub for a long lunch. When we got back to the boat it appeared as though it was still charging, so we had a little nap to make sure it became fully charged. A couple of hours later, it was still charging (or so I thought), it was still pouring down outside and we were cold.

We took the decision to 'abandon boat' and went back to my place with a view to setting off the next day. However, when we saw the News at Six, it became obvious that we'd had a lucky escape as there was extensive flooding throughout the Midlands including the places we'd planned on going. So, Plan B came into operation. Spend the weekend at my house and visit some of our old haunts around Birmingham.

 Two years on and the Fighting Cocks was still a Firkin pub and, I think, unchanged inside.

We didn't return again for another four years. This time we'd taken a week to do some painting of the outside of Emma Jane and also visit some parts of the Midlands we'd not been to before. At that time I was presenting quiz nights on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so we couldn't go too far. This picture was taken on Wednesday 14th August 2002.

It was no longer a Firkin pub; it had become the Goose at the Fighting Cocks. Inside it had become one large room and there was no atmosphere. The 'Goose' chain of pubs was M&B's attempt to match what Wetherspoons were doing - basic pubs selling cheap booze, the only discernible difference being that Goose pubs did play music. The Fighting Cocks in 2002 was a perfect example of how to ruin a pub!

I haven't been back inside since then, but I took this photo on Sunday 11th November 2012 as I walked around Moseley to take up-to-date snaps of the pubs.

I was pleased to see that it is now back to being just The Fighting Cocks again and still unchanged outside, apart from the signage. Having looked at their website, it appears as though they've tried to recreate the look of the old front bar, but the whole 'feel' seems to be somewhat upmarket compared to my days as a student. It is still part of M&B, and is one of their Metro Professionals pubs.