#260 Lord Combermere, Audlem, Cheshire : 2007 to 2018

On the Shropshire Union Canal the village of Audlem is well known for its flight of fifteen locks and the two canalside pubs which I've previously reported on (#255) and (#122).

It is a village that we've visited many times, the first being way back in 1981 on only my second ever canal trip. That will also reinforce our sometimes lack of adventure in finding pubs when there are ones so close to the canal. Although, this is quite extreme as it only took us 26 years to venture the 100 metres to the Lord Combermere!

Our first visit was on the evening of Monday 3rd September 2007.

As I remember it was a decent enough pub that didn't really have too much character.

We returned on the evening of Monday 8th August 2016.

It hadn't changed much apart from extra exterior seating, I assume in accommodation of the smoking ban.

Our most recent visit was at lunchtime on Tuesday 4th September 2018.

We'd ventured there as we'd had a terrible lunch experience at the Shroppie Fly a few days earlier and decided to take our custom elsewhere. The pub had had a bit of a makeover and was as pleasant as previously. For a more comprehensive review of the interior of the pub see BRAPA's excellent blog. I can't say that I disagree with his conclusion.

#255 Bridge Inn, Audlem, Cheshire : 2002 to 2018

Anyone who has cruised along the Shropshire Union Canal will be aware of Audlem, with it's flight of 15 locks and the attractive Shroppie Fly pub right beside the canal. For many years we never ventured beyond that classic canalside pub.

However, over the years, as the Shroppie Fly has gone through difficult times, we've tried the other pubs in the village. As befits the name, the Bridge Inn is the nearest to the canal, but is not visible from the cut, even though it is next to the bridge!

So, despite first visiting Audlem in 1981, the first recorded visit to the Bridge Inn was at lunchtime on Wednesday 11th September 2002.

A reasonably comfortable Marston's pub that did food - just what we needed.

Our next visit was another lunchtime stop on Monday 29th August 2005.

 I don't think that it had been redecorated, the colour difference is due to the vagaries of photos in bright and overcast conditions (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

Although we visited Audlem several more times it wasn't until Monday 8th August 2016 that we revisited the Bridge Inn (again for lunch).

This is the rear approach to the pub from the canal showing the (fairly recent, but don't know when) extension. Still the same character as previously.

Our most recent visit was on Tuesday 4th September 2018 for yet another lunchtime stop.

The pub was largely unchanged and as pleasant as ever.

#207 The Boat, Penkridge, Staffordshire : 1991 to 2016

Our first experience of The Boat was back in 1981 on my second ever narrowboat journey. This turned into an epic trip because the lock flight at Audlem was closed and we had to travel for at least 12 hours per day for three days to get to Birmingham for our scheduled rendezvous. Our normal day would have been 8 hours max.

At lunchtime on Friday 14th August 1981 on this trip we were passing through the lock adjacent to the pub and it was my job to get a pint for each crew member as we didn't have time to actually stop. These were consumed as we passed through the lock and the glasses returned before we were on our way again.

We didn't pass this way again for many years and the location of this event became somewhat of a mystery until the evening of Sunday 28th July 1991 when we once again passed through the lock and moored up at Penkridge.

Sadly not my best photo. I don't really remember much about it inside, probably not unrelated to the fact that it was our last port of call for the evening!

Emma Jane then spent a few years on the Southern Grand Union Canal, but we were back at The Boat at lunchtime on Wednesday 29th May 1996.

I took this picture to give the view from the lock, but it doesn't give any idea of changes that may (or may not) have taken place.

The next visit was on the evening of Monday 25th August 2003 and again, it is a poor picture as it was our last stop of the night having gone into the village first.

The exterior signage had changed over the seven years we'd been away.

We were back again at lunchtime on Tuesday 1st June 2010 and, as you can guess, it was a World Cup year...just before England's dismal failure in South Africa!

It was during this visit that I remember finding the interior somewhat sparse and not particularly welcoming, not helped by the lack of clientele.

We were back again just over a year later on the evening of Sunday 4th September 2011.

Not sure whether we actually went inside, but I made it a point to take the picture before setting off for the village! It looks so much better without the England flags!

Our next foray into Penkridge came on the evening of Wednesday 10th June 2015.

Again we used it as our last port of call, but now I have a digital camera (and more technical proficiency!) so I can manage to get much better night time shots. Enough to be able to see that the exterior signage had again changed.

Finally, our most recent visit to Penkridge was on the afternoon of Saturday 6th August 2016 and we were just passing through so I took this shot as I was working the lock.

It is good to see that The Boat continues to survive. It has the perfect location for warm summer days and must generate enough trade during the rest of the year to keep going. For more details their website is here. 

#122 Shroppie Fly, Audlem, Cheshire : 1987 to 2012

I'm not exactly sure when I first visited the Shroppie Fly. It could have been in 1981 when we got delayed and had to turn round at Audlem, but the first photo I have is from 1987.

This was a lunchtime stop on Friday 10th July 1987, just about halfway round our trip from Lapworth to Worcester then up to Barbridge Junction and back via Stoke and Birmingham. The Shroppie Fly has a perfect location canalside about three quarters of the way down the Audlem flight of locks.

Emma Jane was moored near Wigan for a couple of years and then down south on the Grand Union Canal near Berkhamsted so it was a number of years before I returned.

This was another lunchtime stop on Monday 2nd September 1996  on our way back from Llangollen and Chester. There were very few obvious changes. (The Bass signs have gone!)

One of the charms of the Shroppie Fly is the bar made from the bow of a narrowboat.

This is what it looked like in 1996.

It was another four years before we returned, this time on the way back from a trip to Manchester.

Yet another lunchtime stop, on Tuesday 5th September 2000. The main pub sign had changed and most of the minor signs have disappeared...and just look at the growth of ivy on the end wall!

Although we did stop at Audlem in 2002, our next visit to the Shroppie Fly was on Monday 29th August 2005...again a lunchtime pit-stop on our way back from Chester.

For a change I took a photo from the other side. In the five years since our last visit the exterior had been completely refurbished and painted cream with blue and gold signage.

We returned the next year, this time heading north and on our way to the Anderton Boat Lift and Northwich.

This was taken from the stern of Emma Jane as we moored up right outside the pub at lunchtime on Wednesday 30th August 2006. This view gives a better view of the changes since 2000. Inside it was pretty much the same as before.

This is the post-lunch view from the stern of the boat going down in the lock.

In 2007 we were back again...twice! The first visit was lunchtime on Tuesday 28th August 2007 on our way to Llangollen.

This shot shows the direct comparison between then and the previous years.

On our way back from Llangollen we stopped in Audlem again for an evening stop! (Finally!!) As we had plenty of time we visited all three pubs in the village with the Shroppie Fly being our final port of call.

This was on Monday 3rd September 2007.

In 2010 we repeated our trip to Manchester that we did in 2000 and we stopped at the Shroppie Fly on Tuesday 7th September 2010 (Lunchtime).

Another complete refurb on the outside, this time with white paint and red signage. We managed to moor right outside to take on water before we moved along and went inside for lunch.

Throughout the years, the inside of the pub has remained largely unchanged and I took the opportunity to take another photo of the bar.

And so...we get to our final visit to the Shroppie Fly. This was on Thursday 12th April 2012 on our first ever hire boat trip...but it was still a lunchtime stop!

Again, little change from two years earlier.

Since our last visit, the Shroppie Fly has been closed and reopened and is now under yet another new management regime. Details can be found here. It would be a great shame if the Shroppie Fly were to close, but the news looks to be good and I'll keep my fingers crossed that it is still there next time I'm passing by.

#117 The Oddfellows, Nantwich, Cheshire : 1996 to 2012

When I came to review the logs of our canal trips through the years, I was very surprised to find that the first time we ever stopped at Nantwich was in 1996, sixteen years since my first canal trip! Our usual itinerary was to stop at Audlem on the way up on the Shropshire Union Canal followed by a visit to Ye Olde Barbridge Inn (or reverse on the way down). Nantwich is between these two.

My first visit was on Saturday 24th August 1996 when we picked up Emma Jane there from Andrew who'd had a two week trip from Lapworth.

As it was a lunchtime, we retired to the nearest pub, the Oddfellows Arms (as it was named then), for a few pints before we set off for our first journey to Llangollen.

We didn't return to Nantwich again until Sunday 28th August 2005 on our way back from a trip to Chester.

This was an evening stop and it allowed us to explore Nantwich further after our first port of call, The Oddfellows. From the outside, the pub was very different, but inside it was still the same welcoming, proper pub that it was before.

We were back again the next year on a trip that should have taken us to Manchester. We never made it that far as we'd fallen half a day behind schedule within the first two days! Still, this tardiness on our part meant that we could visit the Anderton Boat Lift and take the trip down to the River Weaver.

This was on the evening of Wednesday 30th August 2006 and again we took the opportunity to sample the delights of Nantwich. For those of us who like pubs, Nantwich provides a fine selection, many of which we've now sampled! The Oddfellows was largely unchanged.

We were back in Nantwich again in 2007 (twice), but didn't pay a visit to The Oddfellows on either visit!

Our most recent visit was on Thursday 12th April 2012 on our first trip on a hire boat.

At first glance, the pub is almost unchanged, but the small Burtonwood sign has gone, the windows have been replaced and a new sign has appeared on the right hand end wall. Inside was largely the same as before...small, cosy and welcoming.

It is now a Marston's pub and despite the subtle name change, most websites still refer to it as the Oddfellows Arms!

#100 Two Boats, Long Itchington, Warwickshire : 1981 to 2012

Well, I've made it to my 100th entry on this blog and I thought I'd treat you to a special post. Although I only started to take a picture of every pub we visited in 1986, I found this photo from only my second ever trip on Emma Jane in 1981.

This first visit to the Two Boats was on the evening of Wednesday 19th August 1981. I don't remember much about the pub in those days, but it was very convenient being right on the canal bank. That visit was close to the end of an epic canal trip that had started out from Preston Brook 12 days previously. For the first week of the journey we'd been up against the clock because of a breach in the canal near Audlem on the Shropshire Union and to get to Birmingham on time we were sometimes travelling for 12 hours per day non-stop. Once we'd reached Birmingham, the next week was much more leisurely with the replacement crew of Andrea and Jackie!

I did visit the Two Boats again in 1984 (29th August), but didn't take a picture!

Circumstances conspired to make it so that our next stop at the Two Boats was on the evening of Sunday 24th August 1997 at the beginning of a journey that would take us to Nottingham and Leicester.

Over the intervening 16 years the pub was no longer a Whitbread house and, miraculously, the chimneys had disappeared!

We returned again the next year, on our way to Oxford.

This was at lunchtime on Tuesday 1st September 1998. We would have been here earlier in the week, but we'd broken down in Warwick and had to wait two days for an engineer to fix the engine! Remarkably in just 12 months the outside had been completely transformed. However, inside it was still pretty much the same. It was a small pub with two rooms that made very good pub food and whenever the sun's out it can get very busy...but they've always managed to cope with the demand whenever we've been there.

It was another three years before our next visit, this time on our way to Aylesbury.

Another lunchtime stop, this time on Sunday 26th August 2001 and you can see how busy it was on that Bank Holiday Sunday. Again there are more changes to the outside signage!

The next visit was at lunchtime on Sunday 17th August 2003 on the way to Leicester.

Remarkably, the Two Boats was unchanged!

Over the following years we visited every other year and there were few changes, but the photos are shown below.

Lunchtime on Saturday 28th May 2005...first time we'd ever managed to moor right outside!

Lunchtime on Thursday 31st May 2007 - taken from Emma Jane, just as we moored up outside again (we don't like to have to walk too far for our lunch!!)

In 2009 we stopped at the Two Boats twice. Firstly on Sunday 24th May 2009 and then again at lunchtime on Friday 11th September 2009.

The only visible change was the removal of the trellis that had been there since at least 1998!

Again, it was another two years before we returned and again, the Two Boats had undergone another transformation!

Not only had it been whitewashed (again), but it was now a Charles Wells pub. This was at lunchtime on Sunday 29th May 2011 and I was expecting to see radical changes inside as well, but was pleasantly surprised to see that it was unchanged and, more importantly, the landlord was still the same. The food was also just as good as ever!

We did visit again that year on Emma Jane's last voyage, this time on the evening of Saturday 5th November 2011.

This was our last visit (so far) on our canal trips, but I did drive by in 2012 to get a more up-to-date shot.

This was on Sunday 26th August 2012 and I'm happy to report that the Two Boats is still as busy as ever, especially when the sun is out!