#078 The Boat, Newbold-on-Avon, Warks : 1995 to 2011

My first ever visit to The Boat was on the evening of 17th April 1980 on my first canal trip on Emma Jane. In those days I hadn't started taking a photo of every pub we visited.

It wasn't until Friday 1st September 1995 that I returned to The Boat, this time on the trip that brought our boat Emma Jane back to the Midlands from Winkwell on the Grand Union Canal.

Next door to The Boat is the Barley Mow which has already featured in this series - #053. So, each time we stop at Newbold-on-Avon we inevitably visit both pubs, this means that I have little more to add to the text - so here are the pictures!

This was on the evening of Monday 29th May 2000 and the pub hadn't really changed much.

Another five years had passed before we were in Newbold again, this time a lunch stop on Tuesday 31st May 2005. This time the outside had been extensively redecorated and inside it had been refurbished to give a more modern feel.

Our final visit, to date, was on Monday 30th May 2011 in the evening. This time I have two photos to give a better all round view of the pub and the changes.

 This view shows the Barley Mow in the background.

This view better shows how the outside of the pub has changed over the years. Inside there were more changes but it still had the pool table. You can see pictures here.

#072 Newbold Crown, Newbold-on-Avon, Warks : 2005 to 2011

Believe it or not, we've visited Newbold-on-Avon many times on our canal trips (including my first ever trip in 1980!), but it wasn't until 2005 that we ventured beyond the Boat and Barley Mow (#053) and discovered the Newbold Crown!

It is a fairly standard estate/village pub that was quite welcoming on our visits. This first encounter was at lunchtime on Tuesday 31st May 2005 on a trip to take our boat to Nuneaton for repairs.

Our next visit was on the evening of Monday 30th May 2011. As we'd stopped quite early, we decided to have a bit of a pub crawl around Newbold-on-Avon. This meant revisiting the Newbold Crown for the first time in 6 years - and it had hardly changed. It is still a friendly local, but as we were there early in the evening it was fairly quiet (and it was a Monday!)

There's not much more to add, except that it is listed on the local CAMRA website.

#053 Barley Mow, Newbold-on-Avon, Warks : 1995 to 2011

My first ever visit to the Barley Mow was on the evening of 17th April 1980 on my first canal trip on Emma Jane. In those days I hadn't started taking a photo of every pub we visited. To get some idea of what it looked like, visit this link which shows the pub in 1976.

My next visit was a lunchtime stop on 1st September 1995 on our trip to take Emma Jane back to her 'new' moorings at Lapworth.

The Barley Mow is right by the Oxford Canal, just down a little lane close to Newbold Tunnel. The remarkable thing is that the next-door building is also a pub, The Boat. That makes it a perfect stop for a mini pub crawl!

Next time was another evening stop on 29th May 2000.

This photo is taken from outside The Boat looking back towards the canal.

Another five years later and we're back!

This was another lunchtime stop on 31st May 2005. By this time it looks like the pub was no longer an M&B house.

And finally...we move on to my most recent visit. This time we were on our way to have Emma Jane assessed for potential repairs to the cabin by Brinklow Boats who are a little further along the Oxford Canal. Unfortunately there aren't any pubs near the cut at Brinklow so we took the onerous decision to stop at the Barley Mow early in the evening on 30th May 2011.

The outside of the pub has had a complete makeover, but inside it hasn't really changed that much. There is a fairly extensive restaurant area serving very good food and, in the bar, there is a skittles table. This is always a bonus for us as we like to have a game of Northamptonshire Skittles (also known as Hood Skittles). We're not very good, but we both enjoy it having originally been shown how to play on our first ever canal trips.