#229 The Vaults, Rugeley, Staffs : 1987 to 2016

This will be a short entry for a pub we've only ever been in once, on the rainy evening of Tuesday 14th July 1987...we haven't been back; nor are we likely to!

Back then it was, as I recall, a fairly typical town centre pub called the Cabin Inn. It was a wet, dreary evening that put us off returning to Rugeley for many years!

Over recent years, we've stopped at Rugeley quite a few times, but never returned to the Cabin Inn which is now called The Vaults.

This was taken on the evening of Monday 28th March 2016 as we were passing by and heading for Wetherspoons. Something of a complete change in the intervening 29 years - it is interesting to note that out-of-town pubs have mostly gone down the food/gastro route to survival whereas a good number of town/city pubs have taken the live music route to maintain trade. I'm sure that the people who do go there have a good time and I'm always happy to see pubs surviving...but it isn't my sort of place.

#039 Saracen's Head, Weston, Staffs : 1987 to 2011

The first time we visited the Saracen's Head in Weston was in 1987. We'd passed through in 1981, but were on a tight schedule and didn't stop there. It was a lunchtime stop and the pub is as close to the Trent & Mersey Canal as you can get without being on the bank!

 I don't really remember too much about it other than there must have been food on offer as we stopped for lunch on Tuesday 14th July 1987.

I found it difficult to believe that the next time we stopped at Weston was in 1999!

This was an evening stop on Tuesday 31st August 1999 on our way to the Caldon Canal. Apart from the new signage there was a conservatory added to the back. When inside you can see that this feature has been added to give a more substantial eating area making the Saracens Head more of a restaurant than a pub.

We returned again in 2000, this time on the way up to Manchester.

This was lunchtime on Tuesday 29th August 2000.

Next visit was an evening stop on Monday 16th September 2002 on our way back from the Caldon Canal.

It's interesting to note that although seemingly exactly the same, there are subtle changes over the 3 years - mainly in the outdoor seating and the hanging baskets.

It wasn't until this year that we stopped in Weston again...on our way back from the Caldon Canal!

This was on the evening of Saturday 3rd September 2011. Now we can see a lot of changes on the outside - gone are the Bass Worthington signs, gone is the picture of a Saracen's Head and it's frame. The standard of cars in the car park is also somewhat higher than when we first visited here in 1987!

We didn't eat here on this visit (we haven't eaten here since 1999!) but we did pop in for a couple of pints and, inside, it is pretty much the same as I remember it from the last visit.

I'm not sure who owns it these days, but judging from the Saracens Head website it looks as though it is a free house, but it could be owned by a pubco!