#223 The Beehive, Northwich, Cheshire : 2006 to 2016 (RIP)

On our first ever boating trip to Northwich, we discovered this great little town centre pub, The Beehive Inn.

This was on the evening of Saturday 2nd September 2006 and we had something of a pub crawl around Northwich with The Beehive being the most memorable of the hostelries we visited.

We were next in Northwich on the evening of Sunday 5th September 2010. This time we were on the Trent & Mersey Canal on our way home after a trip to Manchester. We were late mooring at the Old Broken Cross (#213), missed the food and so ventured into Northwich in search of sustenance.

This was late on in the evening and it was difficult to tell whether it had been open earlier, or not.

Our most recent visit to Northwich (via the River Weaver) was on the evening of Saturday 13th August 2016 and this is the sad sight that we found.

The Beehive Inn is no more, but at least the estate agents who are now located there have retained (as much as possible) the frontage of the old pub. 

#087 Beehive, Curdworth, Warks : 2006 to 2011

I'd been aware of the Beehive in Curdworth for a long while and I'd visited for a business lunch many years earlier, but our first canal visit was on Wednesday 6th September 2006.

Usually, when our boating trips took us along the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal, we would stop just outside Curdworth at The Kingsley. This was a Beefeater and had very good moorings, but the pub had been going downhill for some years and was closed when we moored up for the night. So, we took the 20 minute walk back to Curdworth and headed straight for the Beehive.

Inside it is a pub of 'two halves'. As you enter the door from the car park you step into a proper pub and a proper bar populated by locals. Walk through to the back and you're now in the restaurant, which is where we headed after a couple of pints in the bar. The food was good pub grub and we had an enjoyable evening - so good, in fact, that we returned the very next year.

This was on Saturday 26th May 2007 and, unsurprisingly, the place hadn't changed a bit.

Our next visit was on Saturday 28th August 2010.

The Beehive was unchanged on the inside, but on the outside there was the added smoking area just to the right of the front door (and a satellite dish above the toilets).

Our last visit was on Wednesday 1st June 2011 near the end of a one week circuit around the Midlands.

Again the pub was unchanged.

To see how the Beehive has changed over the years follow these links to see what it looked like in the 1900's and 1930's

#051 White Horse, Curdworth, Warks : 1987 to 2011

In the early 1980's I lived in nearby Minworth and drove by the White Horse on many occasions. In those days it was a fairly ordinary looking red brick pub and I never went inside - it was too far to walk to and not interesting enough to drive to!

The first time I set foot inside was at lunchtime on Thursday 16th July 1987 on our way back to our moorings after a two week canal trip.

As you can see it isn't a red brick buidling any more. In the intervening years since I'd moved away, the old pub had been demolished and a new building put in its place. Inside it was modern and without atmosphere, partly due to the fact that we were there very early and were the only people in there at the start. As I recall the food was good and we left, not to return for many years!

On our canal trips we often pass through Curdworth, but almost never stop in the village. For many years, our preferred stop was at The Kingsley just outside the village. When we first stopped there it was a Beefeater and the moorings were right outside. We revisited it many times until it recently closed and then reopened as a restaurant. Another reason for not visiting Curdworth more often has been the lack of mooring space for our boat, which is still an issue.

In recent years we have stopped a Curdworth a few times, but usually drank and ate in The Beehive which is more of an old style village pub with a separate bar and restaurant area. On our last trip we visited the White Horse on our way back to the canal for our last pint of the night.

This photo was taken on Wednesday 1st June 2011. The White Horse is no longer a proper pub, but is one of M&B's Vintage Inns. I have been there a couple of times outside of boating holidays and it is an acceptable place for food, pretty much like any other Vintage Inn.

I have mixed feelings about Vintage Inns; on the one hand the food is generally good and reliable, which can come in handy on our boating adventures, but on the other hand they're all the same and the faux 'county pub' decor lacks any character. However, in this modern age of pub closures, I'm thankful for small mercies...and at least you can still just order a drink!

"There has been a building on the site of The White Horse pub since Georgian times, when the pub was regularly frequented by blacksmiths, farmers and even other publicans. One one family, the Lucas, ran the White Horse from 1845 until the early 20th century." 

This quote is from the Curdworth Parish Council website and just shows how much times have changed!