#262 Swan Hotel, Brewood, Staffordshire : 1987 to 2018

Another village that we probably could have visited more is Brewood on the Shropshire Union Canal. There are three pubs (were four, but the Admiral Rodney is now a small housing estate!)

The pub we're most likely to visit in Brewood is the Bridge Inn (#224) which is the first pub you come across as you ascend from the canal cutting into the village. There are occasions, though, when we make the short walk into the centre of the village where both the Red Lion and Swan stand on the sides of the village square.

The first time we ventured into the Swan Hotel was on the evening of Wednesday 8th July 1987.

Back then it was an M&B pub and quite a lively, basic village local.

It was a good number of years before we set foot in the Swan Hotel again.

 This was a lunchtime visit on Wednesday 31st August 2005, just 18 years since our first encounter. The main change was that it had beome a Free House. Inside it was little different from before.

We didn't leave it so long before the next visit which was on the evening of Wednesday 8th September 2010.

This time there were no discernible changes - inside or out.

Our most recent visit was a lunchtime stop on Sunday 26th August 2018.

Remarkably, it was still unchanged from 2005. It also doesn't do food on a Sunday lunchtime so I survived on a diet of pub snacks and a couple of pints of Salopian Lemon Dream, which was gorgeous!

#256 The Poacher's Pocket, Gledrid, Shropshire : 1996 to 2018

Our first boating trip all the way up the Llangollen Canal was in 1996, although we'd gone as far as Whitchurch in 1981. Our first visit to The Poacher's Pocket was at lunchtime on Monday 26th August 1996.

This was the view from the canal side entrance to the pub. As I recall it was a pleasant pub and the first we'd come across in quite a few miles resulting in a very late lunch (we moored up at 2:25 pm!).

On our next trip along the Llangollen Canal, The Poacher's Pocket provided the ideal spot to rendezvous with our third crew member Andrew.

This was on the evening of Thursday 30th August 2007 and the pub was, remarkably, unchanged.

Our next visit was an Easter trip when we'd hired a boat from Chirk Marina and this was our final stop before handing the boat back in the morning.

This was on the evening of Monday 21st April 2014 and, for some reason, I'd decided to take a photo of the more attractive front of the pub (rather than provide a consistent view through the years!). Despite the change of perspective, there's no hiding the wholesale redevelopment and expansion of the pub into a substantial Marston's pub/restaurant. Even the name has been changed! After eating and a couple of pints we chose to leave and finish the session in the Bridge Inn, just a short(ish) stroll away.

Our most recent visit was a lunchtime stop on Friday 31st August 2018 on our way to Llangollen.

Pretty much unchanged from the previous visit, but this time I did take a shot from the canal side entrance which properly shows just how much the pub has been expanded.

#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.

#242 The Bridge Inn, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire : 1997 to 2017

Stourport-on-Severn isn't a place we visit frequently on our canal trips, but it is always a joy for those of us who like a good variety of pubs.

Usually, when we've moored on the canal, The Bridge Inn is the furthest pub from us and so, we often don't make it there. So, although we'd been to Stourport on a few occasions, this was our first visit to the pub.

It was on the evening of Tuesday 27th May 1997 after a day's trip up the River Severn from Worcester. I have little recollection about the inside of the pub.

Our next visit was six years later on the evening of Tuesday 27th May 2003.

Although it looks very different, it is hard to ascertain how many changes there were because I've taken the photo from the opposite side! What is 'interesting' though, is that a new street light has appeared outside the pub.

Our next visit to The Bridge Inn was on a rare lunchtime stop in Stourport on Tuesday 27th May 2008. (Amazingly the same date as the previous visits!)

A fair amount of re-signage had taken place over the intervening period, but the pub maintained its basic character.

In 2013 we were stranded in Stourport as the River Severn was un-navigable. It wasn't in flood, but the levels were well up on normal. We didn't venture into The Bridge, but I also didn't take a photo even though we walked past it twice!

On our most recent visit to Stourport, we didn't go into The Bridge, but I did take this photo.

This was on the evening of Tuesday 8th August 2017 and it is plain to see that the exterior has undergone a complete renewal.

Having done a bit of research, The Bridge Inn is now part of Star Pubs & Bars which are the managed pubs run by Heineken which may indicate a long-term future for it...although they are looking for a new landlord/tenant!

#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. 

#111 Bridge Inn, Napton, Warwickshire : 1994 to 2012

If I'd been on the ball I'd've made the Admiral Nelson entry #111, but I wasn't so you get this pub instead! (A little 'joke' for the cricket fans amongst you!)

However, it has worked out quite well because the Bridge Inn is right by Bridge 111 on the Oxford Canal.

I'm fairly sure that my first ever visit to the Bridge was on my first ever canal trip in 1980 - we certainly moored at Napton on the evening of Monday 23rd April 1980 according to the Emma Jane log book. In those days it was called the Napton Bridge Inn.

The first photographic evidence is from Thursday 1st September 1994.

This was an evening stop and I'm fairly sure that we only had one pint here at the end of a pub crawl around the village of Napton.

Our next visit was three years later on Bank Holiday Monday 25th August 1997 at lunchtime. We arrived just in time to get food as they stopped serving at 2 pm! And, in the next hour, they turned away quite a large number of people who wanted to eat there. (Aaah! The good old days!!)

Although it is from a completely different angle it is still possible to see that the signage has completely changed and it is now a Greenall's pub.

Our next visit was on our way back from Oxford and what a change!

This was on the evening of Wednesday 25th August 2004 and it was now called The Bridge at Napton. It was completely transformed into a restaurant with a bar attached! But the food was good, so we didn't venture any further afield!

We were back again on Wednesday 30th May 2007 and again we spent the whole evening there.

Although not clear from this picture, the pub was largely unchanged.

We were back again two years later - the reason for such regular revisiting is because of the pub's relative proximity to the junction of the Oxford and Grand Union Canals.

This was on the evening of Thursday 10th September 2009 and the pub was still almost completely unchanged and we spent a pleasant evening there...again!

Our last canal visit was on Sunday 29th May 2011 and there had been some changes to the outside.

It was now renamed the Napton Bridge Inn, but only Bridge was in large letters. However, we only had one pint there and caught a taxi into Southam for the evening!

My final picture is from Sunday 26th August 2012 taken as I was passing by in the car.

Some slight changes visible, but as I've found out subsequently, this picture was taken at the time it was changing hands!