#199 The Steamboat Inn, Trent Lock, Long Eaton, Notts : 1986 to 2015

On the occasions that we go to Nottingham on our boating trips we almost always stop at Trent Lock which means that we have two pubs to choose from - the Trent Lock (Formerly the Trent Navigation Inn) which I featured in July (#188) and The Steamboat Inn. (Well, I say 'choose', but we generally go into both!)

Our first visit to The Steamboat Inn was on the evening of Friday 25th July 1986 on our way to Nottingham.

It was a pleasant summer's evening and the pub was very busy. The only other thing I remember is that we won quite a few quid on the Quiz Machine (£10 Jackpot in those days!). The machine did its best to thwart us with the last two (supposedly random) questions being on railway steam engines. Fortunately, our crew member Matt was something of a railway buff and knew both answers!

We didn't return to Trent Lock until Saturday 30th August 1997 for a lunchtime stop.

As you'd expect, the outside had been redecorated in the intervening 11 years.

The next time we popped into The Steamboat Inn was at lunchtime on Thursday 3rd September 2009 on our way up the Erewash Canal for the first time.

Another complete external refurbishment, this time after a 12 year gap.

Our most recent visit was on Sunday 23rd August 2015 at lunchtime.

Just a repainting job on the outside over the previous six years looks to be the extent of the change, the lettering appears to be the same, albeit with a missing 'T'!

At first glance I'm surprised that two pubs, in what is an out-of-the-way place (by road), have survived through to the current day. But, on further reflection, both The Steamboat and the Trent Lock are very different in character - the Trent Lock always being like a proper 'country pub' with the Steamboat being a bit more 'brash' and having the feel of a seaside pub. When the sun is out, both do a roaring trade and I hope that they both make enough on the good days to survive through the bad ones.

One final observation: in the first picture there is a large tree behind the right hand chimney of the pub. Eleven years later it looks to still be there, but leafless, even thogh it is August. In 2009 the tree has gone. I'm assuming that these pictures have captured the death of an Elm tree caused by Dutch Elm Disease.

#192 New Inn, Long Buckby, Northamptonshire : 1986 to 2015

One of the things that I've noticed about pubs in this country is that, nine times out of ten, those that have a prime location on the inland waterways have appalling customer service and generally don't care because they don't have to. I'd like to say that the New Inn is an exception that proves the rule...but I can't!

The first time I visited the New Inn was on my very first canal trip back in 1980. In those days I wasn't taking pictures of the pubs we visited, but our logs record that we visited twice on that trip - Monday 16th April and Tuesday 24th April. They were both evening stops and I recall having a fantastic time playing skittles each time! We also stopped there on Friday 27th August 1982 and Thursday 30th August 1984 (Lunch) before the first time I took a picture on Monday 21st July 1986.

This was a lunchtime visit on a trip that would take us to Leicester and Nottingham.

In the early years Emma Jane was moored at Woodford on the River Nene, then Earlswood/Lapworth on the Stratford Canal which explains the frequent visits. Then Emma Jane was moved to Adlington on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and then down south to Cowley Peachey/Winkwell on the Grand Union Canal which is where we pick up the story again!

For a few years our 'summer' holiday consisted of heading north on the Grand Union for a week, see how far we got then turn round for the journey back. So, our next visit to the New Inn was at lunchtime on Friday 25th September 1992.

We were also there at lunchtime the very next day! This had been an eventful trip with a fire in the 'engine room' and a 24 hour delay because the canal was flooded near Grafton Regis! In the intervening six years the pub had acquired a hanging sign and the main sign had been replaced.

We were back the next year again...twice!

First on Thursday 23rd September 1993 in the evening.

Then again on the way back at lunchtime on Sunday 26th September 1993.

We were back on Sunday 4th September 1994 on our journey back for a lunch stop.

We'd missed out on the way up because of bad timing on the locks which closed at 4pm.

In 1995 we moved Emma Jane back to Lapworth and so our visit to the New Inn should have been the last for a few years. This visit was the first example of the intransigence of the people who ran the pub. It had been a slow morning coming up through the Buckby Locks and I'd gone ahead to see whether we'd be able to get something to eat if we were running a bit late. I was assured that we could get food.

We moored up at 14:05 on Thursday 31st August 1995 and dashed into the pub only to be told that food had stopped at 2pm! This was from the same woman who'd assured me it would be OK!

We returned on the evening of Monday 25th August 1997 on our way to Leicester and Nottingham again!

No problems this time and the hanging sign had returned.

In 2001, we took a trip down the Grand Union to cover some of the ground we'd become used to in the early 1990's. So, we had two (both lunchtime) stops at the New Inn. First on Monday 27th August 2001.

...and then again on Wednesday 5th September 2001.

Although the outside of the pub has seemingly not changed over the years, inside it had slowly transformed from a proper basic country pub into a more food based establishment. It was starting to look as though the skittle table would disappear, but, fortunately, that hasn't transpired.

Our next visit to the New Inn was on a springtime trip taking Emma Jane to Nuneaton for roof repairs.

 This was at lunchtime on Monday 30th May 2005. The main wall sign had finally changed after at least 15 years!

In 2009 anothr trip to Nottingham and Leicester (and the Erewash Canal) saw us stopping at the New Inn at lunchtime on Thursday 10th September 2009.

Our most recent stop was on the evening of Sunday 30th August 2015.

Again we were running a bit late as we'd had a 50 minute delay at Watford Locks. So, I'd phoned ahead to establish that the food stopped at 8pm. We moored up at 19:50 and got into the pub at 2 minutes past eight. The manager flatly said that the kitchen was closed and there was no food. A completely different manager, but he was channelling the same 'New Inn' attitude from twenty years previously.

Our evening was saved by the young woman I'd spoken to on the phone. She overheard the manager, had a word with the chef and offered us a choice of salad or sandwiches (no hot food) which was perfect!

The exterior signage had changed again, subtly whereas inside, little had changed over the past few years.

Just to demonstrate the "New Inn Attitude" I was very amused/disturbed by the replies of Michelle R to negative reviews on Tripadvisor which I discovered in my researches!

#188 Trent Lock Inn, Long Eaton, Derbyshire : 1986 to 2015

Trent Lock is where the River Trent meets the River Soar and the Erewash Canal and is where the counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire meet with the Soar forming the border between Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, and the Trent that of Derbyshire.

From a boater's point of view it is quite a scary junction, especially when the local sailing club is out in force. Our first visit was on the lunchtime of Sunday 27th July 1986 on the return from Nottingham.

Back in those days it was called the Trent Navigation Inn. This photo is taken from the beer garden which leads down to the jetty on the River Trent where we were moored. An attractive location.

We didn't return until the lunchtime of Sunday 31st August 1997. Again, returning from Nottingham.

Quite an external transformation had taken place in the intervening 11 years...but I still cannot remember what it was like inside!

We stopped again, this time with no trip to Nottingham, at lunchtime on Friday 22nd August 2003.

Another external makeover, but it still retained the name from previous visits.

The next stop was, again, at lunchtime on Wednesday 2nd September 2009. It was an unscheduled visit as we had planned our first trip up the Erewash Canal, but were stymied by a lack of water. Instead, and after lunch, we went to Nottingham first. When we returned the next day, the canal was clear for navigation.

Another six years had passed by and another refurbishment had occurred. It had now become more of a pub/restaurant hybrid with a rustic style interior.

Our most recent visit was yet another lunchtime stop on Sunday 23rd August 2015.

Six more years had passed and now the pub was part of M&B's Vintage Inns brand and had been renamed The Trent Lock!

So, over a period of 29 years this pub/restaurant has had four complete makeovers together with a name change, but yet the TV aerial is still the same! I'd also hazard a guess that the roof has also been untouched over that period.

#183 The Swan, Fradley Junction, Staffordshire : 1986 to 2016

The Swan at Fradley Junction is a classic canalside pub that really hasn't changed much throughout the years that we've been passing by. Our first stop there was back in 1983 before my cataloguing of our pub visits began.

Our first, recorded, visit was at lunchtime on Tuesday 29th July 1986 returning from a trip to Nottingham.

Fairly quiet, but it was midweek!

We returned a year later, again at lunchtime, on Wednesday 15th July 1987.

More people about this time, probably because it was a sunny day. Back in those days, you could moor up right outside the pub.

After this visit, our boat Emma Jane spent a few years moored near Wigan and then a few more years berthed on the Grand Union Canal near to Hemel Hempstead nd so our next visit to The Swan wasn't until lunchtime on Thursday 30th May 1996.

In the intervening years, the hanging sign had been renewed, the main pub sign had turned 'gold', the porch roof had been re-covered and the upstairs window shutters had disappeared. Apart from that, it was completely unchanged.

On this occasion, the pub let us down, from memory they'd stopped serving food at 2pm leaving us without lunch while we got our leaking shower tray fixed. Fortunately, we managed to acquire provisions from the shop next door.

Our next visit was an evening stop on Monday 30th August 1999.

Little seemed to have changed.

Next visit was on the evening of Tuesday 17th September 2002 on our way back from a trip that should've taken us to Chester but instead took us to Leek on the Caldon Canal.

No real changes but the hanging sign was starting to show signs of severe fading.

We returned the next year at lunchtime on Sunday 24th August 2003.

It was a Bank Holiday weekend that coincides with the Wychnor Boat Rally which led to the locks being very busy and progress was slow. Allied to it also being a hot day meant that we weren't best pleased to be told that the food was Sunday lunch only - NO sandwiches available! Once again we had to avail ourselves of the provisions available in the shop next door; the first, and so far only, time I've had Turkey Ham! Notice also that the hanging sign is missing, but hanging baskets have appeared below the upstairs windows.

It was another couple of years before we ventured back, this time on the evening of Sunday 21st August 2005.

Again no changes and the hanging sign was still missing!

We were back again at lunchtime on Wednesday 7th June 2006.

It looks like the hanging sign had returned and parasols adorned the outdoor tables.

Our next stop was on the evening of Sunday 30th August 2009 at the start of a two week trip that would take us up the Erewash Canal for the first time.

We returned almost exactly a year later on the evening of Sunday 29th August 2010, this time at the start of a journey that took us through Manchester.

The baskets below the upper windows had gone.

Again, almost exactly a year later we passed by on Sunday 28th August 2011, the last year of Emma Jane.

In the following years we hired boats that took us to parts of the canal system that we'd never visited before and it wasn't until 2015 that we returned. William's new boat, Peggy Ellen, is moored at nearby Kings Bromley so we've been visiting The Swan somewhat more frequently.

This was on the evening of Monday 25th May 2015 and, despite it being a Bank Holiday they didn't seem to have run out of anything. We were also treated to some unexpected entertainment when a man walked in with a parrot on his shoulder!

We were there again on Monday 15th June 2015 in the evening.

And again on the evening of Friday 3rd September 2015.

Since 2011, the main pub sign on the front wall had gone back to black lettering, but everything else was as on previous occasions.

All of our visits during 2015 were charcterised by excellent service and very good food, often served under quite stressful conditions as The Swan gets very busy and has a small bar for serving. Sometimes in the past it wasn't always so good as certain owners/managers/landlords didn't try too hard, essentially, because they didn't have to. The Swan is in such a good location that when the sun comes out people flock there and certain managers had realised that they didn't need to put in as much effort.

On the day before our most recent visit I'd learnt that The Swan was under new management, which I hoped was a good sign as we were making a very special trip. Our friend Mike was coming over from Canada (first time we'd seen him since 1995) and another friend Matt was coming up from near Oxford for a reunion of former crewmates of Emma Jane. (Mike's last trip was in 1981 and Matt's 1987!)

So, we boarded Peggy Ellen for the 90 minute journey to Fradley Junction. We negotiated the three locks with ease, found a mooring and went to the pub.

This was on Friday 6th May 2016. Mike and Matt are at the front; Andrew is steering and smoothly turning Peggy Ellen.

Lunch, however, did not go quite so smoothly. There have been some, so far minor, alterations to the inside of the pub and hopefully there will be some more to better utilise some of the space. 

Firstly, it took an age to get a round of drinks (the pub was quite busy and obviously the new staff aren't up to the speed required here) and there was no soda water on stream for my Blackcurrant & Soda. A minor irritation; I had tap water instead.

Then, on to the food. Our order was 3 x Cottage Pies, 1 x Cumberland Sausage and 1 x Ploughman's Lunch (for me). Except they didn't have any Ploughman's left! OK, another irritation, I chose Fish & Chips. Half an hour later I was told by the server that they'd run out of Fish & Chips as well! After ascertaining that they had some, I chose Cottage Pie.

We were finally served our food about an hour after we'd placed the original order. My Cottage Pie was alright, but it had an Italian ambience to it, and the accompanying vegetables were derisory; hardly more than a garnish!

I do hope the new management get a grip on things because if they don't it will be a disaster for them and the pub.

ADDENDUM (June 2019)
In all our subsequent visits the service has been faultless, so it looks like the teething problems were resolved.

#179 The Great Northern, Langley Mill, Derbyshire : 2009 to 2015

Langley Mill is a small town at the current terminus of the Erewash Canal, which, until 2009, was a stretch of canal that we'd never ventured along.

Our original plan had been to go up the Erewash and then go on to Nottingham, but when we arrived at Trent Lock, the Erewash Canal was closed. So, a couple of days later than planned, we arrived at the Great Northern Basin at lunchtime on Friday 4th September 2009.

A pleasant looking pub that, on the day we were there, was being refurbished and there was no food on offer! This meant that we had just the one pint before heading off to sample the delights of Langley Mill.

It was another six years (and another boat) before we ventured back up the Erewash Canal. Again we went to Nottingham first; this time, by design to collect our third crewman. This time, we reached Langley Mill at lunchtime on Tuesday 25th August 2015 and, after a very poor effort turning the new boat Peggy Ellen (by yours truly) we went to the pub! (In my defence, you'd expect the Great Northern Basin to be a large expanse of water with plenty of room to moor and to turn a boat. It isn't! Essentially it is a canal junction where the currently defunct Nottingham and Cromford canals meet the Erewash. Although, as my crewmates pointed out, it was still a piss-poor attempt at turning a narrowboat!)

The pub had undergone a complete exterior makeover in the intervening years, but inside it still felt like a proper pub...and, this time, food was available.

Further research shows that The Great Northern is run by Pub People who operate over 40 pubs in the East Midlands (Bought from Greene King in 2013). It is good to see that companies are still investing in pubs!