#230 Three Horseshoes, Fazeley, Staffordshire : 2006 to 2017

We first visited Fazeley from the canal in 1987, but it wasn't until 2006 that we discovered the Three Horseshoes - a whole 19 years where we didn't look beyond the A5 that passes through the town!

We discovered this gem, lurking behind the Tesco Express on the evening of Wednesday 7th June 2006.

It was, then, a proper boozer and we were amazed that it is only about 50 yards away from where we'd been drinking on previous visits! As I recall, we had one pint and got a taxi into Tamworth as it didn't do food.

We didn't leave it too long before we returned in an attempt to redress the years of neglect. We popped in at lunchtime on Wednesday 6th September 2006.

Amazingly, it hadn't changed!

We returned again at lunchtime on Sunday 30th August 2009.

Still no change...apart from the small barrier to stop the skip from rolling into the road!

It didn't take us long to get back for another visit. It was the evening of Wednesday 2nd June 2010.

I was shocked to see that the sign by the skip had disappeared. The eagle-eyed amongst you will also have noticed the mobility scooter by the front door.

We were back again on the lunchtime of Sunday 29th August 2010.

Remarkably, still unchanged and the mobility scooter is still just visible.

It was a while before we returned, this time on the lunchtime of Monday 15th June 2015.

It is amazing how much can change in five short years - a brand new Bass sign, a new skip and the mobility scooter now has a cover!

We were back on the lunchtime of Monday 13th June 2016.

For some reason, I took the picture from the other side, but it is still enough to know that it hadn't changed.

And now onto our most recent visit, just a few short days ago at lunchtime on Wednesday 16th August 2017.

Still unchanged and inside it is still the same welcoming bar that it has always been and, despite all of the adverse conditions for the pub trade since we first visited in 2006, the place was doing a very brisk trade for a Wednesday lunchtime...in a pub that doesn't serve food!

It still has a proper local pub atmosphere and when I took this picture for Retired Martin, there was a bit of good natured banter, which finished with one of the locals saying, "...and it's the best pint in Fazeley!"

I hope it continues unchanged into the foreseeable future, but who knows what may happen as it would appear that it is up for sale by Fleurets. 

#180 The Boat, Minworth, West Midlands : 1986 to 2015

In the early 1980's The Boat was, technically, my local pub as I lived just around the corner in Minworth for a few months. It sits at the side of the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal and is the last, reasonably safe, overnight mooring before the centre of Birmingham. Over the years, we have been intermittent visitors having passed by more times than we've stopped.

Our first ever boating visit to The Boat was on the evening of Sunday 22nd August 1982, but sadly there's no pictorial record of the visit. I do, however, have a photo taken the next day as we made our way down the windswept Curdworth Locks.

Our next visit to The Boat was in the year that I'd decided to start taking a picture of each pub we visited. This was on the evening of Wednesday 30th July 1986.

Back in those days it had a cosy lounge and a fairly standard bar with pool table and dart board, but (as I recall) didn't do food.

Our boat, Emma Jane, moved away from the Midlands for a number of years and so we didn't stop there again until the evening of Tuesday 5th September 1995, close to the end of the journey bringing Emma Jane back to the Midlands.

On the outside, a complete transformation from a fairly standard Ansells pub into a 'Big Steak' pub!

We returned less than a year later, on the lunchtime of Friday 31st May 1996. This was a pit-stop on an 'epic' journey that took us from Fazeley Junction to Catherine-de-Barnes on the Grand Union Canal in a day (10 hours 20 minutes travelling time!).

Even in just 9 months, part of the exterior signage had disappeared and the paint was starting to peel!

It took us another 10 years before we came back to The Boat. This was mainly because we'd worked out that we could travel from Birmingham city centre to The Kingsley or Curdworth in a day's boating so we sailed on by The Boat on many occasions.

This was at lunchtime on Thursday 8th June 2006 and we still made it into the centre of Birmingham by evening - a 5 hour journey! Another complete transformation of the outside of the pub including a small extension at the front.

We returned at lunchtime on Thursday 6th June 2010 as part of what was, essentially, a repeat of our 2006 journey - this time it took us 5 hours 20 minutes to get into Birmingham!

Not too much of a change apart from the sheltered smoking area that has been added.

This next picture was taken on the afternoon of Sunday 11th May 2014 as I happened to be in the area following a Craft Fair at the Brook Marston Hotel. (There seemed to be little likelihood of us stopping here in the near future, so I thought I'd add a photo to the collection.)

Yet another external transformation. The smoking area remained, but the new extension has been radically altered.

Having predicted that we wouldn't be stopping here in the near future, our next visit was on the evening of Sunday 14th June 2015.

 Little change in a year. The internal layout of The Boat has hardly changed over the years, but it has been refurbished several times. The Boat has its own website and will hopefully be able to survive as a proper pub that does some food. 

#160 Three Tuns Inn, Fazeley, Stafforshire : 1987 to 2014

At the northern end of the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal is Fazeley Junction where it joins the Coventry Canal. The small town of Fazeley is a place where we've frequently stopped on our canal trips throughout the years. There are several pubs, but the one we've visited most, mainly because it is the nearest to the canal, is the Three Tuns Inn.

This first visit was on the evening of Wednesday 15th July 1987 as we were heading back home from a two week trip that had taken in Worcester, Stourport, Market Drayton, Middlewich, Stoke and Rugeley. I have no recollection of the interior, but I suspect that it was then, as now, a fairly standard boozer.

Our next visit was on the evening of Thursday 30th May 1996.

The outside of the pub had been completely refurbished with a new hanging sign and the introduction of a satellite dish. It would appear that it was no longer a Mann's pub.

Next visit was on Monday 30th August 1999, a lunchtime stop, but unfortunately the Three Tuns wasn't doing food, so we had a pint and moved on.

No real change to the exterior, but it is interesting to note how the net curtains have been removed in stages throughout the years!

We didn't return again until lunchtime on Sunday 21st August 2005.

Some changes to the outside, the hanging sign has gone as has the satellite dish...but the net curtains have returned!

Next visit was on Sunday 29th August 2010, another lunchtime stop.

The hanging sign has returned as has the satellite dish (in a different position), but the derelict building next door has finally been demolished!

And so, on to our most recent visit which was at lunchtime on Sunday 5th October 2014 when we had a large Sunday Roast lunch.

The outside had been completely redecorated with a new hanging sign, a third satellite dish with pastel green replacing the black...and the net curtains have disappeared again!

The pub has been under new management since December 2011 (see website) and, despite claims of refurbishment, the interior seemed to be pretty much as I remembered it from previous visits - namely, proper pub with no frills - just as I like it!