Willington, Derbyshire : 1986 to 2015

This post is going to be slightly different in structure as a one-off. We've only ever stopped at Willington twice on our canal journeys with a gap of almost 30 years between visits.

Our first stop was a damp lunchtime on Monday 28th July 1986 and we discovered three pubs in the village, all extremely close to each other!

It's not very often that you can get three pubs in one picture, but that's the case in the first shot - the Green Dragon, the Rising Sun and the Green Man on the right. Each pub representing the three main brewers in Burton at that time - Ind Coope, Marston's and Bass respectively.

The second picture shows the other view from the Green Man and you can just make out the intrepid crew heading back to the boat after a 45 minute stop with no lunch! We moved on to Burton-upon-Trent to find food!

So, the question is now, how many of the three pubs survived to 2015? After not stopping there for 29 years, we made two stops in 2015! Both lunchtime stops, first on Saturday 4th April 2015 and the second on Saturday 28th August 2015.

#195 Green Dragon (now The Dragon)

The Dragon, as it is now called, is very much still there and can be accessed from the canal and from the road, but not the same entrance as 1986! It is now a more food led establishment that does very good trade when the sun is out! A brief history of the pub can be found on their website.

#196 The Rising Sun

Quite an impressive sight, but we didn't venture inside on either visit! Nonetheless, it is good to see it still there.

And so, we move on to pub number three - open or closed?

#197 Green Man

Still there as well!!

Almost unbelievably, all three pubs have survived and appear to be thriving! Back in 1986 the Green Man was a Bass pub, but now it is run by Punch Taverns. Although it provides an extensive menu, the Green Man still feels like a proper pub. More information is on their website.

So there you have it; Willington is an oasis of pub survivability in an age of decimation!

#185 The Roebuck Inn, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire : 1997 to 2015

It was the day after Princess Diana had died and we were heading back from Nottingham when we stopped at Burton-upon-Trent at lunchtime on Monday 1st September 1997.

I don't recall much about the inside, only that it isn't a big pub! The outer signage is interesting in that, then, it was simply 'The Roebuck', but curiously followed by 'Back Home at The Burton Ale House'. (Further research on WhatPub.com reveals that it "was once the Ind Coope Brewery tap, being situated opposite the former brewery. The erstwhile classic Ind Coope Draught Burton Ale was launched here in 1976.")

Burton isn't a town we pass through often and we didn't return to The Roebuck Inn for almost exactly 12 years when we stopped on the evening of Monday 31st August 2009.

This time, the exterior signage is much simpler and the name is now The Roebuck Inn, but it was still also called The Burton Ale House.

Our most recent visit was on the evening of Friday 3rd April 2015 (Good Friday).

The exterior signage is now even more minimalist and all reference to The Burton Ale House has disappeared. It seems to have had a complete repaint (apart from one square, bottom right!), but the large The Roebuck Inn sign looks to be the same. Inside it is still small, but pleasingly busy.

#108 UPDATE The Bell Inn, Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire : 1986 to 2015

Prior to 2015, we'd only ever stopped at Husbands Bosworth once in all of our canal trips.

This was on the evening of Tuesday 22nd July 1986 on a journey that would take us to Leicester. As I recall, it was a pleasant pub that served food, but back then we probably ate on the boat anyway (Aaah! Those were the days!). In 1986, it was just called The Bell and was an Ind Coope pub. 

On this visit, we popped into both pubs in Husbands Bosworth, but the Cherry Tree is no longer there as recounted in #093 on this blog.

I was passing by towards the end 2012, so I took the opportunity to get a photo of how it looks now.

This picture was taken on Sunday 16th December 2012 and in the intervening 26 years there has been a relatively small amount of change on the outside! It is now called The Bell Inn and they stress the history of it as an 18th Century coaching inn. Having looked at the menu on their website, it looks like they serve proper pub food at a reasonable price.

Last year we were again on the Leicester Section of the Grand Union Canal and, because we'd taken a detour to the previously unexplored Market Harborough, we found ourselves having to moor up near Husbands Bosworth Tunnel for the first time in almost 30 years. It is a bit of a stroll into the village and we were pleased to see that The Bell Inn was still there.

This was on the evening of Saturday 29th August 2015. Outside it has been repainted since my last picture and inside, it was a pleasant pub with good food. Just what we needed after a good day's boating which had included the Foxton Locks. 

#108 The Bell Inn, Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire : 1986 to 2012

We've only ever stopped at Husbands Bosworth once in all of our canal trips.

This was on the evening of Tuesday 22nd July 1986 on a journey that would take us to Leicester. As I recall, it was a pleasant pub that served food, but back then we probably ate on the boat anyway (Aaah! Those were the days!). In 1986 it was just called The Bell and was an Ind Coope pub. 

On this visit we popped into both pubs in Husbands Bosworth, but the Cherry Tree is no longer there as recounted in #093 on this blog.

I was passing by towards the end of last year, so I took the opportunity to get a photo of how it looks now.

This picture was taken on Sunday 16th December 2012 and in the intervening 26 years there has been a relatively small amount of change on the outside! It is now called The Bell Inn and they stress the history of it as an 18th Century coaching inn. Having looked at the menu on their website, it looks like they serve proper pub food at a reasonable price.