#130 Crown Inn, Alvechurch, Worcestershire : 1987 to 2013

The Crown Inn at Alvechurch is just a few miles away from me, but the only times I've drunk there has been on our canal trips as it sits (almost canal side) on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

My first visit was on the evening of Saturday 4th July 1987, at the start of a trip that would take us as far south as Worcester and as far north as Middlewich!

As I recall, we spent the whole evening there in a proper, cosy village pub.

A combination of circumstances meant that our next visit to the Crown Inn was on the evening of Monday 12th August 2002.

This shows how close to the canal it is without actually being canalside. The exterior had been extensively refurbished, but inside it was largely unchanged. This visit was part of a short local trip that we'd undertaken with the idea of doing some boat painting along the way.

We were back again in less than a year.

This was on the evening of Thursday 29th May 2003 near the end of our Stourport Ring journey. This view is from the canal bridge and shows that it hadn't changed externally.

Another five years passed before we did the Stourport Ring again and this time it was a lunchtime stop at the Crown on Thursday 29th May 2008.

Finally I took a picture from the front again so that the changes from 1987 are more apparent.

Another five years passed and we attempted the Stourport Ring one more time. This time we started from Worcester, so we popped in to the Crown Inn at lunchtime on Monday 13th May 2013.

It is quite remarkable that the outside has hardly changed in the past 11 years and is still advertised as an M&B pub. Inside it still has the same layout and is still the same cosy village pub that it was in 1987. If you're in the area, it is worth a visit and here is their website.

#127 The Red Man, Kidderminster, Worcestershire : 2008 to 2013

Despite the fact that we've done the Stourport Ring on several occasions, we've only ever stopped in Kidderminster twice! 

Before I get on with it, I'm not sure if there are any other pubs with this name - I've come across many a Green Man, but this is the only Red Man I know of - do you know any better? 

The first time, and indeed only time I've been inside The Red Man was on the evening of Monday 26th May 2008. We were having a bit of a pub crawl around Kidderminster whilst trying to find a suitable place to eat when we came upon The Red Man. Inside it was like many small town pubs; functional but lacking in any real character...and, as it was a Monday evening, fairly quiet. One rather different aspect was that it didn't just allow people to eat their takeaways in the pub, it was positively encouraged with various menus scattered about. At the time I thought it was a great idea for a pub that doesn't do food!

The next time we stopped in Kidderminster was on a lunchtime and we didn't go in The Red Man, but I took this photo as we strolled by.

This was taken on Thursday 16th May 2013. This is one of the most complete external makeovers I've documented in the time I've been doing this blog. Seemingly their innovative experiment with the food has gone by the board as it would appear that they now do their own. Here is their website.