#223 The Beehive, Northwich, Cheshire : 2006 to 2016 (RIP)

On our first ever boating trip to Northwich, we discovered this great little town centre pub, The Beehive Inn.

This was on the evening of Saturday 2nd September 2006 and we had something of a pub crawl around Northwich with The Beehive being the most memorable of the hostelries we visited.

We were next in Northwich on the evening of Sunday 5th September 2010. This time we were on the Trent & Mersey Canal on our way home after a trip to Manchester. We were late mooring at the Old Broken Cross (#213), missed the food and so ventured into Northwich in search of sustenance.

This was late on in the evening and it was difficult to tell whether it had been open earlier, or not.

Our most recent visit to Northwich (via the River Weaver) was on the evening of Saturday 13th August 2016 and this is the sad sight that we found.

The Beehive Inn is no more, but at least the estate agents who are now located there have retained (as much as possible) the frontage of the old pub. 

#213 The Old Broken Cross, Northwich, Cheshire : 2000 to 2016

On my second ever canal trip The Old Broken Cross was our first port of call after leaving Preston Brook on Saturday 8th August 1981 - sadly I don't have any photographic evidence!

It stands on the bank of the Trent & Mersey Canal on the outskirts of Northwich along a stretch of the cut we don't visit very often and, although we'd passed by a couple of times, we didn't actually visit the pub again until lunchtime on Monday 4th September 2000 on our return from Manchester.

This photo gives the perfect illustration as to just how close to the pub a boat can moor. As ever, I recall little about the interior of the pub, but that it was pleasant enough and served food!

Our next visit was at lunchtime on Saturday 2nd September 2006.

It was on this trip that we realised just how close to the centre of Northwich the pub is, having visited the town from the River Weaver the evening before. It's difficult to tell what changes, if any, there were in the intervening years as I chose to take the picture from the road bridge. This time we moored even closer to the pub!

Our next visit to The Old Broken Cross was an evening stop on our way back from Manchester on Sunday 5th September 2010.

The outside had undergone a refurbishment, but little else had changed. However, our recently discovered knowledge of local geography stood us in good stead when it became apparent that there was no food on offer on this Sunday evening, so we ventured into Northwich for sustenance.

This was the view of the pub (and our mooring) the next morning.

Our most recent visit to The Old Broken Cross was at lunchtime on Saturday 13th August 2016.

The pub had undergone another refurb and inside it was pleasant and served food, so we were happy!

This is the view from the other side, again to show just how close we'd moored!