Witton Street, Northwich, Cheshire : 2006 to 2016

Today you're getting a special 'Two-for-one' deal (before minimum pricing comes in!).

Northwich isn't a place we visit very often on our boating trips as it requires passage down on the Anderton Boat Lift from the Trent & Mersey Canal onto the River Weaver.

Anderton Boat Lift

 

We've done this trip twice and on each occasion spent an evening in Northwich.

#236 The Roebuck

I'm not entirely sure if we ever ventured into either of the pubs, but I did take pictures for posterity. The first visit was on the evening of Friday 1st September 2006 and this is what The Roebuck looked like. (You can just see the Green Dragon three doors away)

Our next visit was on the evening of Saturday 13th August 2016 and this is how much change had taken place in 10 years.

It had been completely redecorated, but was now up for sale...and according to WhatPub it is now permanently closed.

#237 Green Dragon

You've already had a glimpse of this pub in the photos above, but here are the close-ups. 

As far as I can tell, the Green Dragon is entirely unchanged in the 10 years between these pictures...and it is seemingly still thriving!

Whilst it is sad to see a pub close permanently it is worth noting that Witton Street also is home to the Witton Chimes, The Quayside and Penny Blacks which is a Wetherspoons, so it is hardly surprising that something had to give and it looks like The Roebuck was the unlucky loser.

#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.

#085 The Roebuck, Warwick : 1998 to 2011

Our first visit to The Roebuck in Warwick was on the August Bank Holiday weekend in 1998 when our boat Emma Jane broke down on the Grand Union Canal just by the Cape of Good Hope locks. We got a tow to the nearest boatyard (the very helpful Kate Boats), but as it was Sunday there wasn't an engineer present...and no-one was available on the Monday either as it was the Bank Holiday. Although we were delayed by a couple of days, we still managed to get to Oxford, our ultimate destination, in plenty of time.

So we had several drinking sessions in Warwick during which time we visited many of the pubs in the town!

This photo was taken on Monday 31st August 1998. As I recall it was a pleasant enough place, but obviously not outstanding.

The next time we visited The Roebuck was on Thursday 31st May 2007. We'd visited Warwick on a few occasions in the intervening years, but had managed to miss out on The Roebuck.

The only noticeable change was in the hanging pub sign and the name above the door.

Our final visit was on Saturday 28th May 2011. We were on a one week excursion around the Midlands and The Roebuck was our second pub of the night. We'd been to The Railway (#063 in this series) to watch the first half of the 2011 Champions League Final, but at half-time we decided to move on, hopefully to get a better view (and for Will to have a fag!).

Again it seemed to be quite a pleasant place and we did get a better view of the telly...shame about the result, though. There were no apparent changes to the outside of the pub.

And now for the info I hadn't been aware of...The Roebuck is the oldest pub in Warwick dating back to 1470. This and the more up-to-date details can be found on their website.