#283 Boat Inn, Birdingbury Wharf, Warwickshire : 1998 to 2020

In these dark days of a winter lockdown it is hard to remain optimistic and upbeat about pubs in the knowledge/expectation that many will not survive into the post apocalyptic pandemic future.

However, I still have a few new pubs left to report on, so I'll start off the new year with the Boat Inn on the Grand Union Canal. It is a pub we'd passed on many occasions until lunchtime on Thursday 25th June 1998.

I have little recollection about the interior except that I vaguely remember it being quite cosy and having part of a narrowboat hull as the bar counter.

Our next stop was almost two years later on the evening of Sunday 28th May 2000.

Although it was only a couple of years, the Bass sign had disappeared, no doubt as part of the exterior redecoration.

Another nine years had gone by before I took this photo of the Boat Inn as we cruised by on the afternoon of Sunday 24th May 2009 on our way to Braunston for our evening stop.

This was post the 2007 Smoking Ban so there were many more tables outside. Also the pub name had reappeared on the signage.

Another couple of years drifted by and we passed the Boat Inn, again, on the afternoon of Sunday 29th May 2011, headed for Napton (having lunched at the Two Boats in Long Itchington!)

Fewer outdoor tables and the pub sign had changed to just The Boat in a style evocative of the Bass sign that was previously there.

Along this stretch of the Grand Union Canal, our preferred stop is at the Two Boats in Long Itchington, leaving both the Blue Lias and Boat Inn as under visited establishments.

Our next cruise by was on the morning of Wednesday 12th June 2019 being too early to stop for lunch having left Wigrams Turn Marina only 90 minutes earlier.

Yet again the main sign has changed, reverting back to the Boat Inn and there are now gazebos above the outdoor seating.

Our final vist was, in fact, an actual stop at the pub at lunchtime on Saturday 22nd August 2020. This time we'd been a little later leaving the marina!

The signage was unaltered and we had a pleasant lunch despite not having booked in advance, they managed to squeeze us in after other customers had finished.

 

As a pub with little natural footfall, it will be interesting to see whether it survives the pandemic.

#281 Blue Lias Inn, Stockton, Warwickshire : 1998 to 2020

The Blue Lias Inn has hardly changed over the years which seems to be fairly standard practice for canalside pubs. It is a pub that we've visited occasionally over the years and it is very dependent upon the timing of our journeys as the Two Boats at Long Itchington (#100) is only five minutes away.

My first ever visit to the Blue Lias was on the evening of Tuesday 17th August 1982, but there is no pictorial record as this was before I started taking a photo of every pub we visited.

For the purposes of this blog, we begin at lunchtime on Thursday 10th September 1998.

I don't remember too much about it apart from the fact that it seemed to have changed little over the years and was still a comfortable, slightly up market country pub that did good food.

Our next visit was at lunchtime on Thursday 6th September 2001 as we journeyed back from a trip to Aylesbury. (We'd stopped at the Two Boats on the way to Aylesbury!)

No real external differences and this time we moored Emma Jane outside the pub - don't really like walking too far!

Less than 12 months later and we were back for another lunchtime stop on Thursday 30th May 2002.
 

Again we moored in the garden and, again, the pub was unchanged from previous visits.

It would be quite a few years before we stopped at the Blue Lias Inn again, this photo is from the afternoon of Sunday 24th May 2009 as we sailed by having had lunch in the Two Boats.

This next image is from the afternoon of Sunday 29th May 2011 as we again passed by following lunch in the Two Boats!

 

To continue the theme, the next photo is from the early afternoon of Saturday 27th September 2014, this time just before we stopped for lunch at the Two Boats!
 

It is the same story for the next image also, this time on the early afternoon of Wednesday 5th June 2019, again just before stopping at the Two Boats!

As you can see, the pub has remained largely unchanged over the 21 years apart from being repainted a few times (I assume!)

 

And so, we come to lunchtime on Friday 17th July 2020; this time we did stop at the Blue Lias for lunch.

The lockdown was over and this was our first pub visit of the trip with all the new social distancing rules! There was a long one-way system in operation and all food was served in polystyrene containers, but it worked very well and we were encouraged that the holiday would pass quite successfully...as it did...see here!

 

So, it only took a worldwide pandemic (and the temporary closure of the Two Boats) to encourage us back into the Blue Lias after just 18 years of passing by!
 

One final note, the standing sign by the canal had finally been changed, albeit very subtly!

#174 Hatton Arms (aka The Waterman), Hatton, Warks : 1998 to 2014

As any regular narrowboater will know the lock flight at Hatton on the Grand Union Canal is a daunting, but magnificent challenge. At the top of the hill overlooking the flight sits the Hatton Arms (for many years called The Waterman) which is a welcome sight after several hours hard work coming up the locks or a last chance for refreshment before the arduous journey down the hill!

As far as I can determine this was my first ever visit to The Waterman although we'd passed through Hatton Locks several times in the previous 18 years of canal travelling. This was at lunchtime on Friday 26th June 1998. As usual I don't really recall the visit, but I do remember that it has always been a bit of a more upmarket pub that has always served food.

We paid another visit that year at lunchtime on Friday 11th September 1998, but I don't have a photo for that visit!

Our next visit was at lunchtime on Friday 31st May 2002. The only photo I have is a view from the canal looking up the hill to the pub which you will see below.

We were next at The Waterman at lunchtime on Saturday 16th August 2003.

You may have noted that, so far we'd always stopped here on a Friday. This is because the top of Hatton Locks is about half a day's boating away from our moorings at that time, in Lapworth, making The Waterman, potentially, our last stop on the way home and the first stop on the way out (if we started early enough!) On this occasion it was at the start of a journey that took us to Leicester.

Our next visit was on Friday 1st June 2007, again a lunchtime 'pit stop'!

The Waterman had undergone somewhat of a makeover since our last visit and was one of the first pubs I recall having the pastel exterior that is so common these days. Although the hanging sign still shows a kingfisher! (I also find the 'Canalside Pub' description somewhat amusing as you will see from the later pictures!)

Inside it had gone more upmarket, so much so that you couldn't buy a simple ham sandwich, even though they possessed all of the ingredients and you could order a ham ploughman's!

We were back again, twice, two years later.

This was at lunchtime on Saturday 23rd May 2009 at the start of a short trip around the Midlands. Not much had changed, but the kingfisher was no more!

We returned on the evening of Friday 11th September 2009 after an epic 6 hour afternoon journey from the Two Boats at Long Itchington. That's just the 33 locks, including the 21 at Hatton which we did in 1 hour 55 minutes. This must be a record for a 3-man crew! (I was steering, so I did all the difficult bits!!)

Our next visit marked the end of an era, it was on the evening of Friday 4th November 2011 at the start of what turned out to be our last journey on Emma Jane.

It was also the end of another era as this was our last visit before the name changed.

In the era after Emma Jane, we hired boats around the country which enabled us to visit parts of the canal system we'd never been able to visit previously. However, we were back again at lunchtime on Sunday 28th September 2014.

And what a transformation! Now called the Hatton Arms it had become the full gastropub and was largely unrecognisable compared to the days as The Waterman. However, despite my misgivings, it turned out to be much better than the previously average service offered by The Waterman in its later years!

Earlier, I promised you the view of this 'Canalside' pub, from the canal - here it is over the years.

May 2002

June 2007

May 2009

September 2014

It isn't a particularly long walk up the hill to the pub, but is it close enough to call it 'canalside' - I'm not so sure.

Is Long Itchington THE Most Expensive Place for Blackcurrrant & Soda?

I don't normally use this blog for a rant, but today I'm going to make an exception. I've just returned from a two week canal cruise around the Midlands (essentially the Warwickshire Ring) and an incident at our first lunchtime stop prompted me to compile the information and write this post.

Over the last few years I've taken to drinking pints of Blackcurrant & Soda Water at lunchtimes on our boating holidays, mainly because, quite frankly, I'm getting old and can't take my drink at lunchtime. (I still drink in the evenings and, on this trip, had the equivalent of 74 pints of Carling!).

Our first stop was at the Two Boats a lovely canalside pub at Long Itchington that we've visited many times in the past (#100).

Two Boats, Long Itchington - 27th September 2014

As usual the food was very good, but I was charged £2.10p for a pint of Blackcurrant & Soda! When I queried this I was told that this was the cheapest available in Long Itchington and that The Cuttle Inn (across the canal) charged £3.40p. If it had been bottles of soda water I could've understood it, but the soda water is on tap and is, in essence, carbonated tap water. Upon further investigation it transpired that if I'd ordered a pint of soda water it would also have cost £2.10p as shots of blackcurrant are free in the Two Boats. So, as I tried to build a drink that would cost less, the (I assume) landlord accused me of "pissing him about" which was the trigger point for compiling a price list of Blackcurrant and Soda prices and the writing of this post.

I can now confirm that, having drunk pints of Blackcurrant & Soda in 16 different pubs, the most expensive is £2.10p per pint in the Two Boats at Long Itchington, a Charles Wells establishment.

The least expensive pint of Blackcurrant & Soda was just £0.40p, the location of which I will reveal at the end of this post. This is a massive range of pricing and in this day and age when many pubs are struggling I would have expected them to want to encourage drivers by offering cheaper soft drinks, but some establishments seem to want to take the profiteering route!

The second most expensive pub was the George & Dragon in Stoke Golding at £1.90p per pint.

George & Dragon, Stoke Golding - 7th October 2014

I'm reluctant to be too critical as I was originally told that the price was £1.15p, but then corrected to £1.90p, so £1.15p might be the actual price! The George & Dragon is now run by the Church End Brewery 

The 'prize' for third most expensive goes to the Hatton Arms near Warwick at £1.80p a pint.

Hatton Arms, Hatton - 28th September 2014

This was the day after our visit to the Two Boats and really demonstrated how ridiculous the pricing is in Long Itchington. The Hatton Arms (formerly The Waterman) is now really an upmarket restaurant and so I wasn't surprised at the £1.80p price tag for a pint of Blackcurrant & Soda, whereas the Two Boats is just a standard country pub with a great location.

Stratford-upon-Avon is a tourist destination and so you'd expect higher prices and the Dirty Duck/Black Swan didn't disappoint at £1.65p per pint.

Dirty Duck/Black Swan, Stratford-upon-Avon - 30th September 2014

The Dirty Duck is part of the Old English Inns chain, part of the Greene King group and is a pub we've visited many times in the past (#033).

Next on the list is the Old Royal Oak at Hillmorton also at £1.65p a pint.

Old Royal Oak, Hillmorton - 9th October 2014

The Old Royal Oak in Hillmorton (near Rugby) is a Hungry Horse pub (also part of Greene King) aimed at families, so I was surprised at the price. However, talking with another barman revealed that £1.65p is for 3 shots of blackcurrant and that if 2 shots is enough, the price was £1.10p! It is a pub we've visited on quite a few occasions as well (#077).

The next two pubs offer an interesting perspective on the whole soft drinks in pubs issue. BOTH of these pubs charged £1.50p for a pint of Blackcurrant & Soda.

The Fleur de Lys in Lowsonford has, for quite a number of years, been more of a restaurant and I've reported on it previously (#026).

Fleur de Lys, Lowsonford - 29th September 2014

This was the third day of our trip and at £1.50p a pint the price was dropping from the first day, but still a bit expensive for a pub where the majority have to drive to get to it.

Also coming in at £1.50p a pint is the Swan & Mitre in Aston (Birmingham).

Swan & Mitre, Aston - 4th October 2014

It was a rainy Saturday morning and we'd negotiated the Farmers Bridge and Aston flights of locks. It isn't a place we'd normally stop, but the next viable, regular stopping places were at least two hours away! At first glance it was a potential disaster. It was a match day and Aston Villa were at home, so the pub was only letting in people with passes. Fortunately for us it was a 5:30pm kick-off and after asking nicely we were let in. Inside the Swan & Mitre was like stepping back in time, the bar was just like a proper old time Birmingham pub! A real basic pub where the only food was a choice of Ham & Tomato or Cheese and Onion rolls and the regular range of snacks - perfect for our needs! And yet, a basic boozer like this still charged £1.50p for a pint of Blackcurrant & Soda, the same as an upmarket country pub/restaurant...go figure!

Next up, at £1.40p a pint is The Anchor Inn at Hartshill.

The Anchor Inn, Hartshill - 6th October 2014

The Anchor Inn at Hartshill is an Everard's pub and I've reported on it before (#027). It is a lovely canalside pub and is aimed at both drinkers, diners and families in the extensive garden. You would expect them to charge a lower price for soft drinks especially as most people have to drive to get there.

Then, at £1.30p is The Garrick Inn in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Garrick Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon - 30th September 2014

The Garrick Inn, which I've also reported on previously (#020), is also part of Greene King's Old English Inns brand, but charges less than the Dirty Duck!

Just down the road is The Windmill Inn which is yet another Greene King pub!

The Windmill Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon - 30th September 2014

Despite being situated between the Dirty Duck and The Garrick Inn, at £1.00p a pint, The Windmill Inn comes in as the lowest price for Blackcurrant & Soda of the three Greene King pubs in Stratford that I went into on that day.

I do believe that £1.00p per pint for Blackcurrant & Soda to be a reasonable price and that once it goes much above this constitutes a rip-off. So, onwards to the pubs that offered the best value.

First up is the Wharf Tavern in Hockley Heath at £0.80p a pint.

Wharf Tavern, Hockley Heath - 2nd October 2014

The Wharf Tavern is a pub I've reported on in the past (#083) that has been extensively refurbished since our last visit in 2011. The refurbishment is good leaving the Wharf Tavern with the happy balance between being a pub and serving lots of good pub food...and reasonably priced Blackcurrant & Soda!

Then comes the Three Tuns Inn in Fazeley at £0.70p per pint.

Three Tuns Inn, Fazeley - 5th October 2014

The Three Tuns is a pub we've visited on many occasions, but I've yet to report on it here. It has a great location, backing onto the Coventry Canal at Fazeley Junction (with the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal). It is a proper pub that has never let us down on our many visits.

Next, we have a tie with two pubs offering a pint of Blackcurrant & Soda at £0.60p. First was The Woodman in Birmingham.

The Woodman, Birmingham - 3rd October 2014

The Woodman has recently been refurbished to restore it to its former glory, very successfully in my opinion. It is a pub I've reported on in the past (#056) and one that I'm very glad to see open and thriving again.

The second £0.60p pub is The Greyhound at Hawkesbury Junction on the outskirts of Coventry.

The Greyhound, Hawkesbury Junction - 8th October 2014

The Greyhound is a traditional canalside pub with an ideal location at Hawkesbury Junction where the Coventry and Oxford Canals meet. It is always busy for both food and drink and, unlike many pubs that have great locations and don't need to try to be good, The Greyhound still offers reasonably priced food and drink at a high quality.

Only two more to go, and just missing out on the 'star prize' is the Navigation Inn at Wootton Wawen with Blackcurrant & Soda at just £0.45p a pint.

Navigation Inn, Wootton Wawen - 1st October 2014

Despite its canalside location (picture taken from the aqueduct over the main A3400 road) in the affluent Warwickshire village of Wootton Wawen, the Navigation Inn is struggling, mainly because in all the years we've been visiting it there has been no change to its interior and it can no longer compete with the many gastropubs that have sprouted up in the past 10 - 15 years in the area. The food is still good and the pub provides the sort of dishes that I like (i.e. standard, traditional pub grub), but that isn't what sells these days. I fear that without major investment, the Navigation will be gone next time we're passing that way.

Finally (and thanks for staying to the end!) we come to the 'winner', at £0.40p for a pint of Blackcurrant & Soda it is The Windsor in Birmingham.

The Windsor, Birmingham - 3rd October 2014

The Windsor is a pub I hadn't been into for years. It is now part of M&B's Oaktree brand of pubs and offers Wetherspoon type of service quite successfully as the pub was very busy for a mid afternoon by the time we got there.

So, we made it to the end and I have to conclude that Long Itchington must indeed be THE most expensive place in the UK for Blackcurrant & Soda prices if the Two Boats is offering the lowest price at £2.10p per pint. Is it a rip off? I'll let you be the judge of that! 

#100 Two Boats, Long Itchington, Warwickshire : 1981 to 2012

Well, I've made it to my 100th entry on this blog and I thought I'd treat you to a special post. Although I only started to take a picture of every pub we visited in 1986, I found this photo from only my second ever trip on Emma Jane in 1981.

This first visit to the Two Boats was on the evening of Wednesday 19th August 1981. I don't remember much about the pub in those days, but it was very convenient being right on the canal bank. That visit was close to the end of an epic canal trip that had started out from Preston Brook 12 days previously. For the first week of the journey we'd been up against the clock because of a breach in the canal near Audlem on the Shropshire Union and to get to Birmingham on time we were sometimes travelling for 12 hours per day non-stop. Once we'd reached Birmingham, the next week was much more leisurely with the replacement crew of Andrea and Jackie!

I did visit the Two Boats again in 1984 (29th August), but didn't take a picture!

Circumstances conspired to make it so that our next stop at the Two Boats was on the evening of Sunday 24th August 1997 at the beginning of a journey that would take us to Nottingham and Leicester.

Over the intervening 16 years the pub was no longer a Whitbread house and, miraculously, the chimneys had disappeared!

We returned again the next year, on our way to Oxford.

This was at lunchtime on Tuesday 1st September 1998. We would have been here earlier in the week, but we'd broken down in Warwick and had to wait two days for an engineer to fix the engine! Remarkably in just 12 months the outside had been completely transformed. However, inside it was still pretty much the same. It was a small pub with two rooms that made very good pub food and whenever the sun's out it can get very busy...but they've always managed to cope with the demand whenever we've been there.

It was another three years before our next visit, this time on our way to Aylesbury.

Another lunchtime stop, this time on Sunday 26th August 2001 and you can see how busy it was on that Bank Holiday Sunday. Again there are more changes to the outside signage!

The next visit was at lunchtime on Sunday 17th August 2003 on the way to Leicester.

Remarkably, the Two Boats was unchanged!

Over the following years we visited every other year and there were few changes, but the photos are shown below.

Lunchtime on Saturday 28th May 2005...first time we'd ever managed to moor right outside!

Lunchtime on Thursday 31st May 2007 - taken from Emma Jane, just as we moored up outside again (we don't like to have to walk too far for our lunch!!)

In 2009 we stopped at the Two Boats twice. Firstly on Sunday 24th May 2009 and then again at lunchtime on Friday 11th September 2009.

The only visible change was the removal of the trellis that had been there since at least 1998!

Again, it was another two years before we returned and again, the Two Boats had undergone another transformation!

Not only had it been whitewashed (again), but it was now a Charles Wells pub. This was at lunchtime on Sunday 29th May 2011 and I was expecting to see radical changes inside as well, but was pleasantly surprised to see that it was unchanged and, more importantly, the landlord was still the same. The food was also just as good as ever!

We did visit again that year on Emma Jane's last voyage, this time on the evening of Saturday 5th November 2011.

This was our last visit (so far) on our canal trips, but I did drive by in 2012 to get a more up-to-date shot.

This was on Sunday 26th August 2012 and I'm happy to report that the Two Boats is still as busy as ever, especially when the sun is out!