#154 The Royal Oak, Crick, Northants : 2003 to 2013

Crick is a village on the Leicester Section of the Grand Union Canal and the first time I passed through was in 1986. We were there again in 1997, but we only visited the Red Lion (#135) and The Wheatsheaf (#123). It wasn't until 2003 that we ventured further into the village and discovered The Royal Oak.

This was on the evening of Monday 18th August 2003 and, as I recall, it was a pleasant village pub.

Our next visit was on the evening of Wednesday 9th September 2009.

The pub was largely unchanged, although the hanging sign had been replaced and the hanging baskets were more verdant.

That was the last time I had a pint in The Royal Oak, but I was in the village for the Crick Boat Show and took this picture in the early afternoon of Monday 27th May 2013.

Again, largely unchanged, but the hanging baskets are no more.

One thing I hadn't noticed until I started this entry and when I looked at the pub's website is the small yellow sports car. Presumably it belongs to the landlord, but it is quite amazing what you don't notice in a picture!

#153 The Lock, Wolverley, Worcestershire : 1987 to 2013

Our first ever visit to The Lock at Wolverley was on Tuesday 7th July 1987 as part of an epic journey that took us down to Worcester and as far north as Middlewich.

For boaters like us it has the perfect location, being adjacent to the canal lock. This photo was taken from our boat as we passed through this lock before mooring up for a lunchtime stop. As I recall it was quite small inside, but felt cosy and welcoming in the traditional pub style - and the food was good as well.

We didn't return for another ten years, again for a lunchtime stopover on Wednesday 28th May 1997.

This photo (not one of my best!) is taken from the road bridge over the canal and you can see the lock gates through the barrier. As I recall the pub was pretty much as we'd found it last time.

We were back again quite quickly with another lunchtime visit on Wednesday 2nd June 1999. The weather wasn't as pleasant as on our previous visit, but the pub was as welcoming as ever. It had also undergone the Banks's exterior re-branding that was prevalent at the time. Inside it hadn't changed much.

 This view is from a little up the hill away from the canal and shows the re-branding at its best.

This view again shows just how close the pub is to the canal!

That was our last visit to The Lock as on the occasions we've been that way subsequently the timings haven't been right for a stop. However, on our most recent trip along the Staffs & Worcs Canal I took this picture from the lock as we were passing through on the morning of Thursday 16th May 2013.

From the exterior view it would appear that it is no longer a Banks's pub and a search of the Marston's website confirms this. Judging by The Lock Inn website it would appear that it is now an independent pub. Hopefully it will still be there when we next venture down the Staffs & Worcester Canal and, if the timing is right, we'll pop in to see how it has changed in the passing 27 years.

#152 The Pheasant, Worcester : 1999 to 2013

Worcester is a place we visit infrequently on our canal trips and, because there are a lot of pubs we don't get too many repeats (often because we can't remember where the pubs are!!).

Our first visit to The Pheasant was on the evening of Monday 31st May 1999.

It is on the same street as The Swan with Two Nicks (#146) and so we generally go there in preference. On this occasion, we decided to go into The Pheasant, but I don't really remember what it was like! It is a very attractive building, I assume it is listed as it doesn't seem to change.

We were in Worcester on Saturday 11th May 2013 in the evening and we walked past The Pheasant having already been to The Swan with Two Nicks!

Seemingly little has changed on the outside, but I'm sure they must have redecorated at least once in the intervening 14 years.

It seems as though The Pheasant has now been refurbished and 're-booted' as a burger establishment (and still a pub!) with good reviews on TripAdvisor. The pub website is here.

#151 The Wheatsheaf, Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire : 1997 to 2013

It's back to Stourport-on-Severn for yet another pub that town has to offer. Our first visit to The Wheatsheaf was on the evening of Tuesday 27th May 1997.

Back then it was a Banks's pub that wasn't particularly memorable, but Stourport is about quantity, not necessarily quality! (That's not a bad thing in my book!!)

We didn't go back there until the lunchtime of Tuesday 27th May 2008 discovering that it'd had quite a makeover.

It was now branded as a Marston's pub with a more contemporary 'feel' to the outside. Inside it was no more memorable than before.

And finally we move on to the evening of Thursday 16th May 2013, when we'd been stranded in Storport because the River Severn was flowing at least 2 metres above safe levels!

Seemingly unchanged externally apart from the hanging baskets and the signs (from Marston's) saying 'Make it a success' and 'Retail Opportunity...Call 0844.....' We didn't venture inside as there were many more pubs to potentially visit...and we did pop into a few!

#150 The Mitre Inn, Stourbridge, Worcestershire : 1996 to 2013

Apparently, the original Mitre was demolished to make way for some road widening and a picture of the pub from about 1950 can be seen here with a bit more info.

Fast forward to 1996 and this is what it looked like.

Looks almost the same as it did in the 1950's. This was taken on the evening of Monday 27th May 1996 when we did a bit of a pub crawl around Stourbridge town centre. Not a night that lived long in the memory! There were plenty of pubs, but like many town centres they weren't particularly welcoming places and everywhere was quiet, even though it was a Bank Holiday Monday.

From the canal, Stourbridge is accessed from the end of a short arm off the main Stourbridge Canal, so we don't often visit the town centre. We ventured down there again on Wednesday 15th May 2013, this time for a lunch stop. Our first port of call was a remarkably unchanged Mitre Inn.

Inside it was still unwelcoming (not unfriendly, though) as only town pubs can be. From the outside it appeared to be completely unchanged whilst all around it Stourbridge was being reshaped (that's my excuse for not taking a shot from the same perspective as before!)

Perhaps I'm doing the pub a disservice because we caught it on two quiet days. Here is a link to a page that gives a very interesting history of The Mitre with more pictures.

#149 The Ram's Head, Grappenhall, Cheshire : 1991 to 2013

I've only ever visited Grappenhall twice and we went in The Ram's Head on both occasions.

The first visit was at lunchtime on Monday 22nd July 1991 as part of a trip to take our boat Emma Jane from Wigan to Hemel Hemstead.

I have absolutely no recollection about what the pub was actually like inside!

The next time we stopped at Grappenhall was on our Easter trip from Preston Brook to Manchester (and back) when we made an evening stop on Sunday 31st March 2013.

Unsurprisingly, in the intervening 22 years there have been some changes, but in keeping with the village, they are only superficial. Inside, I was initially quite disappointed as it had (to my eyes) been converted into a restaurant style pub. However, the food was good, the lager flowed well and a pub quiz started a 8:30 so we were well entertained (even though we didn't enter!).

To be honest it isn't as 'pubby' as I would've liked, but in this day and age it ticked the important boxes (beer and food and its still open!) so I can't be too critical. If you're in the area, here's The Ram's Head website for you to browse.

#148 The Red Lion, Netherton, West Midlands : 2006 to 2013

Our first visit to The Red Lion was at lunchtime on Sunday 4th June 2006 and, as reported earlier (#125) we only ended up here because the Dry Dock didn't do food on a Sunday!

We were in need of a light lunch and The Red Lion provided exactly what we needed. It was a friendly, basic local.

Our next visit was two years later, again at lunchtime, on Sunday 25th May 2008.

As it was a wet afternoon, and we knew that the Dry Dock didn't do food on a Sunday, we only ventured as far as The Red Lion for a sandwich and a couple of pints. No change from our previous visit on the inside, but outside they'd moved the Sky Sports banner and added a blackboard by the entrance door!

On our third visit was at lunchtime on Tuesday 14th May 2013 and it was closed! The good news is that it isn't a permanent closure, but I suspect that they've taken the decision not to open on midweek lunchtimes because of the general decline in the lunchtime pub trade.

Still largely unchanged on the outside apart from the missing Sky Sports banner!