#187 The Round Oak, Wombourne, Staffordshire : 1991 to 2015

The Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal is one of the prettiest on the system and is always worth the journey. Although it is a canal we visit on a regular basis, our stops at Wombourne are somewhat infrequent.

My first canal visit to Wombourne was at lunchtime on Tuesday 30th July 1991. I'd visited and passed through Wombourne many times by road, but this was my first experience of the Round Oak.

Our next visit was almost ten years later on the evening of Monday 28th May 2001.

I'll leave discussions about the exterior changes until after the final photo.

It was even longer before we ventured back to Wombourne for a stop (although we'd passed by on many other occasions!). Our most recent visit being on the evening of Thursday 11th June 2015.

It is rare for me to get the same angle each time we visit a pub, but the Round Oak lends itself to this as being the best view of the pub.

So, in nearly 25 years, it has gone from being the Round Oak an M&B pub to being The Round Oak, a Marstons establishment with a period in between as a Banks's pub.

The conversion from M&B to Banks's appears to have been quite drastic with the loss of a chimney and a part of the building on the left hand side. (I suspect that this coincided with the canalside extension at the back of the pub which is only partly visible in the later photos.) The windows have all been replaced and a porch added to the front door. The park bench has gone, the hanging sign has been relocated and the burglar alarm moved and yet the TV aerials remain at the same jaunty angle!

The change from Banks's to Marstons is less drastic (they are, in essence, the same company) with a complete repaint, the disappearance of the hanging sign and a straightening of the main TV aerial!

Outside the pub, railings appeared between 1991 and 2001 and, on each occasion, the street light has been changed.

One final observation, that I didn't notice on any of our visits, is what looks like a post box just to the left of the street light! I'll have to check that next time I'm there (in about 10 - 15 years time!!)

New Pubs 2016: or What I Did on My Holidays (Part 1)

I set out on this blogging journey almost five years ago. I had lots of photos of the outside of pubs and I wanted to show how they'd changed (or not) throughout the years. Over the past few weeks, I've noticed a slight weakness in this approach - we still visit new pubs on our canal journeys, but by the time I report on them here (10, 15, 20 or more years in the future) I've generally forgotten what they were like on the inside. So, what better way to address this than to report on each new pub straight after the canal trip.

Our most recent foray on the cut took us into new territory on the Northern BCN and the delights of the Wyrley & Essington (or 'Curley Wyrley' as it is known), Rushall, Walsall and Tame Valley Canals.

But first, we were in Wolverhampton on the evening of Thursday 9th June 2016. After reporting on The Posada (#076), I received a comment from The Pub Curmudgeon that The Great Western was the go-to pub in Wolverhampton. Well, four years later and we finally made it...and he wasn't wrong!

The Great Western, Wolverhampton

Unfortunately it was early evening and the place was very quiet, but I can see that it is a great little pub with typically friendly locals and staff. We will be returning.

After an obligatory visit to The Posada and pleasant plate of pasta we headed for the Dog & Doublet which is a new establishment in the city centre and was recommended by Retired Martin.

Dog & Doublet, Wolverhampton

By this time it was 10:45 and people were queueing to get into Yates's across the street. However, the Dog & Doublet was ticking over nicely with a female singer singing folk style versions of modern(ish) pop songs. It is hard to believe that this is a new pub as it looked and felt like a long established 'proper' pub. As we sat there with our last pint of the evening, the pub actually got considerably busier which was hard to comprehend on a 'school night' until we discovered that it was open till 1 am and that places like The Posada closed at 11. Definitely another pub to return to at a later date.

The next morning, Friday 10th June 2016, our journey took us into the unexplored country that is the Curley Wyrley. Our first mistake (of many!) was not to stop for an early lunch at a pub called the United Kingdom only to find that the next three pubs on our (20 year) old map had all disappeared! Eventually, this place hoved into view.

The Fingerpost, Pelsall

The Fingerpost, Pelsall

Sadly, our timing was awry, arriving in the middle of the two hour period when they weren't serving food!! Inside it was decorated and laid out like many similar pub restaurants...pastel shades and a 'rustic' feel. There were few other customers, so difficult to judge the place, but it filled a need.

We set sail again into what soon became a torrential downpour and ended up mooring outside a pub in Rushall, with another just 100 yards away! Bliss...except neither did food!

The Boathouse, Rushall

This is the pub we moored outside and whist they'd stopped serving meals there were some cling-film covered rolls so we didn't starve!! The pub is an open, family friendly place with a unique seating arrangement of a 'narrowboat' shaped seating area in the middle of the large lounge!

We then made the long journey (100 yds max) to the historic, and unusual, Manor Arms.

The Manor Arms, Rushall

From the outside it looks just like a typical back-street Banks's pub, but inside it becomes something a whole lot different - a pub with no bar! When I'd read about this, just before we moored, I couldn't quite work out how this would work.

As you walk in the door, there are two small rooms to the right, with service through a hatch - so far, fairly familiar territory, A couple of steps further on there's a doorway (no door) into the bar on the left. At first I hesitated because I was walking into the area where the barmaid was pulling a pint, but then I saw that there were several people at tables drinking and chatting (as you do in a pub bar!). After getting served, we sat down and had a great evening chatting with the very friendly locals in what I'm fairly sure will be my Pub of 2016. For those who can't visualise what a pub with no bar looks like, here's the picture.

The Manor Arms, Rushall

 The next morning, Saturday 11th June 2016, we moved off and travelled along the Rushall Canal followed by the Tame Valley Canal where we again fell victim to the disappearing pub phenomenon. We eventually ended up for a lunchtime stop in Ocker Hill and, after a walk through a housing estate we found the Waggon & Horses.

Waggon & Horses, Ocker Hill

A fairly basic pub, not serving food, but with rolls behind the bar so all was not lost. It is also home to the Toll End Brewery.

We decided to take a stroll to see whether we could find anything better. After a 10 minute walk we discovered this place.

The Dew Drop Inn, Ocker Hill

This is a real 'dumpy, old man's pub' that I thought had been driven to extinction by the smoking ban and sundry financial crises over the past few years. But no, The Dew Drop Inn continues with its glorious ordinariness that was once so commonplace but is now an endangered species.

Back on Peggy Ellen and we made our way along the Walsall Canal to the centre of Walsall itself. There's a shiny new development that includes such delights as a Hungry Horse and a Chef & Brewer which we decided to eschew in favour of more traditional pubs. The first of these, The Oak Inn, is a typical just out of town centre boozer.

The Oak Inn, Walsall

It's difficult to make a judgement on this pub as England were playing Russia and there were less than 20 people in the place. We moved on at half time.

Not knowing where we were going, we wandered for about 15 minutes until we found The Pretty Bricks.

The Pretty Bricks, Walsall

This is a Black Country Ales pub and was formerly known as the Tap & Spile and also the New Inn. Inside it was a cosy, well decorated little pub, but despite it being Saturday evening there were only a few people in there (and no football!). I imagine that, on a busy night, it would be a great place to spend a few hours. It was also the pub where Walsall CAMRA was founded in 1972.

That's the last of the new pubs from this trip, most of which I'd be happy to visit again (with one or two notable exceptions!) 

#186 Keg & Grill, Birmingham : 2004 to 2015

Having lived here for over 30 years, whenever our canal trips have brought us into the centre of Birmingham, I have always tried to find new and different pubs for my crewmates to sample within easy walking distance of the canal. I'm also keen to find pubs I've not visited before.

This happened on the evening of Wednesday 1st September 2004 when we discovered the Gough Arms.

It was a pub that I didn't know existed and we only popped in for one pint. As I recall it was a fairly standard back-street boozer.

We didn't return, although on at least one occasion we went by and it was closed. It did seem that it was a terminal situation, but happily as I was in the area one afternoon I saw that it was open and completely rebranded.

This was on the afternoon of Wednesday 24th June 2015. It had undergone a complete transformation and, hopefully, with The Cube and The Mailbox nearby it may be a successful transformation.

To visit as it is now, here is the pub's website. Also, to see what the Gough Arms looked like in the 1950's you can see it here.

#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.

#184 The Admiral Codrington, Coventry : 2004 to 2015 (RIP)

My first ever canal trip was in 1980 and we went to Coventry where we moored up in the then quite derelict Canal Basin.

 This was from Thursday 19th April 1980, but we didn't visit The Admiral Codrington on that occasion.

We didn't venture back to Coventry Basin until Tuesday 30th May 2000 to find that a complete transformation of the basin had taken place.

Again, we didn't visit the Admiral Codrington which stood by one of the entrances to the canal basin.

We returned, again, on the evening of Friday 27th August 2004 and, this time, we did pop into The Admiral Codrington for a pint before we ventured into Coventry itself.

It was a typical 'back street' boozer that was common then, but a type that has suffered badly over the subsequent years.

We returned less than a year later for a lunchtime stop on Wednesday 1st June 2005. We were back so soon because we were taking Emma Jane to Nuneaton for roof repairs/replacement and we had a few hours to kill.

Although it was only 10 months, the pub had been completely redecorated on the outside with most of the signage renewed/replaced (even though, at first glance, it looks unchanged!).

My next visit was not by boat, but a special trip to take pictures of Coventry for my, then fledgling, Photo Digital Art project on the afternoon of Sunday 6th May 2012.

This is the sad sight that presented itself!

While in the canal basin I did manage to get a picture that most closely reproduces the shot of Emma Jane from 1980.

Our most recent boating visit to Coventry was on the evening of Tuesday 1st September 2015.

The final demise of The Admiral Codrington; transformation into the rather unimaginatively named, Canal View Court.

Meanwhile, the canal basin looked like this.

Quite a transformation in 35 years from a derelict, windswept canal terminus where we were the only boat to this seemingly thriving canal basin where there was only one mooring spot left. One final thing to note is that after 35 years, the block of flats that stand over the basin has finally got a refurb!

#183 The Swan, Fradley Junction, Staffordshire : 1986 to 2016

The Swan at Fradley Junction is a classic canalside pub that really hasn't changed much throughout the years that we've been passing by. Our first stop there was back in 1983 before my cataloguing of our pub visits began.

Our first, recorded, visit was at lunchtime on Tuesday 29th July 1986 returning from a trip to Nottingham.

Fairly quiet, but it was midweek!

We returned a year later, again at lunchtime, on Wednesday 15th July 1987.

More people about this time, probably because it was a sunny day. Back in those days, you could moor up right outside the pub.

After this visit, our boat Emma Jane spent a few years moored near Wigan and then a few more years berthed on the Grand Union Canal near to Hemel Hempstead nd so our next visit to The Swan wasn't until lunchtime on Thursday 30th May 1996.

In the intervening years, the hanging sign had been renewed, the main pub sign had turned 'gold', the porch roof had been re-covered and the upstairs window shutters had disappeared. Apart from that, it was completely unchanged.

On this occasion, the pub let us down, from memory they'd stopped serving food at 2pm leaving us without lunch while we got our leaking shower tray fixed. Fortunately, we managed to acquire provisions from the shop next door.

Our next visit was an evening stop on Monday 30th August 1999.

Little seemed to have changed.

Next visit was on the evening of Tuesday 17th September 2002 on our way back from a trip that should've taken us to Chester but instead took us to Leek on the Caldon Canal.

No real changes but the hanging sign was starting to show signs of severe fading.

We returned the next year at lunchtime on Sunday 24th August 2003.

It was a Bank Holiday weekend that coincides with the Wychnor Boat Rally which led to the locks being very busy and progress was slow. Allied to it also being a hot day meant that we weren't best pleased to be told that the food was Sunday lunch only - NO sandwiches available! Once again we had to avail ourselves of the provisions available in the shop next door; the first, and so far only, time I've had Turkey Ham! Notice also that the hanging sign is missing, but hanging baskets have appeared below the upstairs windows.

It was another couple of years before we ventured back, this time on the evening of Sunday 21st August 2005.

Again no changes and the hanging sign was still missing!

We were back again at lunchtime on Wednesday 7th June 2006.

It looks like the hanging sign had returned and parasols adorned the outdoor tables.

Our next stop was on the evening of Sunday 30th August 2009 at the start of a two week trip that would take us up the Erewash Canal for the first time.

We returned almost exactly a year later on the evening of Sunday 29th August 2010, this time at the start of a journey that took us through Manchester.

The baskets below the upper windows had gone.

Again, almost exactly a year later we passed by on Sunday 28th August 2011, the last year of Emma Jane.

In the following years we hired boats that took us to parts of the canal system that we'd never visited before and it wasn't until 2015 that we returned. William's new boat, Peggy Ellen, is moored at nearby Kings Bromley so we've been visiting The Swan somewhat more frequently.

This was on the evening of Monday 25th May 2015 and, despite it being a Bank Holiday they didn't seem to have run out of anything. We were also treated to some unexpected entertainment when a man walked in with a parrot on his shoulder!

We were there again on Monday 15th June 2015 in the evening.

And again on the evening of Friday 3rd September 2015.

Since 2011, the main pub sign on the front wall had gone back to black lettering, but everything else was as on previous occasions.

All of our visits during 2015 were charcterised by excellent service and very good food, often served under quite stressful conditions as The Swan gets very busy and has a small bar for serving. Sometimes in the past it wasn't always so good as certain owners/managers/landlords didn't try too hard, essentially, because they didn't have to. The Swan is in such a good location that when the sun comes out people flock there and certain managers had realised that they didn't need to put in as much effort.

On the day before our most recent visit I'd learnt that The Swan was under new management, which I hoped was a good sign as we were making a very special trip. Our friend Mike was coming over from Canada (first time we'd seen him since 1995) and another friend Matt was coming up from near Oxford for a reunion of former crewmates of Emma Jane. (Mike's last trip was in 1981 and Matt's 1987!)

So, we boarded Peggy Ellen for the 90 minute journey to Fradley Junction. We negotiated the three locks with ease, found a mooring and went to the pub.

This was on Friday 6th May 2016. Mike and Matt are at the front; Andrew is steering and smoothly turning Peggy Ellen.

Lunch, however, did not go quite so smoothly. There have been some, so far minor, alterations to the inside of the pub and hopefully there will be some more to better utilise some of the space. 

Firstly, it took an age to get a round of drinks (the pub was quite busy and obviously the new staff aren't up to the speed required here) and there was no soda water on stream for my Blackcurrant & Soda. A minor irritation; I had tap water instead.

Then, on to the food. Our order was 3 x Cottage Pies, 1 x Cumberland Sausage and 1 x Ploughman's Lunch (for me). Except they didn't have any Ploughman's left! OK, another irritation, I chose Fish & Chips. Half an hour later I was told by the server that they'd run out of Fish & Chips as well! After ascertaining that they had some, I chose Cottage Pie.

We were finally served our food about an hour after we'd placed the original order. My Cottage Pie was alright, but it had an Italian ambience to it, and the accompanying vegetables were derisory; hardly more than a garnish!

I do hope the new management get a grip on things because if they don't it will be a disaster for them and the pub.

ADDENDUM (June 2019)
In all our subsequent visits the service has been faultless, so it looks like the teething problems were resolved.

#182 Red Bull, Church Lawton, Staffs : 1991 to 2015

The Red Bull pub is a well-known canalside pub, but not one we've stopped at very often. It is a couple of locks down from the summit of "Heartbreak Hill" and so is not in the best position for stopping at when boating.

Our first stop there was on the lunchtime of Thursday 25th July 1991.

 This was during the journey south for Emma Jane, from Adlington to, ultimately, Cowley Peachey on the Grand Union Canal.

Our next stop there was another lunchtime stop on Wednesday 24th August 2005. This was a pit stop on our journey to Chester and back.

In 14 years, the only discernible changes were the 'new' hanging baskets and the addition of a burglar alarm.

Our most recent visit to the Red Bull was at lunchtime (again!) on Tuesday 20th January 2015. This was part of the 'Shakedown' cruise for Peggy Ellen, which is why we were boating in January!

At least in the subsequent ten years since our last visit the exterior had been completely redecorated, even if the hanging sign looks to be the same as in 1991!

Regular readers will know that I can rarely remember what the pubs I feature are like on the inside. So far I've resisted all mention of the interior because, quite frankly, I don't really remember it much. However, I suspect that it hasn't changed much over the years and this is what it looked like on this visit.

As you can see, still a proper pub! Well worth a visit if you're passing and, hopefully, we'll be back in less than ten years this time!