Bridge Inn Napton

[sharpness]

Its back on the market again

https://www.knightfrank.com/properties/residential/for-sale/southam-road-napton-southam-cv47/str180249

It was better as a pub.

[Tonka]

added on 19/6/2019 according to rightmove. Don't think that is new

[sharpness]

Dr Bobs post in 2018 it was newly developed, empty, with a price of £1.1m,  now with a different agent, occupied with a price £950K.

[Athy]

11 hours ago, sharpness said:

 

It was better as a pub.

Yes, when it was open. It spent years fluctuating between being closed and being under new management, so you could never rely on it being open when you needed it.

 

It's a rather sad sight, and who needs a 6-bedroom house anyway? I like the bath though.

[Jo_]

Does it come with very up-market designer 'No Mooring' signs?

[Athy]

5 minutes ago, Jo_ said:

Does it come with very up-market designer 'No Mooring' signs?

I was thinking along almost similar lines: all that money and you can't even moor outside it. It's by (yes, you've guessed) a bridge, and there is a winding hole just beyond it too.

Edited March 7, 2020 by Athy

[john6767]

16 minutes ago, Jo_ said:

Does it come with very up-market designer 'No Mooring' signs?

There is the bridge and then a winding hole in front of the property, so no one is going to actually moor outside.  To me it a but of a sprawling building to make a good house, so it has got to be the location that you buy for.   I see there are a lot of new houses being built in the village, like everywhere, so plenty of options if you are looking to move to Napton

[ditchcrawler]

When it was a pub a section of mooring right by the winding hole was reserved for their day boat

[john6767]

7 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

When it was a pub a section of mooring right by the winding hole was reserved for their day boat

That is the other side of the winding hole to the property, and I think the "reserved for trip boat" signs are no longer on the posts.  When did the trip boat actually stop, must be over 10 years?

[mrsmelly]

It was always up and down as a pub, some OK beer and some crap beer had there over the years. Also the less important matter of food was always a lottery. 

[Nightwatch]

Never went in there. Even though it was open occasionally when we passed by.

[Athy]

2 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

Never went in there. Even though it was open occasionally when we passed by.

From memory, one landlord whitewashed an "under new management" sign on a wall, and it survived to do duty for several more new landlords.

Was this the pub whose new manageress, perhaps five years ago, joined the forum and was all sweetness and light for about three days before engaging some members in toe-to-toe combat?

[ditchcrawler]

10 minutes ago, Nightwatch said:

Never went in there. Even though it was open occasionally when we passed by.

I have had some very good meals in  there and some the other end of the scale, the best time was when Carol and her husband, form S Africa ran it, I think their kids took over after that. I remember visiting with one set of management, the menu all had fancy names, shame the food didnt match up

[Nightwatch]

Was it smashed potatoes that got people going?

[MtB]

24 minutes ago, Athy said:

From memory, one landlord whitewashed an "under new management" sign on a wall, and it survived to do duty for several more new landlords.

Was this the pub whose new manageress, perhaps five years ago, joined the forum and was all sweetness and light for about three days before engaging some members in toe-to-toe combat?

 

Yes, that's the one. 

 

Got WELLSHIRTY with a few members on here for not much reason, IIRC. 

[roland elsdon]

We dared to park the car in the car park one night , as I had an early race. Checked it was ok, with bars staff etc etc.

coming  back in pm with meal planned in pub and car shuffle arranged, we were met with abuse about overnight parking and F ing boaters.

All statements regarding talking to bar staff were ignored. We left, put the car in the Folly car park, and walked back to the boat.

We had a jolly evening of the usual abuse from Sooty and a Folly pie, about bloody boat owners.

[ditchcrawler]

1 minute ago, roland elsdon said:

We dared to park the car in the car park one night , as I had an early race. Checked it was ok, with bars staff etc etc.

coming  back in pm with meal planned in pub and car shuffle arranged, we were met with abuse about overnight parking and F ing boaters.

All statements regarding talking to bar staff were ignored. We left, put the car in the Folly car park, and walked back to the boat.

We had a jolly evening of the usual abuse from Sooty and a Folly pie, about bloody boat owners.

We had similar, 8 of us having a meal and drinking in the pub all evening, one couple planned to spend the night on ur boat and wanted to leave the car in the carpark.

[Tim Lewis]

35 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

We had similar, 8 of us having a meal and drinking in the pub all evening, one couple planned to spend the night on ur boat and wanted to leave the car in the carpark.

On the other side I once asked to leave my car there and they said it was fine as long as I put a donation into the air ambulance charity box

[Up-Side-Down]

3 hours ago, Athy said:

From memory, one landlord whitewashed an "under new management" sign on a wall, and it survived to do duty for several more new landlords.

Was this the pub whose new manageress, perhaps five years ago, joined the forum and was all sweetness and light for about three days before engaging some members in toe-to-toe combat?

Yes!

[roggie]

Lots of rings there, moored last October for the night. Good mooring just after the flight or just before.

[john6767]

36 minutes ago, roggie said:

Lots of rings there, moored last October for the night. Good mooring just after the flight or just before.

The “Bridge” is not the pub by the locks, that is the Folly, en excellent establishment.  There are some visitor moorings with rings near what was the Bridge, but not much point in stopping there anymore.

[MtB]

Just now, john6767 said:

but not much point in stopping there anymore.

 

Not much point when it was still a pub, either!

 

Such was the unpredictability of the place....

 

 

 

[howardang]

8 minutes ago, john6767 said:

The “Bridge” is not the pub by the locks, that is the Folly, en excellent establishment.  There are some visitor moorings with rings near what was the Bridge, but not much point in stopping there anymore.

We have been based at Wigrams Turn for the last three years and we like it as a mooring on the last night of a trip before returning to the marina. We used the Bridge for many years since around 2000 when it was in its heyday, and enjoyed many meals there. One of it's good points even now is that there is both a good satellite signal and strong 4G as well.

 

Howard

Edited March 7, 2020 by howardang

[john6767]

3 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Not much point when it was still a pub, either!

 

Such was the unpredictability of the place....

 

 

 

It was decent enough up about 8 years, then as has been said many time a sequence of closing and then reopen with poor tenants.  

Just now, howardang said:

We have been based at Wigrams Turn for the last three years and we like it as a mooring on the last night of a trip before returning to the marina. We used the Bridge for many years since abround 2000 when it was in its heyday, and enjoyed many meals there. One of it's good points even now is that there is both a good satellite signal and strong 4G as well.

 

Howard

We are at Calcutt, and we stop either in the bottom pound or below the locks and go to the Folly as a last stop when coming up the South Oxford.

[Dav and Pen]

The bridge never recovered after John and Lydia left although they had let it go by the end. Davenports (remember them) sold out toGreenalls and the locals didn’t care for the new beer which didn’t help. Spent many happy hours in there and even had our companies Christmas parties there. The up and downs of the place since have been the same as lots of pubs even the Folly which is now right at the top of its game.