How's it been for getting pub meals in evenings?

[Rooffy]

After 30 years of annual hiring, Covid and other concerns put us off last year and this (so far). Am interested to know whether any difficulties arose getting tables at pubs for evening meals, particularly in the Midlands/Northern canals.

[mrsmelly]

Still open on the Oxford. For instance Lower Heyford. Aynho. Cropredy etc all doing meals and properly open thank God. 

[nicknorman]

I suggest it’s best to book a table if it’s the sort of establishment that you can book. We walked to a pub last week hoping for some lunch, but were told they weren’t taking walk-ins due to staff shortage. The pingdemic I suppose.

[john6767]

In general no problem, but safest to book if you know ahead of time, most places seem to still be doing bookings.

[MtB]

3 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Still open on the Oxford. For instance Lower Heyford. Aynho. Cropredy etc all doing meals and properly open thank God. 

 

Dmr and I went into the Brasenose at Cropredy for a pint on Saturday (I think it was), and we were rather taken aback to find the whole pub has morphed into a restaurant, with all the comfy sofas gone, and only formal tables and chairs all populated with cutlery, napkins, condiments etc. ready for diners. It all felt very uncomfortable and un-pubby. The bar was being used as a general conference area for the table staff to discuss the minutiae of the table orders and things that had gone wrong.

 

They did however invite us to sit at one of the eating tables even though we only wanted beer, and we had three pints each of Hooky and London Pride. I dunno about the Hooky but the London Pride I had was really excellent, superbly cellared. Best beer I've drunk for a couple of years at least. Staff were helpful and friendly and the place had a much nicer buzz about it that with the previous owners/managers/whatever they were, who seemed unable to keep the bar stocked with beer. Been in there several times over the last few years and been told "No bitter on draft today, sorry", although I seem to be the only one who kept experiencing this. 

[mrsmelly]

25 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Dmr and I went into the Brasenose at Cropredy for a pint on Saturday (I think it was), and we were rather taken aback to find the whole pub has morphed into a restaurant, with all the comfy sofas gone, and only formal tables and chairs all populated with cutlery, napkins, condiments etc. ready for diners. It all felt very uncomfortable and un-pubby. The bar was being used as a general conference area for the table staff to discuss the minutiae of the table orders and things that had gone wrong.

 

They did however invite us to sit at one of the eating tables even though we only wanted beer, and we had three pints each of Hooky and London Pride. I dunno about the Hooky but the London Pride I had was really excellent, superbly cellared. Best beer I've drunk for a couple of years at least. Staff were helpful and friendly and the place had a much nicer buzz about it that with the previous owners/managers/whatever they were, who seemed unable to keep the bar stocked with beer. Been in there several times over the last few years and been told "No bitter on draft today, sorry", although I seem to be the only one who kept experiencing this. 

The Brasenose are very accomodating. Its always been vastly superior to the Red Lion which I have often found to be the case with pubs nearer to the canal. We had to cancel our music festival last weekend due to staff down with covid and the Brasenose kindly took the bands on last minute. However due to weather and very last minute change of venue I dont think it went too well. Sad facts are that many proper pubs post covid at present are trying to entice foodies in at the expense of the proper pub goer, my lad is doing the same as there are still less folks about though he says they are deffo coming back out the woodwork. We use The Pickled Ploughman which happily let you sit amongst the food tables when drinking beer. It monitors whats going on for them and keeps customers away from the bars and works well. My local here with views on a good day of The statue of liberty does not do food at all  ever and he had his busiest week ever two weeks ago as people are venturing out, its great to see. Small changes such as have to sign in on arrival and no standing at the bar but thats it, so nearly a real pub again.

[Athy]

54 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

Dmr and I went into the Brasenose at Cropredy for a pint on Saturday (I think it was), and we were rather taken aback to find the whole pub has morphed into a restaurant, with all the comfy sofas gone, and only formal tables and chairs all populated with cutlery, napkins, condiments etc. ready for diners. It all felt very uncomfortable and un-pubby. The bar was being used as a general conference area for the table staff to discuss the minutiae of the table orders and things that had gone wrong.

 

They did however invite us to sit at one of the eating tables even though we only wanted beer, and we had three pints each of Hooky and London Pride. I dunno about the Hooky but the London Pride I had was really excellent, superbly cellared. Best beer I've drunk for a couple of years at least. Staff were helpful and friendly and the place had a much nicer buzz about it that with the previous owners/managers/whatever they were, who seemed unable to keep the bar stocked with beer. Been in there several times over the last few years and been told "No bitter on draft today, sorry", although I seem to be the only one who kept experiencing this. 

In answer to Rooffy's query, we ate out at a pub three weekends ago, for the first time in nigh on two years. It seemed unnatural at first and I felt uncomfortable, we had to sit at a table and couldn't order at the bar, not even drinks. We grew accustomed to it as the evening progressed.

 

MtB, I wish we'd known that you were in the area - we were on the boat this weekend (mainly repainting the roof), we thought about going to the Braze for dinner on Saturday but, when we heard that there was all-day music, we assumed that it a festival situation and that they wouldn't be doing meals, so we stayed on the boat.

 

I have never experienced ale drought at the Braze, but have done at the Red Lion.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Athy

[Sea Dog]

Apart from The Boat at the top of Stockton Locks which was unforgettable experience in not a good way (style over substance and a bad food event), our last few canal pub visits have all have been pretty easy and we were well satisfied.

 

Two Boats and Cuttle at Long Itchington beer or food both freely available.  Cape of Good Hope pretty much back to normal, although they've cut their portion sizes which is a bit disappointing (the food, not the beer - that's still like an elephant: comes in pints).

 

Last night we used The Boat at Catherine de Barnes. Best Sunday tucker I've had in a fair while, but cheap it ain't.

 

So, to the OP I'd say you're unlikely to have trouble finding anywhere to eat or drink on the Midlands canals from my sample. Further up north is where I'm headed and I'm pretty confident I'll neither starve nor go with thirst unslaked.

[mrsmelly]

35 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Apart from The Boat at the top of Stockton Locks which was unforgettable experience in not a good way (style over substance and a bad food event), our last few canal pub visits have all have been pretty easy and we were well satisfied.

 

Two Boats and Cuttle at Long Itchington beer or food both freely available.  Cape of Good Hope pretty much back to normal, although they've cut their portion sizes which is a bit disappointing (the food, not the beer - that's still like an elephant: comes in pints).

 

Last night we used The Boat at Catherine de Barnes. Best Sunday tucker I've had in a fair while, but cheap it ain't.

 

So, to the OP I'd say you're unlikely to have trouble finding anywhere to eat or drink on the Midlands canals from my sample. Further up north is where I'm headed and I'm pretty confident I'll neither starve nor go with thirst unslaked.

And your beer will always come via the great British pint  I was one of many that persued a course of action that eventualy saw us keeping the correct beer measurements in the UK for perpetuity 

[David Mack]

Saturday night a couple of weeks ago The Wharf at Hockley Heath was fully booked all evening, but we could book a table at The Boot, Lapworth with a couple of hours notice. £10 per head non-returnable deposit though, to put off the piss-takers.

[MtB]

2 hours ago, David Mack said:

Saturday night a couple of weeks ago The Wharf at Hockley Heath was fully booked all evening, but we could book a table at The Boot, Lapworth with a couple of hours notice. £10 per head non-returnable deposit though, to put off the piss-takers.

 

This would give me confidence that when you arrive, they won't be looking in a book somewhere is a puzzled sort of way then saying "How many was the table for, again?"

 

 

 

 

[Captain Pegg]

On 30/08/2021 at 19:40, David Mack said:

Saturday night a couple of weeks ago The Wharf at Hockley Heath was fully booked all evening, but we could book a table at The Boot, Lapworth with a couple of hours notice. £10 per head non-returnable deposit though, to put off the piss-takers.

The Wharf at Hockley Heath is an awful pub so you didn’t miss much. Personally I always go to the Navigation in Lapworth and have eaten there three times this year. Funnily enough I prefer the Navigation to the Boot for pretty much all the same reasons another forum member was championing the Boot over ‘southern’ pubs or similar in another thread recently.

 

Just eaten at The Three Horseshoes at Winkwell. Phoned ahead this afternoon to ensure we got a table but the risk was the kitchen closing early through lack of customers rather than it being fully booked. It was OK but I doubt I’ll bother to stop again on my return in three weeks time.

[frahkn]

4 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

The Wharf at Hockley Heath is an awful pub so you didn’t miss much. Personally I always go to the Navigation in Lapworth and have eaten there three times this year. Funnily enough I prefer the Navigation to the Boot for pretty much all the same reasons another forum member was championing the Boot over ‘southern’ pubs or similar in another thread recently.

 

Just eaten at The Three Horseshoes at Winkwell. Phoned ahead this afternoon to ensure we got a table but the risk was the kitchen closing early through lack of customers rather than it being fully booked. It was OK but I doubt I’ll bother to stop again on my return in three weeks time.

I prefer the Navigation over the Wharf and either rather than the Boot. However I wouldn't describe the Wharf as "awful", it's a reasonable pub, the food is over-priced but not bad and the beer is no worse than several in the area.

[doratheexplorer]

5 hours ago, frahkn said:

I prefer the Navigation over the Wharf and either rather than the Boot. However I wouldn't describe the Wharf as "awful", it's a reasonable pub, the food is over-priced but not bad and the beer is no worse than several in the area.

The Wharf is just a mediocre pub.  Not awful but not much to make me want to go there either.

I'm not a big fan of the Navigation or the Boot.  I'll admit I've only been to the Navigation once.  It was quiet.  The staff were very cold, almost unwelcoming.  The Boot is always popular with the well heeled (always lots of fancy cars in the car park), but I can't quite see why.  The food and drink are nothing special and well overpriced.

 

I usually tend to head further down the Stratford to the Fleur-de-Lys which is a much better choice IMO.

[agg221]

Further north, on the Four Counties a couple of weeks ago we went to the Shroppie Fly (booked ahead, everything was fine, drinks at the bar etc) and the Royal Oak in Gnosall as we were eating later than the two closer to the canal were still serving. They were quite happy to take a table of 9 at short notice (rang ahead) and the food was decent. We also went to the Crown Wharf in Stone, there were no restrictions and the beer was excellent.

 

Alec

[David Mack]

The Boat Inn at Minworth has signs facing the canal advertising real ale and food all day. They had neither on Saturday night. So we walked down to the Hare and Hounds for cheap chain pub fare, which satisfied the need, but they too had no real ale.

[Tim Lewis]

2 hours ago, David Mack said:

The Boat Inn at Minworth has signs facing the canal advertising real ale and food all day. They had neither on Saturday night. So we walked down to the Hare and Hounds for cheap chain pub fare, which satisfied the need, but they too had no real ale.

a friend stopped at the Boat last night to be told that the reason they were not doing food Ed that the chef had just given birth.  I enjoyed my American Combo at the Hare and Hounds 😀

[Victor Vectis]

6 hours ago, agg221 said:

 < snip >We also went to the Crown Wharf in Stone, there were no restrictions and the beer was excellent.

 

Alec

Crown Wharf?

 

A new one for me wrt Stone.

Mr Google tells me it is a Joules establishment. Another good reason for stopping there.

(Along with The Swan, The Royal Exchange and The Borehole. The McSpoons aint bad either)

 

I like Stone!

(Can you tell?)

 

ETA But I can give The Star a miss. Why drink Marstons beer when there is much better available just across the road and the bridge?)

Edited September 7, 2021 by Victor Vectis

[agg221]

6 minutes ago, Victor Vectis said:

Crown Wharf?

 

A new one for me wrt Stone.

Mr Google tells me it is a Joules establishment. Another good reason for stopping there.

(Along with The Swan, The Royal Exchange and The Borehole. The McSpoons aint bad either)

 

I like Stone!

(Can you tell?)

 

ETA But I can give The Star a miss. Why drink Marstons beer when there is much better available just across the road and the bridge?)

Crown Wharf is indeed a Joules establishment. It is a new building but done well. A big, cavernous main room of the city centre pub type but with an outdoor deck to watch the boats go by and a few nice nooks and crannies if you want a quiet chat. It felt like somewhere which had been laid out by someone with a good understanding of what makes a decent pub (including the range of good beer!)

 

The Star was my wife's old local when she stayed with her grandparents, but it was shut on a Tuesday evening which was not encouraging. I hadn't been to Stone before (other than passing through on Middlewich Narrowboats boat at Easter in 1998), but I got a good first impression.

 

Alec