Canal side pubs.

[haggis]

When we started canal boating over 30 years ago I took emergency rations and considered it a fail if I  had to use  them.  To put it in perspective, we don't eat out much at home and it was one of the holiday treats to eat out. 

Fast forward to covid and things changed. It now became the exception to eat out and we got used to eating on board. 

Now that covid rules have relaxed a bit we have had some meals in canal side pubs this last week or so but how things have changed. Despite it being a holiday weekend, we have often been the only people eating and there were very few folk just in the pub for a pint. 

This doesn't look promising for the future of canal side pubs. 

[Quaffer]

Well done for giving the canalside pubs your custom,it really is a case of use them or loose them.

 

I am saddened when boaters who moor at canalside pubs (no doubt because other boats are moored there) don't then bother to use them .Like you sometimes I'm the only boater inside drinking and/or eating.

Edited April 20, 2022 by Quaffer

[Tonka]

That is why CAMRA are promoting https://camra.org.uk/pubs-and-clubs/current-campaigns/summer-of-pub/ this year

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Wish you hadn’t mentioned the pub. 

[Heartland]

I must admit, I preferred the visit the local shops and butchers for meals on board, with the pubs for drinking puposes, platying pool, darts etc. Yet saying that at the end of every trip there was the meal on the last night. And there were certain places for that, as hire boats were customary 1994-2011. There wee places in Worcester, Halifax and near Rugby used on more than occasion. Although with Halifax the Halifax Arm became unvailable with the letting of the spaces for long term moorings, if I recall correctly

As to drinking that was only at night after mooring up. The most unusual perhaps was on the Laggan Cut where strong winds had made progress diffult along the Caledonian Canal and we used a moored ship restuarant there. Sometimes in the pursuit for real ale the quest took us off the waterway and some times for a distance. Most canal side pubds were friendly and one near Chirk and another near Burnley stand out.

 

[robtheplod]

Are people not using pubs because they prefer to eat in (ie cheaper) or after effects of Covid and struggling to be in gatherings again do you think?

[PCSB]

3 minutes ago, robtheplod said:

Are people not using pubs because they prefer to eat in (ie cheaper) or after effects of Covid and struggling to be in gatherings again do you think?

A bit of both I'd say. No doubt money is tighter for an awful lot of people just now. Last year on our narrowboat holiday my wife was always a littler nervous when we went out (virtually every night). Have to say that most of the pubs on the Warwickshire ring were very good, with good food and good beer! 

 

Hopefully many of the pubs will get enough use to stay open, we will be doing a lot of cruising this year!

[robtheplod]

7 minutes ago, PCSB said:

A bit of both I'd say. No doubt money is tighter for an awful lot of people just now. Last year on our narrowboat holiday my wife was always a littler nervous when we went out (virtually every night). Have to say that most of the pubs on the Warwickshire ring were very good, with good food and good beer! 

 

Hopefully many of the pubs will get enough use to stay open, we will be doing a lot of cruising this year!

Thats music to my ears..... doing the Warwick Ring again later this year!!!!

[gatekrash]

We try and avoid stopping at pubs every night, partly cos the moorings are usually rammed near them and we prefer middle of nowhere moorings, and partly cos else I'd be an obese alcoholic. We tend to cook on board 6 nights out of 7 and then make a point of finding somewhere good as a treat for one night a week. Been out for the last 2 weeks and eaten out twice. Last night we were in the Lock Inn at Wolverley on the S&W and it was 100% worth the wait. Meant I was allowed to have the faggots, the Mrs can't stand the smell of me cooking them at home!!

[Richard Fairhurst]

Coincidentally we were in the Lock on Thursday. Excellent steak, though it's a shame they don't do a proper cider any more.

 

I don't think I've ever known the Wolverley visitor moorings so quiet. In fact pretty much everywhere was quiet – we were doing the Stourport Ring, and most days we only saw a single-figure number of boats on the move. I wonder whether everyone's taking their foreign holidays this year now that the Covid restrictions have lifted.

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, Richard Fairhurst said:

Coincidentally we were in the Lock on Thursday. Excellent steak, though it's a shame they don't do a proper cider any more.

 

I don't think I've ever known the Wolverley visitor moorings so quiet. In fact pretty much everywhere was quiet – we were doing the Stourport Ring, and most days we only saw a single-figure number of boats on the move. I wonder whether everyone's taking their foreign holidays this year now that the Covid restrictions have lifted.

It seems busier this week than it was over Easter, even then lots of yards still had there boats at home