Long Gone Pubs on the G.U.

[Denis R]

An 'old local' was telling me that there used to be 7 pubs on the stretch of G.U. between Blisworth and Braunston. Apparently one of the cottages at Arm End was once a pub and I know of the Crown at Bugbrooke, but does anybody know where the others were and what they were called?

Any sources of reference material that might help?

[Hairy-Neil]

An 'old local' was telling me that there used to be 7 pubs on the stretch of G.U. between Blisworth and Braunston. Apparently one of the cottages at Arm End was once a pub and I know of the Crown at Bugbrooke, but does anybody know where the others were and what they were called?

Any sources of reference material that might help?

 

There used to be a pub at the bottom of Buckby flight. Last I new it was a carpet shop.....

 

Also on the Grand Union, though further south, there's a flight of locks known as Nags Head Three, yet not a pub in sight.....

[Keeping Up]

There used to be a pub at the bottom of Buckby flight. Last I new it was a carpet shop.....

... hoping that people would think that buying a "Whilton Carpet" was as good as buying a "Wilton Carpet". So now there's no pub, just continuous noise from the motorway and the railway, NOT one of my favourite mooring spots.

 

Also on the Grand Union, though further south, there's a flight of locks known as Nags Head Three, yet not a pub in sight.....

I believe it was the house on the offside next to the bridge, below the locks. You can still see the post that the signboard used to hang from. Just like the pub in Horton village, now long gone but the house until recently had the post for the signboard.

 

I don't know about the ones between Blisworth and Braunston, but:

 

We once stopped outside a very tempting looking pub - not sure where but it may have been on the Grand Union north of Weedon - only to discover it was just a plywood facade that the BBC were using for a filming.

 

There was a pub on the North Oxford at "Navigation Bridge" about a mile north of Braunston called, I believe, the Navigation

 

We stopped outside a derelict place near Hillmorton once,to fix a detached silencer, and someone came out and said "We've got the beer cellar fixed up, we'll be opening in a few days time, would you like to come in and have a beer". It's the Old Royal Oak now (which, despite what it said on the menus when it was owned by Marston's, is NOT on the Trent and Mersey). The same thing happened to us the evening before the "Hope & Anchor" at Syston officially opened.

 

Does a pub with no beer still count as a pub? If not we found two on the Thames near Oxford last summer.

 

Allan

[CanalWalker]

Some editions of OS maps have pub names on them, i will have a look next time i am bored at work!

Working on canals was even more thirsty work than cruising on them!