Saturday 20 March 2010

A view of a pub

Google have recently updated the Street View facility on Google Maps to include pretty much the whole of the UK. Some may feel this is an invasion of privacy, but one benefit it brings is to be able to view pretty much any pub you care to mention.

So here are a couple of Stockport’s classic unspoilt Robinson’s pubs, the Arden Arms in the town centre, and the Davenport Arms at Woodford.

The Old Bull’s Head at Little Hucklow, recently mentioned on here, still looks inviting despite having been closed for five years, and hopefully the current closure of the very attractive Highwayman at Rainow will prove temporary.

Of course it also shows up the all-too-obvious decline of the pub trade. Here is the Aston Arms in Frodsham, Cheshire, once a delightful multi-roomed pub with its own bowling green. A couple of miles along the road in Helsby, two of the four pubs in the village are now closed and boarded, the Horse & Jockey and the Robin Hood. Ironically, I would always have thought those two were more appealing and had better prospects than the two that remain open, the Railway and the Helsby Arms (ex Brown Cow).

4 comments:

  1. With regard to the Helsby Pubs. Both the Horse & Jockey and the Robin Hood, although perhaps appealing buildings, were done a huge disservice by their landlords who allowed standards to slip to such unacceptable levels that customer, unsurprisingly, deserted them and the pubcos were unwilling to invest. I can’t speak for the Railway but as the licensee of the Helsby Arms I can confirm that we are doing very well, despite the current climate. Perhaps the appeal and prospects of any pub are about so much more than the location and facade. We have worked extremely hard to overturn the checkered history of this pub and now have an enviable reputation for quality food, ales and service.
    Next time you're in the area we invite you to pay us a visit!

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  2. Thanks for the comments, Carole. I have no recent experience of the Helsby Arms, but always felt that the old "Brown Cow" was somewhat out on a limb at the edge of the village. It also for a while (many years back) got a bit of an unsavoury reputation.

    I spent seven years at Helsby Grammar School (as was) and also worked for a while at EVC on the old BICC site, which is how I know the area.

    I will make an effort to call in to your pub some time - to be honest, I haven't been in there for nearly thirty years.

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  3. I did have a quick tour of my old drinking haunts that are now closed and on google maps they are still open! It is a massive task to process this sort of data and there will be some delay. A good tool, but it makes me sad to see pubs that appear to be open that are in reality closed - I really,really hate this country now.

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  4. Google Street View really is an amazing tool. I say use it whils it's still free!

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