Wrenbury pubs and other important matters!

Saturday, 27 March 2010 14:19

Sometimes we are asked to recommend pubs along the canals

We do not normally do so as things can change and sadly we have seen so many close down over the years. Well, here is one we can recommend, for its food, atmosphere and folk night!

Mark has been the Landlord here for around six years. His great grandfather once owned the building and the mill opposite, now the hire boat base of Alvechurch hire boats. We were impressed five years ago when we visited the pub and were not disappointed by Mark's welcome and hospitality last night!

Dusty Miller

The Dusty Miller is as well known as Wrenbury Lift Bridge - it is right by it too!

Lift Bridge and Dusty Miller

The River Weaver runs under the Llangollen Canal here and once provided a mill race for the corn mill (now the Dusty Miller). It was called Summer Mill and belonged to the monks of Combermere Abbey. Later on it was used to store cheese and potoatoes which were taken to Manchester by the fly boats.

Now the Dusty Miller is patronised by those on passing narrowboats and those looking for good food and a great atmosphere!

Dusty Miller over the mill stream (River Weaver)

Mill stream (River Weaver) after Dusty Miller

We really enjoyed the folk night too - John joined in with his guitar and voice! Although we do not deliberately cruise from folk night to folk night is is great when we do coincide! Folk Orbit is a useful website for other "folkies" as it lists the venues in the UK.

The other pub in Wrenbury is just down the road. We visited it back on one of our cruises on the Langollen when we were still hiring narrowboats.

The Cotton Arms

The Cotton Arms pub dates back to the 16th century and the older part is said to contain ships' timbers; in the early 1900s it could house 8 people and their horses. Now it has a crown bowling green and a caravan site beside the Llangollen Canal. It is named after the Cotton family who once owned Combermere Abbey.

A final note about lift bridges - the three around Wrenbury on the Llangollen Canal are unique, drawbridge types built by Thomas Telford. The one at Wrenbury now carries a road and so is electrified (BW key neeeded) and strengthened to carry traffic like tankers, buses and tractors!

Below, a tanker and bus cross the lift bridge (not at the same time) - the bus stop is just down the road to the right.