Changes at pubs

(re-written)

THE Cheshire Cheese public house is to become an Indian restaurant - Nantwich's sixth - even though the former pub was on the market as a "Development Opportunity".

   In an advert in The Nantwich Chronicle it was described as "benefiting from full planning permission" for conversion into a substantial four-bedroom family home, and nine new-build residential apartments with car parking in the former pub's car park.

    But Nantwich Town councillors opposes the restaurant idea, saying its neighbours would be subjected to noise and disturbance with an eatery opening later than a pub (which the councillors would prefer the building to remain). There is a car park at the rear of the building.  

   Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council (who decide on planning applications, while Nantwich Town Council can only make comments) have agreed the building can become an Indian Restaurant. They didn't agree with the town council about the noise and disturbance.

   I don't know whether any builder made a bid for the building to convert it, but the climate has changed as house prices fall.

   It was ironic that on the day the building was advertised as a development opportunity, the front page lead story in The Nantwich Chronicle was about a developer offering a BMW 1 Series car free with every plot on his housing site at Hough, near Crewe!  Alternatively - one more on a number of incentives - they would pay your utility bills for two years. Given the current state of our utility costs at the moment, it is hard to say which is the better deal. 

l The Black Lion pub in Welsh Row is under new management, with Liz and Darren Snell saying that the "dog pub" image is a thing of the past. But it will have real ale and food. The courtyard has been revamped with a Moroccan theme "surrounded by flowers" (Nantwich Chronicle, August 13, 2008). The pub is owned by Carlton Holdings (a.k.a. the Schofield Brothers, Paul, Mark and John).  

THE Swan with Two Necks, in Welsh Row - just on the town side of the Black Lion - has closed down and the owners, Enterprise Inns, are looking for a new tenant to run the pub.

   There are metal shutters on the front windows and letters and junk mail are piling up in the entrance.

   The Nantwich Chronicle (September 17, 2008) cited "dwindling pub trade" as the reason for the closure, reminding readers that the same problem had hit The Cheshire Cheese, the White Swan and the Millfields.

   The pub currently has a flat sign, but in years gone by an impressive 3D sign, with a sculpture of a swan with intertwined necks showed where the pub stood.

   Of course, you know - don't you? - that the "two necks" part of the pub name is a mistake. It is a corruption of the "two nicks" which were cut into the beaks of swans to show who owned them. (The Queen's birds have three nicks, I believe).          

   See this updates page.

ADMIRAL TAVERNS, the brewery which owns The Millfields, the now-empty pub, is putting the building on the market . . . for housing. Just what we need. Mind you, even houses standing empty will be better than windows which have grills and shutters. Also, it is claimed, the former car park is a dumping ground. In a report in The Nantwich Chronicle (February 25, 2009) it is said that the new Cheshire East Council will consider the application to build 14 homes on the site at a planning meeting.

The latest news

New use for pub

THE White Swan in Pillory Street has now opened as the Aroi Thai restaurant (right).

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