Our personal experience of pubs by or near the canal or river. We look for good beer, good honest food, cheerful and helpful service and a pleasant atmosphere. This only inclyudes places we have actually used, so not every pub or diner is here.
1. GRAND UNION CANAL- travelling North and starting at Brentford.
Brentford -
Magpie and Crown. We haven't eaten there but this largeish plainish pub serves very good ales and is friendly. Two minutes walk from the basin.
Hanwell
The Fox. London, W7 2PJ. A few yards from the moorings below the bottom lock of the Hanwell flight. One of our favourite pubs. Very good real ales inc Timothy Taylors at it best. Food (Wed to Sat evening and Sun lunch). Interesting and unusual menu and delicious. Things we liked included bavette steak with tarragon butter, babaganoush (an aubergine and garlic starter, and Sunday roast. Quiz on Wed or Thurs
Cowley Peachey -
Paddington Packet Boat. 100yds up the lane from Bridge 190. Plain, friendly Fullers pub. Weel kept ales. Reasonable Sunday lunch.
Cowley Lock -
Malt Shovel. Dining pub run by Heritage Inns. Real ale only London Pride, and sometimes you have to do without! Good food from a varied but predictable menu.
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Lockside Tea rooms - (probably has a proper name but I don't recall it) Tiny cafe lockside. Refurbished in recent years. Breakfasts and lunches. Good honest grub reasonably priced.
Uxbridge (seems to have a lot of large plain boozers)
General Elliot - haven't eaten there, you may be able to moor outside if the locals have left a space. Good ales and a little canalside patio although the view is of the boatyard workshops opposite
Swan & Bottle - 150 yds below Uxbridge lock. Surprisingly good for a Chef and Brewer pub. Excellent food and good service small choice of nationally available real ales which are well kept. Very good steaks and roasts. Nice puds too. A very big pub inside. Visitor mooring adjacent.
Denham Deep Lock
Tea rooms alongside the lock. Tea / coffee cakes and snacks. A nice little garden by the river than flows under the lock. They sell home made pickles and chutneys.
Harefield
Horse and Barge Opposite Harefield marina entrance. Huge canalside garden with kids playground. Lots of outside dining tables. Real ale often not available. Popular on a warm day. Food (no recollection of what we ate so it can't have been amazing or very bad!)
Coy carp - below Coppermill lock. Another Heritage Inns dining pub similar to the malt Shovel at Cowley. London Pride. Reasonably good food. Popular.
Apsley
The Paper Mill - canalside by the modern footbridge. Large modern Fullers pub on two storeys. Excellent ales. Very nice food which you can eat either in the bar, or in the upstairs restaurant (same menu and prices but you get waited on). One of those places where even a burger is something special. Comfy sofas if you can get one. We like it a lot although some find it too big and modern. Visitor moorings in the vicinity but not adjacent.
Boxmoor
Fishery Inn - adjacent to the lock. Big pub popular for dining. We have a less than good opinion of it because a) they don't allow children even in the garden and b) although they have a few handpumps they don't always have beer in them and worse still they don't seem to care. menu looks typical. I dare say if you like steaks etc and lager and have no kids on board, it's fine. Plenty of mooring nearby above and below the lock.
Winkwell -
Three Horeshoes - by the swing bridge. Picturesque, oak beams, flagstone floors. Cosy pub with good beers and nice, but pricey food. I get the impression that they see themselves as a cut above the boating community! Visitor moorings opposite
White Horse - five mins stroll into the village. Large McMullens pub. Good beer and the menu looks good, but we haven't eaten there.
Berkhamstead -
Rising Sun - small pub adjacent to bottom lock. Very basic interior, but friendly and serves good ever changing real ales and real ciders. A nice spot to sit outside on a warm evening. You need to moor up 100yds below the lock.
Boat - large Fullers pub canalside. Big terrace with lots of seating. haven't eaten there but I understand it's pretty good.
Cowroast
Cowroast Inn . Over the main road from the lock. Quirky pub, half village local, half Thai restaurant, and it seems to function well as both. You get free prawn crackers with your beer! Well kept London pride. Excellent Thai food. Good portions, tasty and reasonably priced. Service is also good. Moorings below the lock or 100 yds above it.
Bulbourne
Grand Junction Arms. Canalside. used to do fabulous home mad curries, but now offers a more traditional pub menu. Good food reasonably priced. Good ales too.
Marsworth
Oddly we have never tried the attractive looking White Lion by the bottom lock because we always go to ....
Anglers Retreat 50 yards down the road from the lock. One of our favourite pubs because of the superb Tring Sidepocket beer and the excellent home cooked food. The menu changes daily because so much of the food is fresh, and its always nice. Nice pies and roasts with lots of different veg. Pleasant garden and a conservatory. The bar will never win an architectural award, in fact decor wise it has nothing to commend it. Moorings above the lock on both banks.
Red Lion at the northern end of the village near bridge 130. Very tidy and very old pub. Excellent beers. haven't eaten there but we will one day. Lovely spot for a pint on a sunny day, or to be cosy on a cold one.
Grove Lock
Grove Lock - as you'd expect, lockside. Smart Fuller's pub in a refurbished old building. Good beers. patio. Food more expensive than your average, but it looks very nice. On a very wet day we sat in our own puddle in the middle of the bar while others ate business lunches around us. We had some rather expensive bread with balsamic vinegar. It was delicious! Moorings above and below the lock.
Old Linslade
The Globe - Old Linslade wharf - moorings adjacent. Attractive old waterside pub - oak beams etc.. Good beers. Large restaurant. Not as pricey as it used to be but still a bit above average, although not unreasonable because the food is very good and the service friendly and efficient. We had a bar snack lunch there which they brought out to the boat as we moored alongside. Nice place to stop overnight.
Great Linford
Nags Head - If you can get in at one of the two or three spaces for visitor boats alongside the park, then its a short walk through the park to the pub. Friendly and very cheap for food. Two for one deals on standard pub fare, which is OK but not anything special. Good beers. Popular quiz Sunday night with better than average questions. The ceiling behind the bar is very low, and the landlord is very tall so the poor bloke cannot fully stand up when serving.
Stoke Bruerne
Boat - rambling old inn by the top lock, run by the same family since 1877. Good beer and food and lots of character. A proper boaters pub. Moorings nearby.
Navigation - large family diner pub below the top lock. Like many pubs, done out to look older than it is. Decent food and beer but overshadowed in the character stakes by the Boat
Bugbrooke
Wharf - canalside with a couple of nice customer mooring spaces. Large modern pub aimed mainly at diners. Good real ales, comfortable seating. Monday quiz. The food is more expensive than most - a main course and a pud costing £20+, but it's probably the best food I've had in a canalside pub. Ample proportions of beautifully cooked food, elegantly presented with outstanding flavours. We went there on a wet Monday night and it was pretty empty but on a sunny weekend I would think it does well as there is a canalside garden.
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