A MOBBERLEY pub is celebrating after receiving a trio of awards in one week.
The Church Inn, on Church Lane, found out it has been listed in the Michelin’s pub guide on the same day as winning the ‘most stylish dining experience’ at the Hilden Awards and being crowned the winner of the Mobberley Scarecrow competition. Read full article…
Michelin recognition and Village recognition!
What a weekend at the Church Inn….as fireworks went off around the pub for Guy Fawkes we were enjoying a few crackers ourselves! We received confirmation that after only two years the Church Inn has been included in the Michelin Pub Guide 2015/16 listing 590 of the best Dining pubs in the UK. This is credit to the efforts of all the Chefs who have worked at the Church Inn with us over the last two years since we re-opened after the restoration of our lovely little pub. The Church Inn joins our Cholmondeley Arms who was included in the guide for the fourth year running since being taken over by Tim and Mary.
Just as the certificate arrived to confirm the inclusion with Michelin so too did our certificate and trophy for the Hilden Style Awards to recognise our winning of the Stylish Dining….and overall awards categories.
Just when we thought we had better get back to work….in came Julie to confirm that the Church Inn had won the annual Mobberley Scarecrow competition with our ‘Bride and Groom’ scarecrows brilliantly put together by team member Sophie. In the realms of things this award meant the most as it ensured the Church Inn beat their ‘brother’ pub down the lane…the Bulls Head…who actually did manage third place for their Matador and little Bull scarecrow put together by Lucy and Brier.
So it felt like winning the treble!!. Big thanks to all the team for their hard work and our customers for supporting us.
Now it’s back to work…..
We are so proud to announce that our pub the Church Inn, in Mobberley, has won the Most Stylish Dining Experience at the Hilden Awards. The award judging took place on Monday at The Fable in London recognizing stylish independent hospitality establishments across the UK.
The Church Inn scooped this year’s Most Stylish Dining Experience after judges visited the pub and fell in love with the pub and particularly the private dining rooms. The larger room pays homage to George Mallory the famous mountaineer who died on Everest in 1924. Mallory was a local villager and son of the reverend of St. Wilfrid’s Church opposite the pub.
The room is truly elegant and can accommodate private dining for up to 24 (seated) and is used for sociable wine tasting evenings too. The room has a roaring fire and is candlelit, giving a comforting ambience ensuring guests can imagine how it would feel back in 1715. To add to the uniqueness of the room the owners, Tim Bird and Mary McLaughlin, discovered the original horse hair and lime plaster half way through the restoration and decided to keep it for its historic value.
Mary McLaughlin, owner of Cheshire Cat Pubs & Bars, comments; “We’re delighted to have won this award. When we took over the pub two years ago we all put a lot of thought in to how it should feel. We’re very proud of the Church Inn and it’s really fantastic it has been recognized for its restoration and stylish character.”
Following the announcement, the award judges also commented: “The attention to detail is on another level, no corner is left uncovered and they have captured the essence of a historic venue perfectly. The sheer effort that has gone into creating a unique, country-dining experience is fantastic.”
Tim Bird and Mary McLaughlin opened the pub in 2013 after acquiring it in a near derelict state. Now fully restored and refurbished the pub offers great food and wine in an old country tavern environment.
Paul and his cycling partner arrived in sunshine at the Roebuck Inn having completed the ‘Cheshire Cat Six’. The Cheshire Cat Six is a journey around the six pubs owned by us here at Cheshire Cat Pubs and Inns. Paul had already partnered Clare to achieve the Cheshire Cat Quad a few years ago when we had four pubs but with the addition of the Fitzherbert Arms and the Roebuck Inn, Paul was ready to conquer the new challenge! As you will see Paul started his journey from our Fitzherbert Pub on Lord Stafford’s estate in Swynnerton, Staffordshire. He headed then to another Lord’s estate and our Cholmondeley Arms pub before weaving his way, supported by his co-pilot Steve, to our Three Greyhounds Inn pub in Allostock. They then headed for Mobberley..the easy part! Up the hill to the Church Inn before circling down to the Bulls Head and the Roebuck Inn bot in Mill Lane. 76 miles was recorded and then Tim own owner made sure they we fed and watered and given their bottles of fizz to celebrate their achievement.
Then it was back on the saddle for the return trip to Swynnerton! Well done lads a great effort. Who else wants to take up the Cheshire Cat Challenge??
The George Mallory Private Dining Room here at the Church Inn has been chosen as a finalist in the Hilden Style Awards 2015, in the stylish dining category. We are so delighted to be nominated as a finalist. The room offers a wonderful space with views of St. Wilfrid’s Church and has been enjoyed by many guests since we restored the Church Inn just over two years ago. In this time the Church has been recognised as the UK’s best new pub by the Good Pub Guide. We have been included in the Michelin Restaurant and Pub guides for the first time in the pubs history this year as well as recognition in the Sawdays and AA guides too.
In November last year the Church Inn team won the Chairman’s Eat, Sleep and Drink award for best Dining in the South Manchester area.
This latest recognition by Hilden is reward for the brave decision to establish private dining in, what was, part derelict living accommodation. The room now seems like it has always been there. Aptly named after George Mallory, the famous mountaineer from Mobberley, the room can seat 24 for an intimate dinner or 40 for a fork supper.
The judges from Hilden will visit us in the next four weeks to make their decision…so fingers firmly crossed.
Light lunches
Soup and a Sandwich
Summer side salads
Served 12-midday until 5:30pm Monday to Friday
SEVEN DEADLY GINS AT THE CHURCH INN
One shouldn’t really be advertising sinning in the same sentence as the Church so we have changed it to ‘Ginning’ and we have seven of them! Charlie our Asst. Manager has embraced all things Gin following a ‘Gin Tasting Class’ held by the Gin Experts from our sister pub the Cholmondeley Arms who boast nearly 250 different gins on the back bar…
Charlie has put together 7 great recipes with different Gins and garnishes for the summer ahead. So when the weekend sunshine arrives come and enjoy a well-made G&T…….. quintessentially English and all that!!
No confessions needed! See you soon….
MARY AND TIM WITH THE AWARD
We are delighted to announce that our Church Inn pub has won the ‘Chairman’s choice’ Best Dining Pub Award for South Manchester and pipped our very own Bulls Head pub (also in Mobberley)!!
The ‘Eat, Drink, Sleep’ Awards 2015 took place at the Manchester Mercure Piccadilly Hotel and our Bulls Head and Church Inn pubs were up against each other in the same category! Barry our landlord at the Bulls Head was the first to congratulate Simon (our Church Inn landlord) and the team saying “They’ve done a cracking job and I am delighted at least one of us won it!! This will make the Bully team even more determined to beat our ‘little sister pub’ the Church Inn next time round!!”
Simon said “I am really chuffed for the Church team and the customers…it’s been a solid start since opening a year and a half ago…I am very proud and feel a little sorry for Barry but not really!!”
Owners Tim and Mary were there to cheer both their pubs on and what a night for the village of Mobberley with two pubs from the same village up for the award! Tim said “it is always so exciting to be nominated for an award without entering anything and for both our Mobberley pubs to be nominated was a great achievement for all our fantastic people from our pub teams to our loyal and supportive customers and suppliers”
Mary added “we have been in Mobberley now for just over five years with the Bulls Head and have so enjoyed it becoming a proud pub in the village. We took on the Church Inn two years ago when it had closed down and we knew it was going to be hard to create a second special pub in the village… but we are on our way. The teams at both pubs have made this possible with the help of course from our customers. This award is for everyone to celebrate”
It’s a picturesque kind of a pub that serves up good seasonal food. But all is not quite so lovely as would first appear…
Everything looks pretty in the snow. A coating of white turns the world winter wonderland-lovely. And so it was that, driving through the narrow lanes of Knutsford, we came across a pub so prettily dusted with miniature drifts we just had to stop. This was the Church Inn at Mobberley, a historic little boozer just outside Manchester that supplies, if you ask nicely, the map for a four-mile country walk that starts and ends at its doors.
Read more of this review at creativetourist.com
