We are the best in the North West!

We are very proud to announce that our Church Inn has won ‘Best Pub for the North West’ for the second time in three years! At the Pub and Bar Awards at BAFTA in Piccadilly, London on Wednesday 23rd May. Our sister Pub the Fitzherbert Arms has also won ‘Best Pub for the West Midlands’.

So, we are doubly delighted with this great news!

Big congratulations go to our GM Simon and the entire Church team. Simon attended the awards presentation with Henry our front of house staff member.

Hard work and passion has persevered…. well done everybody!

Not only did we win we met Martin Keogh the Arsenal legend and BBC pundit!

We’ve won best in the county!

The 2018 Pub and Bar Magazine Awards are back and the judges have chosen the best Pubs and Bars in their respective counties. We are proud to announce the Church Inn has been chosen as the best pub in the county of Cheshire! Our sister Pub the Fitzherbert Arms has also won in Staffordshire, for the second year running! So, we are doubly delighted with the news!

The awards presentation will once again take place at BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, located in central London on Wednesday 23rd May. As well as coming top in the county, we are also in with a chance of winning best Regional Pub and Overall National Pub of the Year, both of which will be announced on the evening! It is an honour to have been awarded best in the county and we are excited for the Church team who all played a part in this!

We will keep you updated once the 23rd May is over…. Wish us luck!

Bring in your old photos of the Church Inn from yester-year.

One of the oldest pubs in Cheshire, the Church Inn has been around since at least 1715. Looking back we think there may well have been an old ‘Tavern’ on the site of the current Church Inn earlier than this.

It is unlikely that a 12th century church would be left lonely for so long! Churches and pubs go together afterall.

The Church Inn is grade two listed and within the pub are some wonderful features such as the 280 year old horse hair and lime plaster wall in our
private dining room named after George Mallory. Next time you are in the Church Inn please ask us to show you our historic private dining rooms.
One thing we are struggling to find are old photos of the Church inn from yester-year. So we are asking you, our guests, to help. If you can find any
old photos of the Church Inn then please bring them in. We will re-photograph them and present you with a £10 Church Inn voucher for your efforts!  We want to build an historic gallery for all to enjoy.

You will see the photos we have to date but we are looking for photos from the 1980’s back in time as far as one can go….so have a look and see what
you can find. We look forward to building our collection.

Local artistic talent at the Church Inn.

From the most amazing cake (for Amanda’s birthday) to artists impressions of the Church Inn exterior and a characterful portrait of ‘a conversation’ in
the Church Inn pub. We appreciate the inventiveness and creativity. Any artists that wish to capture the characterful atmosphere of the Church Inn are very welcome. We will make donations to our (very) local Mobberley school as a way of ‘paying’ for the art and thanking the artist. We would encourage art students to have a go too. We look forward to seeing your art whether it be a sculpture, a carving or indeed a painting.

Baldrick pays the Church Inn a visit

It’s not often a Knight walks in to the Church inn for a meal, especially one as well known as Sir Tony Robinson, who was most famous for his
portrayals of the long suffering Baldrick, in the various series of Black Adder.

It was appropriate we found a photo of Baldrick with a pheasant! Sir Tony enjoyed his visit very much and was only too pleased to have a photo taken
with our Landlord Simon. Yes my lord……..

 

Imbibe Personality of the Year Awards 2018: Winners announced!

The top movers and shakers of the UK drinks industry gathered last night in London to hear the results of the Imbibe Personality of the Year Awards 2018.

The nominees were voted for by Imbibe magazine’s readers in record-breaking numbers and the shortlist included the highest calibre of UK on-trade professionals.

Tim Bird, co-founder of Cheshire Cat Pubs & Bars picked up the award for Pub Personality of the Year.

Imbibe editor, Chris Losh, commented: ‘Tim has worked in the industry for over 35 years, and since he’s saved many pubs from closure in that time, it’s safe to say the UK’s pub scene would not have been the same without him.

 

‘He’s proved himself amazing at running everything from big pub groups to small independents, and, for the last seven years, his own group of country pubs and Inns. This passion for the industry is exactly what Imbibe Magazine is all about’.

Judges for the competition included restaurateur George Bergier, the Connaught Bar’s Ago Perrone, Michelin-starred chef Adam Byatt, Northcote’s Craig Bancroft, Gin Journey’s Leon Dalloway, Beer Belle Annabel Smith, Mixology Group’s Myles Cunliffe and the Imbibe editorial team.

Imbibe launched the Personality of the Year Awards in 2011 and previous winners have included Heston Blumenthal, Ronan Sayburn MS, Thinking Drinkers, Alex Kratena, Christine Parkinson, Xavier Rousset MS, Dee Davies, Lyndon Higginson, Stuart McCluskey, Salvatore Calabrese, Laura Rhys MS, Thomas Decan, the Galvin Brothers and Jake Burger, as well as many other on-trade professionals.

The 2018 awards were presented on Monday 12th February at Mahiki Kensington.

Launched in March 2007, Imbibe magazine has rapidly become the UK’s leading magazine for on-trade drinks professionals working in premium UK establishments. Imbibe is a quarterly magazine, with more than 20,000 drinks buyers and servers in the UK receiving a copy. Copies are available upon request.

Our Owner Tim is Pub Personality of the Year 2018!

Imbibe Magazine is the UK’s leading drinks magazine and tonight at their annual awards in London our owner Tim was chosen as ‘Pub Personality of the Year 2018’.

Tim was up against some of the pub industry’s top talent on the night, but the judges not only looked at Tim’s vast experience in the industry but particularly the success of Cheshire Cat Pubs and Bars, Tim’s company that he operates with his wife and business partner Mary McLaughlin. They have taken pubs that were either closed or close to closure and through their restoration have created one of the best small pub companies in the UK!

On winning this prestigious award, Tim thanked the team at Cheshire Cat…..”I have had many proud moments in my career but nothing has made me prouder than the achievement of our pubs. Starting our own business was the best thing we have ever done and tonight I share this award with Mary and the Cheshire Cat team! I would like to thank Imbibe Magazine for giving me one of the proudest moments in my career! I look forward to celebrating with the team!”

Best of 2017

The best of 2017 were the Wimbledon’s and the Dynamic Duos. Both got sunshine miraculously!! Here’s to 2018. Please always cycle carefully or in the case of the Dynamic duos get a bus!!

The Rambling Rector is here

The famous ale named after our ‘man of the froth’ Ian Blay our Village Reverend is back !! Yes at the start of March we have pleasure bringing it back to the bar here at the Church Inn.

Ian loves a good ramble across the farmers fields of Mobberley and has been known to ‘ramble’ a little after a pint of his favourite ale. A Rambling Rector is also a plant that delivers a white flower in May and grows abundantly if planted against the wall of a house.

It can be a little thorny but the flowers do match our reverends rather opulent shirts! So many reasons for the naming of this ale brewed for us by Wincle Brewery near Macclesfield! It’s a malty amber ale and at 4% a quaffable pint indeed!