The Team at Pub in the Park 2018 with Tom Kerridge

Tom Kerridge’s Pub in the Park arrived in Knutsford in September and the Church Inn was invited to take part. It was a true honour for Mary and Tim and the teams from the Church Inn and our other pubs. All the head chefs from our Northern Pubs took part during the three day festive ensuring the Church Inn itself wasn’t too disrupted by the team being busy at the Food, Drink and Music Festival.

The event was held on the land of the popular Lambing Shed farm shop who supply our pubs in and around Knutsford with local produce. We celebrated our close association with them by using their lamb for our famous Lamb and Anglesey Feta Cheese Croquette with pea puree and crème fraiche. This proved to be a real hit with the festival goers. We had to prepare three smaller plates for the festival with a Vegetarian Root Vegetable ‘Chilli’ being another dish and finally a ‘Spirit Of George’ Gin Cured Seatrout with Beetroot and Horseradish featuring Mobberley’s award winning Gin, whose distillery is now at the Church Inn in Mobberley.

It proved to be a brilliant weekend for the Church Inn and we want to thank everyone who worked so hard to ensure we delivered a hugely successful occasion for all who ate with us at the event.

Tom Kerridge was on hand to give great encouragement to all the teams that were cooking their three dishes for the public to enjoy. It was an honour to rub shoulders with a number of Michelin star pubs such as Kerridge’s own Hand and Flowers Pub from Marlow and the Star Inn from Harome in North Yorkshire as well as the Pipe and Glass also from North Yorkshire and the Pony and Trap from down south. In fact the Church Inn was the only non- starred pub to take part….which gave the Kitchen team a great deal of satisfaction.

All in all a great event!

Following a great year for the Church Inn, to be listed in the Times Top 30 Pubs was the icing on the cake. Earlier in the year Pub and Bar magazine chose the Church Inn as their ‘Best Pub in Cheshire and then at the final in the BAFTA theatre in London the Church Inn picked up ‘Best in the Northwest’.

This was followed by us being chosen to be at Tom Kerridge’s ‘Pub in the Park’ in Knutsford in September. This was a great weekend for the Church Inn as our chefs cooked for thousands of people attending the event of exceptional food and drink with some live music thrown in. A proud moment for us all and we were the only non-Michelin Star pub in the show but received great plaudits for our three dishes….particularly our Lamb Croquette! The Times clearly picked up on our achievements and listed us. We are naturally all very proud indeed.

Ben Kaberry and Dave Clayton of Mobberley have opened their Big Hill Distillery at the Church Inn in Mobberley. They have been distilling the award winning ‘Spirit of George Gin’ for nearly a year with great success and needed bigger premises to meet demand for their premium craft Gin.

The Gin pays homage to Mobberley’s famous mountaineer George Mallory who lost his life in 1924 on the ‘Big Hill’ ……Mount Everest. He lost his life with climbing partner Sandy Irvine who’s nephew Peter Summers attended the grand opening (see picture). The opening ceremony was attended by all the people who helped get the distillery open on time from painters to plumbers as well as friends and family. MP Esther McVey was there with Cllr. Peter Coan to cut the ribbon and chat with guests as well. Of course, to raising a glass to the ‘Spirit of George’.

Big Hill Distillers Ben Kaberry and David Clayton are joined by Tatton MP Esther McVey and Cllr. Peter Coan who cut the ribbon as the distillery opens at the Church Inn in Mobberley.

The Big Hill Distillery is now fully operative with the award winning 'Spirit of George Gin' being produced in larger quantities to meet demand.

Ben Kaberry (left) and David Clayton (right) enjoy a 'Spirit of George Gin' and tonic with Peter Summers, the nephew of Sandy Irvine who was George Mallory's climbing partner on the fateful day they lost their lives together on Everest.

A bike park fit for an Olympian!? Cycle to the church Inn and park your bike up in our cycle park dedicated to the Olympic cycling team of 2016. Refuel on great ales or many soft drink options as well as our famous Venison Burger!

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 23^rd 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!

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 23^rd 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 23^rd May is over…. Wish us luck!

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.

CHURCH INN IN THE 1930'S-

CHURCH INN IN THE 1950'S

THE CHURCH INN IN THE EARLY 2000'S

THE CHURCH INN TODAY

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.

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.

The Conversation

AMANDA'S BIRTHDAY-CAKE

CHURCH INN FROM THE SCHOOL

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……..

Baldrick with a Church Inn pheasant!!!

After eating his pheasant Tony Robinson gave the Church Inn team his autograph

Simon with Baldrick AKA Sir Tony Robinson