Big Lock pub opens again

THE Big Lock pub, so named as being beside the Big Lock on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Middlewich, is open for business again in time for the boating season.

The pub has had a checkered history, with many tenants and no few closures, but former tenant Jackie Pickles is now back with it open for business.

Left suddenly

The former landlords Julie and Mark Dunning left suddenly in January, leaving it closed for a month, with Jackie and Ken being given the keys, with Jackie telling us:

"We have now reopened with a great response from the locals and regulars. We had in fact given up the tenancy 18 months ago to the Dunning's after we took it on for two and half years when Punch Taverns took it on.

"It had been left in a sorry state, but we did our best to clean it up and Punch helped with the outside, we were doing well, but it did need a refurbish, and it all takes time and money, which we ran out of, but now hopefully it's a long and happy ending and we're back."

The Pickles have been in the pub trade over 23 years having The Narrowboat pub in Middlewich for 15 years, with Jackie telling us it's like coming home.