The Water Witch, Lancaster

The Water Witch can be accessed from either side of the canal: a footpath leads down from the main road near the infirmary entrance, and there's a footbridge from the opposite bank which is accessible from Aldcliffe Road and from the mooring basin. I remember coming here before it was a pub, as we used to hire punts from the owner who livied in a canal boat moored alongside. I organised a race from Galgate to here, which we finished off with a keg of beer set up in one of the buildings that now make up this pub. Now there are eight hand pumps, with seven beers available at the time of my recent visit. Two were from Kirkby Lonsdale, two from Black Jack and one each from Titanic, York and York's Off The Wall experimental arm. There's a 30p per pint discount for Camra members, but this applies to whole pints only, and I was on halves because of my bike. This is a food-led pub, with not much of an atmosphere to it, partly because it's for diners more than drinkers, partly because of its long, thin shape. Maybe if I'd stayed longer it would have grown on me. Date of visit: 13th December 2014

On the towpath of the Lancaster Canal that runs closely by the centre of the city is The Water Witch, a well known pub that has won multiple awards for both its beer and food offerings in recent years. Previously being stables housing horses that pulled barges along the canal, the premises only became a pub in 1978. It’s a long, narrow stone built building running parallel alongside the canal bank. In the early nineneenth century, a company called Water Witch Waterbuses provided a canal service between Kendall and Preston – hence the pub name. Even today, cruises may be taken to/from Carnforth and the Lune Aqueduct from a waterbus terminus close by on the opposite bank. As we approach the pub, the pub sign greets us with the welcome “award winning canalside pub, quality homecooked food, waterfront patio, large selection of cask ales”. The interior features exposed sandstone walls, stone paved floors, a long wood panelled light pine bar counter and a modern, contemporary style interior that is surprisingly devoid of character and items of specific interest. For instance, there’s no old photos of the canal or the premises in their former capacity, nor are we told why the pub is so called. The counter runs alongside the back wall, with several further areas either side. To the left of the main entrance, an upstairs area (and the ground floor area immediately below it) mainly cater for diners, but the food emphasis is quickly apparent throughout the pub. There’s a number of picnic tables outside at the front on the cobbled towpath area from where, on my mid – September visit, I was able to watch the efforts of a man fishing in front of the student flats on the opposite bank, despite several prominent “No Fishing” signs. By the entrance outside, a sandwich board told us that, during August / September, the following guest breweries would feature at some stage, with no less than 3 beers on from one of them at any time – Milk Street Brewery, Banks and Taylor, Red Squirrel, Blue Bees, Bridestone. However, on my visit, we only had 4 beers on in total – York Guzzler ( presumably because it’s a Mitchells of Lancaster owned pub ), Black Sheep, Old School Brewery Detention Bitter and one beer only from Red Squirrel – London Porter. This was something of a disappointment. The pub is a CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular and several award certificates are displayed just inside the entrance. My pint of York Guzzler ( £ 2.80p after the prominently advertised 30p CAMRA discount had been somewhat grudgingly applied ) was reasonable, but the food emphasis is all too apparent, with bar staff seemingly under instructions to ask “ is that all?” to those not ordering food when being served. On a reasonably warm September lunchtime, it was pleasant sitting outside in the sun overlooking the canal, but I did cut short the length of my planned visit. I only visit pubs nowadays when I’ve done my research (reading other reviews, web sites, pub/ beer guides etc ) and, on the basis of which, will be expecting an enjoyable and impressive visit. In this case, I had considered beforehand that there was a sporting chance that I’d be scoring this pub a 9 out of 10. Perhaps, I just came in on a bad day – and I’d probably give it another go next time in Lancaster – but it’s only getting a 7 from me.