Canal Pub Review: Saracens Head Halsall

As it was a sunny summer evening and with a birthday to celebrate it seemed a good opportunity to go to the newly refurbished Sarcacens Head at Halsall.
From the outside not too much has changed. The pub now has a modern sign and some nice new wooden seating. The pub is lucky to have a large car park at the back so there was no problem finding somewhere to park. The pub re-opened 8 weeks ago and there are still signs that it is not quite finished yet, not least the fact that the main doors were still being fitted when we arrived.
Once you go inside you can see where the money was spent. The pub has been completely refurbished in a very classy modern style. There are some black and white photos of the old pub and canal scenes but there has been no attempt to recreate a country pub.
There were two menus, a bar menu and the dinner menu. the bar menu is available until 8pm, later than some pubs. We had the fish and chips, the gammon and a New York burger. When the food arrived any fears that they would be trendy (ie small) portions were gone. The food was hot, it hadnt been hanging around in the kitchen. The prices are good for that class of establishment, much better than the Blackburne Arms in Liverpool. We managed to fit in some deserts too, the apple crumble (served in a cup!) was hot and had plenty of apple.
There were a couple of negatives, we had started to look at our watches waiting for the food and the waitresses need a bit of practice and they need to smile more.
I recommend evryone to see this pub while it is newly refurbished and enjoy and meal and a drink while you are there.

Canal Walk: Halsall to Scarisbrick

Bank Holiday Monday and it isn't raining so it was off to the canal for towpath trek. Its been a while since I have had a walk on the canal and it was nice to be back.
We parked on the small car park next to Halsall Warehouse Bridge over the canal from the Saracens Head pub. We walked towards Scarisbrick to see how the new marina was progressing. The sky was grey and it was warm and a bit humid. There were lots of people out walking, fishing, and cruising.
The blossoms and hedgerow flowers were out and attracting butterflies.
The mysterious milepost painter has visited milepost 19 and pruned back the hedge and painted the milepost. Its now easily visible, before it was camouflaged.
Approaching the Red Lion caravan place by Scarisbrick bridge there is a new fence being built on the towpath. The field behind it will soon be a new marina. Its a shame that the fence wasnt built on the farm land rather than on the canal land. At least they haven't dug up and stolen the 20mile milepost to build it as they have at Rufford.
We turned around at the bridge and walked back stopping off to look for pottery in a newly ploughed field.