by ballyboes

Porto and the Douro Valley

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As we flew out of Manchester on the Tuesday evening nothing could have prepared us for the trip we had ahead of us. We landed safely in Porto and after a quick ‘check in’, we headed to a small local restaurant just outside the Porto Railway station (which I have to say is one of the most beautiful stations I have seen). Restaurant Rapido named after a train…not the service….was lovely and we ordered homecooked fish and Veal with some excellent Douro Wines both white and red. A great meal was had by all and the wine was quaffed with gusto.

Our hosts were Ed from Fells, the company owned by the Symington Family Estates. The family is now in its fifth generation and own superb Ports such as Graham’s, Dow’s, Cockburn’s, Warre’s and several smaller Quintas (Vineyards/Wine Farms) situated on the banks that form the valley of the Douro River. The river runs from Spain through Portugal and reaches the sea via Porto.

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 by ballyboes

Fitz Fete Day

What a fabulous day we had on Saturday 29th June when we hosted our second Village Fete. As always, the dog show was a huge success. Our winners this year were:

Perfect Puppy – Biscuit
Cheeky Chum – Reggie
Prize Pedigree – Sydney
Marvellous Mixed Breed – Daisy-Mae
Golden Oldie -Harvey

We were lucky to be treated to a performance by a local dance troop from MLDC Studios. There were local craft stalls, a barbecue and a bake-off competition with delicious sweet and savoury offerings and we enjoyed excellent live music all afternoon too.

Thank you to all our customers who came and supported us, and to our staff for working so hard on the day. We look forward to seeing everyone (and hopefully some new faces too!) next year.

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 by ballyboes

Record Car Club turnout at the Fitzherbert Arms!

On May bank holiday Saturday we welcomed 35 cars to the small Fitzherbert car park and we managed to get everyone in brilliantly! It was a cracking morning, the sun shone and everyone enjoyed their coffee and complimentary bacon bap!

Great chats about the cars on show, were to be had and two previous winners of ‘Car of the Day’ were on hand to help Fitz owner Tim, choose ‘Car of the Day’, ‘Cherished Car of the Day’ and ‘Sports car of the day’…

The winners for ‘Car of the Day’ were Netty and Andy with their amazing 1913 Chalmers Roadster.

James picked up ‘Cherished Car of the Day with his beautiful Jaguar MK II 3.4.

Sports car of the day went to Dave and his Ginetta G15. Dave was the car club member who had the idea for the Car Club ‘Passport’ so big thanks to Dave for the idea and any car club member who hasn’t had their 2019 Car Club Passport must email jess@cheshirecatpubsandbars.co.uk and request one or wait for the next car meet to be announced where we will be giving more out.

A massive thank you to everyone who brought their cars out for the morning. Its was great to meet everyone. Thanks to my landlord James and his team for looking after everyone so well.

We will see everyone at the next meet hopefully.

Below are the cars that attended.

Tim
Car Club Founder

Andy and Netty with their 1913 Chalmers Roadster
Dave with his Ginetta G15
James with his Jaguar MK-II-3
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 by ballyboes

GOING FOR THE TREBLE!

We are very excited to announce that Cheshire Cat Pubs and Bars have been nominated for three very prestigious awards at the 2019 Casual Dining Awards, taking place in London on Wednesday 27th February. We feel very honoured to be nominated for two such special awards as ‘Employer of the Year’ and ‘Multi-Site Operator of the Year’ and are also very proud of our sister pub, the Cholmondeley Arms, for being nominated for ‘Pub of the Year’. Our owners, Tim Bird and Mary McLaughlin, are heading off to the Big Smoke as guests of our excellent wine suppliers, Boutinot, to attend the awards ceremony, and we will keep you posted on the results of our nominations.

 

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 by ballyboes

200th Anniversary Car Treasure Hunt!

Yes in the 200th year of the famous Fitzherbert Arms the 4th Fitzherbert Arms Car Treasure Hunt went off well with 8 competitive teams setting off in to the Staffordshire countryside to enjoy picking up clues, a few photos and objects along the way too!

This year the trophy and Silverstone Porsche Day, donated by our Treasure Hunt sponsors Porsche Chester, was won by Caroline and Sally of the ‘mini the minx’ team and they were absolutely flabbergasted when the results were announced! Their partners were in a separate car and clearly looked dumbfounded when the girls picked up first place on the podium and clearly thrashing them!

Second place went to Charlee’s Angels…..newly-weds Paul and Jo whose team name paid homage to our Deputy manager Charlee! Third place went to Treasure Hunt veterans Emma and Richard who also took part in our Bulls Head treasure hunt too last month.

This now marks the end of the Car Club season here at Cheshire Cat Pubs…..we have really enjoyed hosting the three treasure hunts and they have been the best attended ever. Here’s to next year’s Car Meets, Safari’s and Treasure Hunts. Thank you for all your support and enthusiasm at all our pub Car events.

The surprised winners Caroline and Sally of the Mini the Minx Team
2nd Place Paul and Jo of the Charlee's Angels
3rd Place Emma and Richard of the Clayheads Team
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 by ballyboes

The Fitz celebrate 200 years with a village Fete!

What a wonderful sunny day it was for the first Fitzherbert Arms Village fete and start of the 200th Birthday celebrations of the Fitz founded in 1818 this year marks 200 years of the famous pub! With a dog show, a Swynnerton ‘bake off’ and great live music from house band, Dave and Howard, it was a day to remember!

45 dogs registered for the dog show with five different categories such as ‘cheeky chappie’ and ‘golden oldie’. Sam from purely pets judged each category with an adorable Cavachon coming out ‘Top dog’ winning the ‘best in show’ category!

Finlay
Harry
Meridia
The best at show winner

‘The Great Village Bake Off’ had quite a selection of savoury and sweeter treats baked by our customers……Mary Berry would have been stuck for choice and lost for words! Not a soggy bottom in sight!!

Our bake off was judged by Lord Stafford and congratulations to all the great bakers who took part! See all the photos below for the winners and the day itself.​

We want to say a massive thank you to all our loyal customers who joined the festivities and to all the staff for their hard work!

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 by ballyboes

We have won best in the West Midlands!

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

So, we are doubly delighted with this great news!

Big congratulations go to our GM James and the entire Fitz team. James attended the awards presentation with Dan our Head Chef.

Hard work and passion has persevered…and for a pub that was closed down two years ago this is truly amazing recognition for the team….well done everybody!

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

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