MOBBERLEY Football Club are benefitting from Umbro’s ties to the village as they go from strength to strength.

They are looking ahead to a fresh season all kitted out in new gear – supported by the sportswear company and its birthplace, The Bulls Head, Mobberley. After a hiatus of nearly 40 years, MFC was re-established by a team of enthusiastic footballing parents in 2016.
Starting with just half a dozen children, MFC now boasts three full year groups of players from age five to 11 and have been playing matches in the Cheshire and Timperley District League since 2017.

This year we are honoured to have, not just one, but two pubs at Tom Kerridge’s Pub in the Park! The Cholmondeley Arms have joined the Church Inn this year and both teams will cook side by side. Not quite ‘when two tribes go to war’ but there will certainly be some friendly competition for sure.

hurch Inn Head chef Richard….Pub Chef of the Year, of course, is leading his team versus Andy, our Cholmondeley Arms Head chef… they are joined by other chefs from our pubs with landlords Simon and Tim of course. Jess will be trying to keep them all under control and Dan is back to help both camps keep up with prep and washing up!

The photo shows every one with Tom Kerridge just before the big opening at the Lambing Shed in Knutsford!

We look forward to a great weekend! See you all soon!

Step aside Manchester City! At the BAFTA theatre in London’s Piccadilly last night the Church Inn came and conquered once more. It was the Pub and Bar Magazine’s annual awards.

This time there was even more recognition, with our Head Chef Richard winning Pub Chef of the Year! On winning Richard said “this is for my entire kitchen team! They work tirelessly with me to bring both classic and seasonal dishes to our guests table. It’s a proud moment for all of us!”

Following the presentation of Richard’s award it was time to see if the Church Inn, having already won ‘Pub of the Year for Cheshire’, could reclaim it’s Northwest crown…up against the likes of the Oast House in Manchester, the Church Inn was announced as the winner of the Northwest region for the second year running!

So with great excitement Simon and Richard went on stage to accept the award from none other than Jay Raynor, the Observer food critic! No one could have dreamt of what happened next! After very close scoring between the top three pubs the Church Inn came out on top and took the UK crown…! Yippee! Big cheers went up as Simon and Richard returned to the stage to pick up the ‘treble’!! Simon was asked by Jay Raynor how it felt to win…Simon replied “this is for our all our team and our very loyal guests….we are delighted!”

So another great night at BAFTA! Well done we are all very proud.

Simon and Richard arrive at BAFTA

The Best in the Northwest is announced!

Pub Chef of the Year Richard our very proud Head Chef

Simon and Richard joyfully accept the Best in the Northwest Award for the second year running

Simon and Richard posing with the trophies with Pub and Bar Magazine Editor Tristan and Food Critic Jay Raynor.

The writing is on the trophy!

Best in the UK! What a great feeling

The Best of the Best 2019

Richard and Simon chat with Jay Raynor after winning the top prize

Tim, Mary Richard and Simon with a trophy or two on after the event at BAFTA

Simon and Richard enjoy the sweet taste of Champagne as Tim and Mary treat them to supper at the Wolseley on Piccadilly!

THE Church Inn at Mobberley is celebrating its third success in the National Pub & Bar Awards.

A total of 94 pubs and bars across the country were named the best venues in their respective counties, with The Church Inn being chosen as the top in Cheshire.

Church Inn owner Mary McLaughlin said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won this award for the third time.

“It’s a true reflection of all the hard work and dedication from our manager, Simon, head chef Richard and all the team – a great achievement for them all.”

From left, head chef Richard Williams, Deputy Manager Rebecca Winskill, Asst Manager Matt Ward, Junior Sous Chef Ged Bethell

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.

We are proud to announce The Fitzherbert Arms, the Three Greyhounds and the Bulls Head have been listed in the Independent’s 40 cosiest pubs in the U.K 2018!

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!