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!

Following a great year for the Church Inn, to be listed in the Times Top 30 Pubs was the icing on the cake. Earlier in the year Pub and Bar magazine chose the Church Inn as their ‘Best Pub in Cheshire and then at the final in the BAFTA theatre in London the Church Inn picked up ‘Best in the Northwest’.

This was followed by us being chosen to be at Tom Kerridge’s ‘Pub in the Park’ in Knutsford in September. This was a great weekend for the Church Inn as our chefs cooked for thousands of people attending the event of exceptional food and drink with some live music thrown in. A proud moment for us all and we were the only non-Michelin Star pub in the show but received great plaudits for our three dishes….particularly our Lamb Croquette! The Times clearly picked up on our achievements and listed us. We are naturally all very proud indeed.

Ben Kaberry and Dave Clayton of Mobberley have opened their Big Hill Distillery at the Church Inn in Mobberley. They have been distilling the award winning ‘Spirit of George Gin’ for nearly a year with great success and needed bigger premises to meet demand for their premium craft Gin.

The Gin pays homage to Mobberley’s famous mountaineer George Mallory who lost his life in 1924 on the ‘Big Hill’ ……Mount Everest. He lost his life with climbing partner Sandy Irvine who’s nephew Peter Summers attended the grand opening (see picture). The opening ceremony was attended by all the people who helped get the distillery open on time from painters to plumbers as well as friends and family. MP Esther McVey was there with Cllr. Peter Coan to cut the ribbon and chat with guests as well. Of course, to raising a glass to the ‘Spirit of George’.

Big Hill Distillers Ben Kaberry and David Clayton are joined by Tatton MP Esther McVey and Cllr. Peter Coan who cut the ribbon as the distillery opens at the Church Inn in Mobberley

Big Hill Distillers Ben Kaberry and David Clayton are joined by Tatton MP Esther McVey and Cllr. Peter Coan who cut the ribbon as the distillery opens at the Church Inn in Mobberley

Ben Kaberry (left) and David Clayton (right) enjoy a 'Spirit of George Gin' and tonic with Peter Summers, the nephew of Sandy Irvine who was George Mallory's climbing partner on the fateful day they lost their lives together on Everest.

Award-winning country pub The Cholmondeley Arms, near Malpas in Cheshire, has been awarded the prestigious title of ‘Gin Pub of the Year 2019’ by The Good Pub Guide. The award category, introduced for the very first time this year, was added to recognise the increasing number of pubs now stocking an impressive selection of gins.

With a staggering collection of more than 400 gins, The Cholmondeley Arms was deemed a very worthy winner. The award recognised the Cholmondeley’s seven-year focus on gin, the pub’s hugely popular annual Gin Fest, which is now in its fifth year, as well as their regular Saturday Gin Classes which continue to soar in popularity. The award also comes in the very month of the seventh anniversary of owners Tim Bird and Mary McLaughlin’s re-opening of the pub after extensive investment and refurbishment.

Tim Moody, General Manager of the Cholmondeley Arms, comments: “We’re proud and delighted to have been awarded the title of ‘Gin Pub of the Year for 2019’. Gin has always been our favourite tipple and being recognised with such a prestigious award is a real boost for the whole team who have worked so hard to bring ‘Gin to the Inn’ here at the ‘Chum’. I’d like to say a big thank you to our excellent team and also to our loyal ‘gin loving’ customers – we couldn’t have done it without you all.”

We are very proud to announce that the Cholmondeley Arms has won ‘Dining Pub of the Year 2018’ at the Cheshire Life Food and Drink Awards 2018 at Carden Park Hotel near Chester.

Big congratulations go to our General Manager Tim and the entire Cholmondeley team.

Tim attended the awards presentation with Tom our Head Chef and Fliss our Deputy Manager.

Hard work and passion has persevered…

well done everybody!

So now it’s official! The Cholmondeley Arms (‘Chum’) has been recognised by three national newspapers in the space of six weeks as a great place to bring your pet dog! The Guardian’s latest take is linked here below….we have featured in the Independent and the Telegraph too. Voted in the Top Ten Pubs in the UK three years running! Nowadays our chefs bake the biscuits for the dogs staying with us….a gourmet treat…and we have Cholmondeley Arms blankets that one can buy their Pooch as a lasting memory of their favourite pub! Dog Beer is available to toast ones Master as well as a bed or two to sleep it all off! The Chum…..a real howl!

Read the article here

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

So, we are doubly delighted with this great news!

Big congratulations go to our GM Simon and the entire Church team. Simon attended the awards presentation with Henry our front of house staff member.

Hard work and passion has persevered…. well done everybody!