THERE’S a new team at the helm of one of Middlewich’s most popular pubs – and they have big plans for the future.

Stephen Callaghan has taken on the Narrowboat Inn, in Lewin Street, with Gavin Grice, his head chef.

The pair are looking to bring a quality food and drink offering to the town, while giving the hotel and bar a revamp in the coming months.

“It’s going to take quite a bit of investment and a huge amount of effort because the building is a bit tired,” Stephen told the Guardian.

“I come from a catering background, with a company that caters for businesses, and I’m bringing Gavin to cook a new menu – and it is completely his menu.

“He is my business partner, and he is a massive part of what we are hoping to do.”

The Narrowboat is already a popular choice among diners in Middlewich, but Stephen and Gavin hope they can give the old inn a new lease of life to help take advantage of the development that will take place around town.

“I don’t really feel that Middlewich has a particularly strong offering for good quality restaurant food, unless you go for a Mexican, Indian or Chinese,” said Stephen.

“So we want to bring that to Middlewich, backed up with a bar which is not going to offend any drinkers.

“And we have the hotel element to it, which we’re taking on at a time when there’s a lot going on around Middlewich with the bypass and HS2.

“The idea is to give it a facelift, and then in January we will close the pub for a few days for a complete makeover and rebrand.

“It’s had a few names over the years before the Narrowboat. I won’t say what we’re thinking of calling it yet but we want to keep a connection to the town’s canal system.”

The new team in charge of the Narrowboat follow on from brothers Craig and Damian Shakesby, who have been popular faces in Middlewich over a number of years.

They juggled the Narrowboat with their jobs as firefighters, and Stephen reserves special praise for the job they have done.

He added: “I don’t think Craig and Damian get the recognition they deserve. How they have run the business is beyond me because running a pub, restaurant and hotel full-time is a big task. To hold a full-time job that 90 per cent of people couldn’t do and run the Narrowboat is incredible.”