The Three Magpies Pub On The Kennet And Avon Canal

The Three Magpies pub is a beautiful oldie worldie pub just a short walk from the Kennet canal towpath. If you stop at the Foxhunter Wharf at bridge 149 there is a short quiet road to walk down. Or you can stop at bridge 148, but this is a far busier road, not ideal for families with young children. Both ways are about the same distance for walking, about 4 minutes from the bridge.

The Three Magpies pub is brilliantly situated for the boater, because it is close to the Cean Hill Locks, so you can either have a hearty meal the night before you go through the locks, or you can enjoy a relaxing meal at the end of a long day after completing the course of 29 locks. J.M. Pearson & sons Ltd says “Five to six hours being considered a good performance for clearance of the flight” and that deserves a well cooked meal in anybody’s book.

The Three Magpies does indeed cook a very good meal, serving food at both lunchtimes and evenings. The menu is nothing out of the ordinary, but the food is cooked well and there’s plenty of it. They pride themselves on quality of their food and value for money and they do deliver on this claim.

The pub has a very friendly atmosphere and the décor is an interesting style of displays of collections. The eclectic appearance reminded me of an antique shop in Lechlade-on-Thames. With so many interesting nick-knacks on every surface with space, it does give you something to look and chat about whilst you are waiting for your meal to arrive.

See if you spot the fish tank in the rafters in the dinning area. It does spark off conversations of the practicalities of having a fish tank so high up. It’s also great for pulling the leg’s of the fishermen in the crew who still have yet to catch a fish bigger than one swimming in the tank.

The service at the Three Magpies is very good, we were very quickly seated and given menus, and we didn’t have to wait long for food to arrive. A speedy meal is important for a hungry boat crew.

The beer too was very good, serving Wadworth beers and ales, which of course is locally brewed.

The Three Magpies has a camp site adjacent to it, so the pub can get busy during the evenings, but you can ring ahead to reserve a table to avoid disappointment. It is always advisable where possible to book a table when you are on a narrow boat holiday, because pubs can be a good hour apart and in a slow moving narrow boat, you can’t nip to the next pub in five minutes like you can in a car.

The Three Magpies has beautifully kept gardens both at the font of the pub and in the beer garden. And on warm sunny days it is lovely to sit in the garden and watch nature going about its business whilst you enjoy a pint. There is also an old fashioned public telephone box close to the pub if there are any calls that you need to make. Mobile phone signals are not always great along the Kennet canal.

The Three Magpies is a pub on our recommended list on the Kennet and Avon waterway, and well worth visiting; if not for dinner then just for a drink and a rest. The pub is warm and friendly, and it’s a family friendly pub, which offers great value for money with great quality food.

A boaters guide to the Kennet and Avon Canal