Moat House

 

When you conjure up images of English stately homes you may immediately think of Blenheim Palace or maybe Chatsworth House. I would imagine Tamworth’s stately home the Moat House doesn’t necessarily feature in fact it would almost certainly be a Pointless answer in the teatime quiz show. 

I’m not going lie this blog regularly relies on infantile humour, corny puns and Birmingham City references but I’m going to surprise you all with this post and make it very historically based. I can imagine the taste buds of any villa fans are currently tingling as you know how much they love their history !!

The Moat House was built in 1572 by the Comberford Family. It is a fabulous Grade II listed building which, due to some recent loving restoration, is amazingly in a better state than the Kop and Tilton stands at St Andrews which are falling down after just 25 years !! 

It was visited by Charles I in 1619, ahead of this visit the ceiling was ‘beautifully plastered’, which coincidentally is a term I often use to describe my state following an afternoon session in there on the Church End Goat’s Milk. 

Other notable visitors include The Beatles in 1963 though whether any of the Fab Four purchased a Moat House cushion from the gift shop can not be confirmed.

Current owners and pub novices Donald (who has a background in design and project management) and John (with an IT background) purchased the building in the summer of 2018 and have done an incredible job of restoring the sadly unloved piece of history back to its former glory. 

As you can imagine things like this don’t come cheap, a year later their total outlay was a million pounds and growing. Sadly a project of this magnitude can quickly turn into a money pit and I genuinely hope they don’t live to regret their decision to take this on. They are a lovely, friendly hardworking pair who deserve to succeed. 

There is a ten year plan in place so once the building is restored they plan to introduce food and eventually open the place as a 4 star hotel. They are targeting a more upmarket clientele so don’t worry Lenny your nearby Premier Inn will still be okay. 

A lot of their current revenue (bar my outlay on Goat’s Milk) comes from functions. Clients can hire out the ground floor, the upstairs function room or a sealed off library area. However be warned you may be subject to a sssshhh if you make too much noise in that section !!

It is particularly popular with weddings which is no surprise because guests are able to dance to Come on Eileen (a mandatory requirement at any Midland’s wedding) whilst being lit up by sound activated lights accompanied by a light smoke machine. It sounds like a KISS concert !!

Sadly (but understandably given how much work needs doing) The Moat House is only open 3 days a week (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). The bar is well stocked, Citra, Goats Milk and Plum Porter for those who like real beer, Staropramen is among the choices who like it colder and fizzier and my good lady assures me that the Aspall cyder is ‘very drinkable’. It’s dog friendly and ‘well behaved’ children are welcome. Like a good Coldplay record though I’m sure such a thing doesn’t exist !!

Keen gardener Donald has done a great job of the grounds that back onto the River Tame. 

There are plans for the summer house to be turned into a venue for afternoon teas for those of you who like to indulge in overpriced sandwiches with their crusts cut off ensuring one’s little pinky remains vertical at all times

Rumours are that The Moat House is haunted, so much so that an episode of The Most Haunted Experience was filmed in the building some years ago. Some activity was captured including a pram that moved on its own. I hope it wasn’t a misbehaving child as if that type of nonsense went on under the current regime they’d get short shrift from Donald and John !!

It is claimed a shadowy figure is sometimes spotted in the garden rushing towards the river and back again. I don’t want to disappoint any budding Ghostbuster types but the shadowy figure rushing in the garden last Sunday was in fact my very good self as I thought I heard the last order bell !! 

In short a fabulous place, go and support it.