The Boathouse Pub & Kitchen in West Lancashire

Absolutely loved my time here! The location right on the canal is just perfect, offering stunning views and a peaceful atmosphere. The staff were incredibly friendly and attentive, making me feel right at home. The food was delicious, with a great selection of classic pub fare. I especially enjoyed The Boathouse Burger with extra Halloumi 🤤. The drinks were cold and refreshing, and the overall ambiance was cozy and inviting. Highly recommend this hidden gem! Also the manager Kyle is just wonderful!

We live in Southport and were looking for somewhere to take mum for a run out and a drink / dessert. We saw The Boathouse on Google, and as it was a nice sunny day, decided to try it. We arrived just before 4pm. The car park was empty, as was the pub. The 3 staff stared at us as we walked in, almost in disbelief. We walked over to a booth, and I then went to the bar to order some drinks. I ordered a pint of Lager for my hubby. When the barmaid had poured it, I ordered a latte for mum. She replied "we don't do coffee". I was really surprised as all the signage outside the pub and on the website states coffee and free WiFi. As my mum won't drink anything else ( dementia) we had to leave. No apology, no explanation, just 3 staff staring at us as we left. Dreadful.

Nice by the canal and has a good family beer garden. Atmosphere didn't quite hit quality country pub. Just lacked that quality feel and comfort. Had more workingmans club vibe inside. You had to take your own glasses in and clear up basically.

Nice pub didn't have food but lovely beer garden next to the canal. Too many staff with nothing to do not very professional staff to be snogging there partners while sitting at the bar!

Sat outside by the canal lovely, but beer garden is getting rather tired .

Taking a morning walk along the Canal we decided to call at the Boathouse for lunch. Knowing it opens at 12 noon we arrived just after to find it closed. A few minutes late a member of staff arrived and left one door open. We gave it a few more minutes to see if both doors would be fully opened but they weren’t. Going in to find out if they were open we were advised they were. We ordered drinks and food. Took our drinks to the table and waited for our lunch to be delivered. Definitely not our best experience. My wife’s battered fish had a two inch hollow empty section. Whilst we understand this is not the Boathouse’s fault, it is their suppliers, the batter was very thick and greasy. Prior to moving to the area we had heard great things about the Boathouse. Our first visit was disappointing as no food. Our second visit after a period of closure was also disappointing with people Vaping inside at the bar and in booths. Our third visit was pleasant with a drink in the bear garden after a five mile walk. This was our fourth visit and whilst the service from the bartender was good and the waitress who delivered our food was pleasant, the food was not 100% as already mentioned. We will probably return for drinks, but not for food…

Food poor, beer flat, no coffee! Wouldn’t go again. It’s a great setting but so disappointing. It could be so much better

Lovely pub, by the canal, now serves food again 😁 has a pool table too!

Queues at the bar and threatened by a local who I took offence at him jumping the queue.

Great for a drink when the suns out but tread carefully ordering food. Lovely location and fantastic outdoor area but a very limited menu and our chicken wings were full of blood and under cooked 😬 Also word of advice for the staff…..when serving salt with chips you should be serving table salt not lidl sea salt as it just bounces off the chips…..

Food is back on, didn't eat today, but its good to know. It is just a lovely spot to sit out, looking out on the canal and canal life, dog friendly too 😀

Great food,Great price and a top selection of alcohol,Large beer garden located right on the canal,Friendly service by all the staff,I was served by Kyle who brought the food out and kept checking in on us to see how the food was and how we were,Will definitely be returning in the near future.

First time of being just called for a drink staff very pleasant will definitely go back again and especially when it has its refurbishment

Limited menu, food basic and overcooked. Great staff though and good beers.

Haven't tried the food yet, but excellent pub, friendly staff and good prices. Now I've tried the food and it's 5 stars. Sensible non fussy food, great prices, large portion sizes.

We stopped off en route to the Lake District. I had checked the menu in advance so knew it was fairly limited but that we would have choices we liked. The food itself was good. The weather was nice enough to sit outside, the view along the canal added interest. Price was reasonable.

Very limited menu (burger & chips, halloumi burger & chips and fish & chips. Fish and chips described as large fish but looked like a frozen one from Aldi. Slices of bread and butter were two small pieces of toasted french baton.

Lovely friendly pub staff very welcoming. Food good but basic, good for the money. Would highly recommend it. For boaters and campervans. Over night parking when going in for a meal or drink.

Great pub. Good views, friendly service, cheap prices. Also a nice selection of non alcoholic beer which is always nice when driving

Much better since the change in Mgmt 😁

Staff very friendly, cheap drinks and they now have a pool table

Best place to drink in the area. Kyle is the man!

Seems to have changed hands and the staff weren't interested in providing decent service and just seemed to only have bottles and very limited choice

Update: Just taken over again and the food is FINALLY back on. Great looking menu, sensible pub food, great prices. Beer prices are pretty good to be fair. Staff great. Keeping my fingers crossed for you guys Top notch service, great food, good prices. No complaints from me at all. Edit: The Boathouse is open again under new management and it hasn't lost any of its original charm, or food quality. Recently breakfasts have made it on to the weekend menu and for the prices charged I can heartily recommend. Brilliant service still, and the food quality is just as good if not better than before. Get it done, but not on the same day as me cos I like the booths! Went back recently and although some staff have changed others still remain. Brilliant place, great people. 100% recommend.

Had lovely family walk down the canal and got amazing and adorable lunch. Dog ,kids friendly , staff was lovely and helpful. Plenty of drinks to choose from .

Please do not let previous reviews put you off! Open with new management and staff who have done a wonderful job - brilliant service, food and atmosphere. Definitely found our new go to in the area

An absolutely fantastic place for food and drinks. It was my 1st time trying it out and would definitely return!! Well done to the team!

Popped in for a drink , just been done up , friendly team and cheeseboard was beautiful

Nice to see it open again, lovely location.

After politely asking where we could change our 8 week old baby, we were told that the previous owners had "taken the baby change facilities" . We were told to use a table in the middle of the pub instead. As I walked away I heard the two male bar staff doing impressions of me asking for the facilities. Having no facilities isn't the bar staff's fault but their attitude was terrible. We have seen such a downturn in the boathouse in recent months. From bar staff kicking boxes of crisps across the floor at you when you ask what they have in terms of food to events like this today. As someone who's lived in the area for nearly 30 years I am sad to say I will not be coming back anytime soon.

They haven't served food here for over a year. This listing is very misleading. They don't do food so it will be a wasted trip if you go there based on the details and photos you see here.

Kitchen not open re no stars there. 12/4/24. New managers taken over and are really nice. Staff on the ball, great service. Pub well appointed. Toilets clean & tidy. Woodstock played tonight. Great set. Looking forward to our next visit to support the pub, managers and staff.

Brilliant food and service been here twice for mother's Day with family. Views of the lake were amazing from the restaurant. Plates and food were super hot and delicious menus. Looking forward to our next visit. Thank you

A very nice pub, with great outdoor areas. The band playing Christmas music was brilliant - Old Hall Brass.

No food now. Very quiet mid week. Great girl singer on Sunday. Better in summer when you can enjoy the outside views.

This place is in such a lovely setting but yet they go from serving food, to closing down, to opening again, to closing again, to opening again, to not serving food, to just serving drinks! JUST MAKE YOUR MIND UP!! Get someone in this place running it who actually knows what they are doing. A few tips here: 1. Employ staff who are efficient and polite. (Trust me, we are yet to see any here!) 2. Choose a simple but desirable menu that is at a reasonable price. People will pay a bit more if the food is of good quality. (Trust me, it hasn't been previously!) 3. Employ staff who are helpful and don't turn their nose up at you when you ask for a menu. In case you hadn't realised, menus are actually needed in restaurants. 4. Use your social media to advertise. 5. Take a leaf out of some of the successful establishments in the area and use them as a model for "how to get it right " This place could be thriving if it had someone managing it who knew what they were doing. Sadly I feel it will end up derelict like the Baby Elephant at Gathurst before long!

Nice location, unfortunately stopped serving food..

Dog friendly pub, nice location by canal, nice bar, but was closed on sunday night, open monday night, but empty. I asked about food, told kitchen has been closed all year

We booked this for a meal with friends. The venue is called ‘the boathouse pub and kitchen’. As we arrived the venue looked lovely and appears a great pub but as we walked in to tell the host we had arrived we was told they no longer serve food. All over the venue outside it boasts a seasonal menu food as well as allowing us to book online. If you don’t serve food don’t advertise you do. Very disappointing, to be fair it appears a lovely pub for a drink and if they did food we would surely go for a meal but it is very misleading to advertise you serve food all over your venue and call yourselves ‘pub AND KITCHEN’ to not serve any food at all on your menu. as nice as the venue looked, we ended up having to go and find another venue that served food due to their poor advertising.

Right next to the canal, a great stop on your way into or out of Wigan, prices aren't cheap but it's worth it for the view and it's always a good pint. Stopped doing food now though

Expensive for what it was, young girl behind the bar cannot pull a pint at all, black floating bits in the coors

Opening times wrong on the website by 3 hours. Person working refused to let 2 year old or pregnant member of our party in to the toilet.

Opening hours wrong online, no food available despite still advertising food on the website, the name and the sign outside. And the owner appears to respond rudely and unprofessionally to people's reviews on Google and Facebook.

they don’t serve food here. I know it says they do BUT THEY DONT!!!!!!

No Bacardi in stock at the time, which is disappointing since it should be a basic spirit to stock.

It's a real shame. This place used to be great. Food was fine, drinks were fine, atmosphere was fine. The kitchen team were made redundant just before Christmas, the opening hours have become reduced and essentially it's now a drinking pub only. Can't recommend anymore.

No food only drinks ...still advertising as a kitchen!! Misleading and disappointed

Excellent venue for any occasion. Food was great for both hot and cold menu. Thoroughly recommend

Nice place right on the canal. Would have had some food, but unfortunately, they only do snacks now. Sat outside on a fairly nice day and just had a cider.

Loved this pub ..why no food must have lost alot of customers cant recommend food .thete is non ☹

Great place to visit staff wonderful and food is lovely too

No food took a long time to get served.

Such a shame seeing how this place has gone down hill since the previous owners have left. Glasses left on every table! Very unstaffed. Had ran out of most alcohol. Pub & kitchen that no longer serves food 🤦 This place has so much potential with the right management. Wouldn't recommend wasting time visiting

The Boathouse has recently reopened after a short period. I'm not sure it's total found what it's identitie is yet. The real Ale selection has dropped since the last owner, nevertheless quaintly, is good. Wine choice although covers all base's is down to personal taste is not ours. Some good live music, The plesant young lady who is behind the bar always seems to be juggling multiple tasks. We understand food is currently unavailable, which is fine. Nevertheless, to have no snacks on the particular visit is a no no. Stock up according is simple.

Thought we would try this place as it was advertising as pub and kitchen. Pretty disappointed to be told very abruptly that the kitchen is permanently closed as “chefs are too expensive”. Wow! I understand it may be difficult to source a chef. However, maybe we should start by sourcing less gobby bar staff. What about a pizza or a sandwich as you don’t need Gordon Ramsey for that surely? Don’t bother going!

Disappointing that they no longer serve a menu (at least when we visited) - only pizza from the wood fired pizza shack which while it smelled and looked really good - when it's 23°c and you want a light bite it was a shame as it's a lovely spot with nice scenery but we chose to eat elsewhere.

Very hospitable staff. Great pizza van in the car park. Nice canalside location.

Massive pub , advertising all around pub on boards home cooked food ...Told no chef !!! big let down ,pubs got great potential....very friendly staff

If I could rate this lower I would, travelled a fair way by Uber to this pub checked online said it was open, arrived to a closed pub without any warning. Complete waste of money and time! We don’t live nearby but were staying in a hotel. Bad customer service and completely unfair.

Never been before, but it was lovely. We went for Steak Night. £30 for 2, with wine or beer. Food was tasty and steak was cooked to perfection. Currently under new management and seem to trying to hard to make it a good pub with an affordable menu. Staff were friendly too. Definitely worth a visit.

Lovely pub overlooking the canal. Staff are great. Very good selection of drinks. The atmosphere within the pub is very nice. Definitely worth a visit.

Your a absolute disgrace You took our Christmas day booking in August for my family & myself to have our Christmas dinner with you. We found out days before Christmas day by someone else NOT yourselves that you wasn't opening the kitchen for Christmas day dinner. I phoned 3times to check was this rumour true and to phone me back. Did you phone me back...NO, not even a email . Thank goodness we found out that you wasn't opening because we would have turned up expecting our meal. A few days before Christmas we then Couldn't book anywhere else because everywhere was booked up You have no thought or respect for your customers. You really should be ashamed of yourself. Iv had to reply on this because there's no other way to reply to you.. You have just replied to my review. Funny that how you can respond now. You say it was worse for you, Youv no idea what it meant to us this Christmas. What a selfish response

Excellent food, great atmosphere and good location

Great English pub set on the beautiful canal in Appley bridge. Lovely staff and food

Called today no larger very few bottles on shelves no food short staffed.what a shame.

Very friendly staff and a warm reception thanks

Good atmosphere in great location.

Lovely little pub by the canal.

Great local pub. Good pub grub.

I cannot praise the staff at The Boathouse enough, I enjoyed a lovely meal here this afternoon and the staff were all friendly and welcoming, and then soon after leaving this evening my car broke down and I had to go back into the pub for a couple of hours while I waited for the breakdown truck. I was looked after by Calum who gave me coffee because I was shivering with the cold when I arrived and who kept checking on me that I was ok. When the breakdown truck arrived he even came outside with me to check everything was ok with them giving me a lift home as it was now late at night. Calum has amazing people skills and he went above and beyond to make me feel very looked after and safe. I am really grateful for the kindness I received and I shall definitely be going back to eat there as soon as possible. Thank you!

Had a wonderful afternoon at the boathouse celebrating a relatives birthday. Louise the waitress was lovely and couldn't do enough for the table. Every meal we ordered was delicious. Would definitely recommend a visit!

I wasn't shown to my seat the guy at the welcome desk pointed at a table and basically told to go and sit there rather than show me to the table I ordered a chicken burger however the chicken quite sickening I only had a few bites before I gave up, i asked if the chicken had been boiled and one of the staff went into the kitchen to ask the chef but when he came back he just said Ive taken it off the bill which makes me belive it was deffinatly boiled. I finished my drink and sat there for a while and nobody brought me a bill instead the member off staff was leaning over the welcome desk happily playing on his phone and I had to go and ask him if I can pay. the level of customer service in this establishment is terrible and so is the food, it used to be a lovely place but after last night I will always recommend people avoid it.

Went for an evening meal. The food was cold, burger was raw in the middle, tasteless, overpriced and not worth the money. When we sent some food back because it was cold, we heard the Chef making rude comments, the very same food came back 2 minutes later after being microwaved....Will never eat there again, very disappointed

Nice canal side pub that offers decent pub food and is dog friendly. Covered outside seating area with heaters if you so desire.

Lovely spot! Great meet up with friends but drinks were expensive

Great food great service, prices good, doesn't get better

Lovely food and a great atmosphere

Great outside space to sit with a beer and watch the sunset over the canal

Great setting, lovely lunch and great staff.

Great atmosphere. Woodstock band were superb!

A pleasant surprise in an idyllic spot on the outskirts of Wigan.

Served by Louise 👍🏻 great service. Great food. Reasonably priced. Will definetly be back in the near future

Lovely place for a cold drink stop by the canal

Great pub, seemed bustling & busy. Will try food next time.

Situated by the canel, lovely outside space if we ever get any sunny weather. Food, drinks very reasonable and attentive staff, would recommend..

Great place for good food and drink

Lovely meal, appropriately priced, sat outside by the canal. Lovely views, nice staff.

Omg what a place. food outstanding. surroundings outstanding. Service outstanding. If your looking to impress a girl friend .wife.boss.a quick lunch you can't go wrong here so give it a go

A bit apprehensive as I've been a few years ago and wasn't impressed , but this time it was ok ,the food was better than expected ,me and my friend had a lovely time

Great atmosphere, lovely staff and the food is amazing. Will deffo be back here regularly :-) x

We went for lunch on Saturday. The place is well decorated and clean. Lovely location overlooking the canal. We were seated near to the door and it was freezing so we ended up putting coats on to eat. Only 3 starters and 3 mains on at lunchtime, one of them being soup, which was not available. You would think if you’re only providing 3 choices you’d have them all. Waitress was pleasant and the food was pretty good. The waitress then disappeared so slow service later in the meal. Ordered an Irish coffee and cappuccino. 5 minutes later they returned to say no Irish coffee as no double cream. Very strange indeed for a restaurant not to have cream. Could be amazing but sadly isn’t

A big thank you to Calum at the Boathouse for taking extra good care of my friend and her dog who had lost her car key on the canal today, while she waited for me to turn up with a spare. Excellent customer service which is indicativeof all the Boathouse staff. What an absolute star. Thanks Calum

Food was amazing! Presented lovely, clean and piping hot. Staff were friendly and accommodating. Really nice location by the canal. Great little stop for lunch!

Good food with excellent service .

A Cautionary Tale!!! This place looked good when I walked past earlier in the day, promising good locally sourced food. This evening I checked their Google maps entry which said they are open until 11pm and it is a fine sunny evening so I arrived at 7.30pm to try them out - but they had already shut the kitchen! I could have been there earlier if I had known they shut down the food operation three and a half hours before the bar but that information just isn't available anywhere online. This might be a dining jewel of the district but as they can't be bothered to provide vital information to potential customers I will never know. A really disappointing experience

Went for lunch with my freind on Monday lunch as we do a canal walk..was sunny and lively to sit overlooking the canal We both had sandwich and fries, both were lovely, The man behind the bar was very helpful.Overall had no complaints and would definately visit again

Great food service atmosphere well done guys

Service was fairly poor, didn't touch the table, only to bring our food. Quality of food was poor. Fish was nice but chips and starters were awful. Music was too loud and it took around 45 mins to just get starters. Really not impressed. Place looks good though and it is clean.

Very nice meal in great surroundings

Great location. Halloumi fries a tad skimpy but food overall 8.5/10. A very nice stop via the canal or the train.