Popular waterside Wigan pub closing doors

The Boathouse Pub and Kitchen, in Appley Bridge, will pour its last pints and serve its last plates this Sunday, September 30, after brothers Jonathan and Grant Ainsworth made the tough decision to say goodbye to the borough after four successful years.

The twins opened the canal-side venue in 2014, taking over the former Water’s Edge site, and formed their own company Langtree Pub and Kitchens to operate the venue.

It was the fruition of ten years of training as chefs, beginning at the age of 17 and working in some of the North West’s finest establishments.

But now, Jonathan, who lives in Standish, revealed their sad decision was down to difficulties in running the Boathouse as well as their site in Halsall, The Saracens Head.

He said: “It’s just becoming quite difficult to run both to the level we want. So we decided to close the Boathouse.”

He added: “It’s not really sunk in yet. We only made the decision less than a week ago. It will probably only sink in on Sunday when we close the doors.”

The 32-year-olds grew up in the area before moving away to pursue their careers. They returned to open the Boathouse when the Water’s Edge site became available, and have been a hit with locals ever since.

Jonathan said: “We’ve had a very successful run from day one. We’re still successful now, which is the sad thing about it. We like to serve a certain level of quality.”

But it was this level of consistency that the brothers felt they would be unable to keep delivering, under growing constraints outside of their control.

“In honesty, there’s a crisis in regards to chefs. Some agencies have really damaged the industry. Everyone wants agency-based work these days, which you end up paying a lot for,” he went on.

“We’d been very prudent, and we could see what was going to happen within the next few months. So we’re getting out whilst we can, whilst we don’t owe anything.

"We tried to do the honourable thing, but we are having to foresee things.”

At the time of publication, it was not clear whether the property owners, Star Pubs and Bars, were looking for new tenants.