Pub history · No.10 of 18 · Coalbrookdale
The Water Rat
1802 | But don't look for that name on an old map — formerly the Meadow Inn
This is one of the best examples of why simply searching modern pub names doesn't tell the story.
For most of its life, the Water Rat wasn't the Water Rat at all.
It was the Meadow Inn.
Our research dates its licensed history to 1802, beside the historic Meadow Ferry route across the Severn.
It was a working riverside pub rather than a destination gastropub.
Generations knew it as the Meadow.
Then, following a substantial redevelopment, it reopened in July 2020 as the Water Rat.
So although the Water Rat name is one of the newest on our list, the pub behind it has more than two centuries of history.
How we know this date
- Tradition1802 is our working date for the start of the Meadow Inn's licensed history beside the old Meadow Ferry crossing.
- DocumentedThe pub traded as the Meadow Inn for generations before being redeveloped and relaunched as the Water Rat in July 2020.Source: Press coverage of the 2020 relaunch
This is a working date. If you have a document or photograph that changes it, we'd genuinely like to see it.
For most of its life, the Water Rat wasn't the Water Rat at all.
Then
Now
The Water Rat Inn · Coalbrookdale
Can you help with The Water Rat?
We're still researching this pub. Old photographs, licences, newspaper cuttings, brewery documents or family memories all help — and if you have evidence that changes our date, we'd genuinely like to see it.
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