The pub was built in 1813. It closed in December 2015, and in November 2017, its future as a public house was uncertain; owners Robinsons Brewery said in 2016 that it was "closed until further notice". In September 2016, a local newspaper reported it would reopen, but no date was subsequently announced.
Plans for re-opening
On 21 October 2019 Robinsons announced that a "long-term lease" had been taken out on the building by Forest Distillery, who intended to re-open the site in summer 2020 as a destination attraction featuring a distillery, shop and pub. Distillery owner Karl Bond said he bought the pub to store barrels of whisky, according to a BBC article; other reports confirmed that Bond was leasing the property, with ownership retained by Robinson's Brewery. Bond planned to complete extensive renovations and reopen the inn as a pub and distillery in 2020. Crowd funding provided over £50,000 of a sum estimated at over £250,000 for the restoration. Bond said: "it needs a full new environmentally-friendly sewage system and that’s just to get the toilets to flush – it needs a new roof, new floor, new ceiling, new lighting..." In December 2019 it was reported the pub would be renamed The Cat, Fiddle and Weasel because of Forest Distillery's weasel logo. Bond said: "We want to have Britain's highest whisky distillery... but also turn one section into a shop, where you can pick up beer and wines and deli products, or... you can get a coffee and a pastry".
Cat and Fiddle Road
The inn gives its name to the Cat and Fiddle Road: a stretch of the A537 road, linking Macclesfield to the west with Buxton to the east, which features many sharp corners. This road became notorious for the high number of accidents, particularly among motorcyclists for whom the road is often regarded as an exhilarating technical challenge; an AA survey in 2003 named it as the most dangerous stretch of road in the United Kingdom. A 2016 report indicates that between 2007 and 2011, there were 44 serious or fatal crashes on the stretch. Between 2002 and 2006, there were 35. The report states that the safety issue is caused by "severe bends, steep falls from the carriageway and edged by dry-stone walls for almost the entirety of the road". Derby and Derbyshire Road Safety Partnership and the Department for Transport arranged for the installation of front- and rear-facing speed cameras in the area. These were confirmed to be in place in December 2019.
Other pubs
There are several pubs of this name in the United Kingdom. For example, there is a Cat and Fiddle pub in Hinton, Hampshire, currently owned by Harvester. Various etymologies are claimed: some believe it is a corruption of le chat fidèle ; others that it comes from Caton le Fidèle ; a third theory is that it derives from Catherine la Fidèle.
