Tag: Good Beer Guide

This was the first pub we visited this week on what proved to be an expedition to all of the Good Beer Guide pubs in central Leicester.

My first impressions were all very positive as the building looked interesting and there was also an information board outside about the pub’s history. It has been serving beer since at least 1720 with ales once brewed using the well which is still located beneath the building. It’s possible that the pub’s name comes from the larger glass globes of water that framework knitters placed in windows to help give them more light to work by. The current building dates from the late eighteenth century and its been owned by Everards since the late nineteenth century.

The snug area towards the front.

Despite the threats of ghosts, we decided to sit in the snug….. So very brave. I can report that no ghostly activity took place that we were aware of. On this whole haunting matter, the pub’s web-site mentions:

“Prior to becoming a public house, the Globe had several interesting uses, including a cattle merchants and accommodation for women awaiting impending execution at the hands of the noose man in nearby Gallowtree Gate. This may go some way to explaining the reported haunting within the premises, which includes the ghost of a woman on the stairs, two disagreeing brothers that argue over the bar and a young boy in the cellar who turns off the beer!”

The beer selection wasn’t ideal for my tastes, with no darker options although the Old Original from Everards was acceptable enough. The pub is operated by Ever So Sensible which has twelve or so sites, but they seem to be restricted to beers from Everards.

The service at the bar was friendly and the environment seemed welcoming and comfortable. Food is served here throughout the day, although I only saw one person ordering a meal, but the reviews are mostly positive. As an aside, the pub has a few negative reviews that really aren’t ideal, I’m never sure that chains like this should have a blanket policy of not bothering to reply. There’s an allegation of an assault that took place recently at the pub, and although review sites aren’t perhaps the place to air these things I’d like to see the venue at least suggest that they’re taking it seriously, even if they don’t comment on the actual incident.

The pub was clean and it’s great that such an historic building is listed in the Good Beer Guide, I like to see pub heritage. There was nothing wrong for me to comment about on the visit, but ideally I’d have liked some slightly more exciting beer options, but they seem to be tied to Everards which perhaps gives them little freedom.

Continuing with our trip to every Good Beer Guide listed pub in Leicester, this is the Salmon on Butt Close Lane (I make no comment on that, but it isn’t perhaps an ideal residential address). As with the King’s Head we visited yesterday, the pub is operated by Black Country Ales who I’ve become quite impressed with.

The pub had a slightly quirky feel to it, but in a positive way and the staff member was enthusiastic, polite and engaging. I’ve noted that a few pubs in the area serve good value cobs, here there are £2 options which include cheese & onion or ham & tomato amongst other options. It’s best I don’t start buying these, as I’d likely end up buying about four.

I was very impressed with this list of beers, lots of different styles and three darker options. These screens make it so much easier for customers to see what’s available, I’d like to see set-ups like this more often.

And what a drink to start with, the Creme Bearlee from Beartown Brewery, a milk stout that was as smooth as Michael Gove’s dancing in Aberdeen. Rich with tastes of molasses, vanilla and coffee, this could be a dessert if someone shoved a flake in it. Glorious tasting little beer.

I was only going to stay for one, but I felt the need to just work through a couple of other options on the beer menu. I have to note that this drink was served with a hair in it, which wasn’t ideal, but I let that matter fly (and indeed the hair). This is the Dragon Smoke from Beowulf Brewing Company and it had a beautiful smoky flavour as its name suggests, a touch of decadence.  There was some coffee evident in the taste, with a richness of flavour, although the aftertaste didn’t linger quite as much I would have liked. But still delightful.

Finally, the New Alchemist from Plan B Brewery, a microbrewery from Newport, this didn’t have quite the richness I expected, but it was suitably refreshing.

Back to the pub, I really liked it here, evident as I stayed longer than expected. Other customers spoke to me, the barman was friendly and this was another pub which felt like somewhere that a newcomer moving to the area could visit and find friends. This is an essential factor in a decent community pub in my mind, somewhere which serves its locality and brings people together. Another really delightful entry into the Good Beer Guide and it’s unlikely that I’d have found it otherwise as it’s very slightly off the beaten track. All very lovely.

Our Good Beer Guide expedition around Leicester took us to this quite glorious building, which is the oldest residential property still standing in the city, dating back to the fifteenth century. This pub has a restaurant upstairs, so we decided to visit that for the full experience of the venue. I had made an advance booking and wasn’t quite sure where to go, but the staff member at the downstairs bar quickly acknowledged us and explained to amble up the stairs (I’ve added the word amble there, this is a place that shouldn’t be rushed).

The upstairs grand hall of the property, which was built for Roger Wygston, although it’s not known why this building survived when so many others were taken down. Like many buildings of this age, it has gone through numerous transformations as shops, offices, residential accommodation and now as a pub.

As for the drinks, I went for the tasting selection, which was one third of three different beers. I like these flights (three beers for me to list on Untappd and so more badges to collect, and I admit given that I need to get out more….) and the friendly staff member tried to tell me which each beer was, eventually willingly just leaving me with her scrawled note so that I didn’t forget. The beers were all enjoyable, although if I was being a bit picky, I would have preferred a wider range of beer styles. From left to right there’s the ‘What the Fox’s Hat’ from Church End Brewery, then ‘Blue Fox’ from Charnwood Brewery and then the ‘White Rat’ from Ossett Brewery. They were all well-kept and at the appropriate temperature, with the three drinks costing £3.90. I did like that the beers were from different breweries, not just a job lot from one place.

I went for the fish and chips, which was well presented and the triple cooked chips were delicious with their fluffy interior and crispy exterior. The fish flaked away, all tender and the batter had a pleasant flavour to it. There were proper mushy peas, but there was a flavour that I couldn’t discern (that wasn’t pea I mean, I could identify that) and didn’t overly like, I think I’d rather have had a minty element to them. Much more excitingly I suspect that the tartare sauce was homemade, it was very moreish. I would have rather had a slightly larger portion of chips, there was a bit too much blank space for my liking on the plate, but it all tasted fine and there was an appropriately timed check back.

The Eton mess, which was neatly presented again, or at least, as well as you can present a mess. I would have liked a bit more meringue because I’m greedy like that, but it was a suitable way to end the meal.

The service was attentive and welcoming throughout, but the restaurant area remained relatively quiet during our Friday evening visit. As for the beers, there was a choice and they were well-kept, although there was perhaps nothing exceptional that I’d mention. I’m definitely pleased that this is in the Good Beer Guide as I don’t think that I would have gone in otherwise, and I would have missed the over 500 year history of this building. I’d recommend this pub to others, the dining environment particularly was comfortable and relaxing, I liked the laid-back atmosphere to the whole arrangement.

I don’t normally write blog posts in this manner (list type ones), but since I was asked, I’ll oblige. My friend Ross and I managed to visit every Good Beer Guide pub in central Leicester this week, and I’ll eventually write about them all on my little Good Beer Guide page.

In reverse order (I like adding to the anticipation for my five readers)……

3 – The Blue Boar – A winner of CAMRA’s Leicester pub of the year in 2018, 2019 and 2020, there was a friendly and immediate welcome from the staff member behind the bar even though they were busy. A clean and comfortable environment, but it was the quality of the beer options that really stood out. Helpful staff, excellent beers and a really well curated beer list.

2 – The Real Ale Classroom – A bit of a walk outside of the city centre, but absolutely worth it. This is a micropub with quirky decoration themed around education, namely because the owners swapped a career as school teachers for running a bar. I thought that the beer options were some of the best curated that I’ve seen, I wanted to try most of the beers listed on the clearly displayed blackboard. Pro-active and enthusiastic staff, with a new beer garden to help deal with the number of customers who want to go here.

1 – The Two-Tailed Lion – This was my stand out pub of the week, another with an Untappd screen with numerous interesting and intriguing beers. A clean environment, perfectly well-kept beers and an informal atmosphere. The customer service was excellent, close to the levels that are offered by the Hop & Vine in Hull (my benchmark of the perfect pub), with the barman here being conversational and engaging. I liked his genuine welcome and farewell to every customer and also his help in explaining which he thought the best pubs in Leicester were when I asked. It transpired that the ones he mentioned as the best were also the ones that I liked the most, and I’m grateful he recommended the trip out to the Real Ale Classroom. I can forgive a pub having faults if the staff make me feel really welcome, but this one didn’t have any faults. Quite wonderful.

Our visit to every Good Beer Guide pub in Leicester this week has been inevitably rather lovely, but it has given me a backlog of posts to write. I can almost sense my five readers waiting in anticipation for each new one….. Anyway and for whatever reason, this pub delivered something very different to what I was expecting. There’s a traditional frontage and I was expecting a handful of real ale options.

But there was this, which has several interesting beers that I wanted to try. I’m always delighted to see Untappd screens, clear and easy on the eye. Someone has put some considerable thought into these options, covering most beer styles. I’ve never seen the port infused Titanic Plum Porter, so I had to go for that. I was very tempted to get the Hard Lemonade, but the bar was quite busy for me to ask if they would sell it as a third (although I suspect that they would).

And there’s the port infused Plum Porter, a decadent and beautiful drink. The aftertaste was just a little harsh, but the beer was smooth and I liked the richness of the flavour and the port element. I was delighted to have ordered this, I’ll remember it positively.

The service was friendly and customers were all welcomed on arrival, even when it was quite busy. This is another pub where someone new to the area would likely be able to find people to talk to, the welcome seemed authentic and genuine. I liked this pub very much and if I had realised how good it was, I’d have found more time to stay there. I’m definitely delighted that this is in the Good Beer Guide and I’ve now seen that it won Leicester CAMRA pub of the year in 2018, 2019 and 2020. I’m not all surprised, this is a brilliant pub.

On my little visit to every Good Beer Guide listed pub in Leicester (and some others as well), this is the Black Horse on Foxon Street.

My heart lifted as the pub felt traditional, the staff member offered a friendly welcome and the environment seemed laid-back and comfortable. It was immediately apparent on looking at the beers offered at the bar that this is an Everard’s pub, indeed one that they’ve operated for a long time as is evident at https://pubhistoryproject.co.uk/2019/11/07/black-horse-braunstone-gate-foxon-street/. There were no dark beers available, so I went for half a pint of the Tiger from the brewery.

I struggled to get any flavour out of this, a bit too generic for me. Comparing this to the range of different options run by chains such as the Black Country Ales, the choice is very weak. I’m not convinced that offering the same three beers in nearly every pub, with no guest beers, is ideal, but I’m sure they know their customers. I’d add that the staff member did mention that they had bottles of Titanic Plum Porter in bottles, which is one of my favourite breweries, but I was looking for draft options. However, I appreciated they’d put an option on and the staff member was helpful.

In the pub’s favour, the staff member made an effort to build up a rapport with me, so the customer service was spot on. I suspect that someone moving to the area and going in here to make friends would be pleased, so on that key measure, I’m pleased to see that this pub is in the Good Beer Guide. But, if it was down just to me (which I accept it’s not), more beer options would really be very lovely.

I had high hopes for this Good Beer Guide listed pub in Leicester given that it is very well reviewed and they claim that they are the oldest brewpub in the city, having opened in 2016. Unfortunately, this was the only pub listed in the Good Beer Guide in the city that I didn’t engage with, so I’ll keep this brief and just out of sake of completeness. I am very much sold on the concept offered here though and the decor was all clean, comfortable and well presented.

As an aside, that’s not the easiest to read, but I’m sure most customers have better eyesight than I do. I couldn’t read the cans and bottles list at all, but I suspect that I would have ordered from it if I could have done. I’m slightly surprised to see that a pub is selling the not very well reviewed Adnams Kobold, I don’t see it much outside Adnams tied pubs, although to be fair it’s better than generic lagers. Also, I guess that the oatmeal stout from Anstey is the Darkroom, which is a perfectly decent beer that I had yesterday at the Ale Wagon.

There was no welcome or farewell, so I can’t comment on that. They were the only pub I visited this week not to offer that, but I will mention that they were busy (although not that busy). The pub plays music which forced the background volume up a bit, but other customers seemed to be enjoying their experience so that’s all to the good. They were serving pizzas to a few customers as the food option, which is a useful additional offering.

I’m going to have to say that the pub is going to know far more about this Car Park King beer than I do, since they brew it. All I can add is that it was served colder than I had anticipated and there was an absence of flavour, so I struggled with this a little.

I’m not going to write much more as this is clearly a local institution and I only like commenting positively and focusing on the very many decent experiences that I have. Perhaps if I visited on a different day and ordered a different beer than my experience might have been much more memorable for the right reasons. Given the clearly positive experience that most people have and the way that the pub engages with customers on social media, I’m sure that most customers enjoy their visit here greatly.

Carrying on my visits around Good Beer Guide pubs in Leicester, which my friend Ross has managed to keep up with, this is the King’s Head on King Street.

I had already eaten enough, but those samosa and spring rolls for £1 looked really quite tempting. My first impressions of the pub were positive not because of the food which is hard to miss, but because there was no annoying music and instead just quiet conversation and peacefulness. Now I’ve reached 30 (just), I can’t be doing with all this raucous noise. The pub goes back a fair way and there’s also a roof terrace with extra seating, but I didn’t meander off that far.

I’ve now realised that these screens are used across Black Country Ales pubs, including the Salmon which I went to yesterday and also The Craven Arms in Birmingham where I went a few weeks ago, and the Wellington in Birmingham where I’ve been several times. Anyway, there’s a decent selection there of different beer styles and some interesting options. The staff member was also polite and helpful, all very positive.

There was only one darker beer available and it’s also my last drink of my time in Leicester, so not a bad one to finish on at all, the King Korvak’s Saga by Fownes Brewing Company. Rich, smooth and with decadent flavours of coffee, all rather lovely.

As a pub, I very much liked this one, and indeed I’m now going to look out for Black Country Ales pubs as it has taken me a while to realise that I’ve been to several and been impressed with them all. Laid-back, friendly, calm and welcoming, just what a pub should be and I’m very pleased that the King’s Head is in the Good Beer Guide.

Continuing the meander around the Good Beer Guide pubs of Leicester, this is the Ale Wagon on Rutland Street which has been listed in the book for several years. I’ll use the history from CAMRA as they’re an authoritative source:

“As part of the scheme to widen Charles Street, this corner pub was built in 1931 to replace a Victorian hotel on the adjacent corner. It has drainpipes with hop decoration. From the 1950s, it was owned by Ansells, then after several years of neglect and deterioration, was acquired by Hoskins & Oldfield as their first tied house, opening as the Ale Wagon in September 1999.”

The widening of Charles Street is more evident in this 100 year map against a recent one from OpenStreetMap, they’ve doubled the width of the road.

I accept that this isn’t the most glorious photo of a pub interior, but the bar was busy and so this will have to do. This has the feel of a pub that no-one ever quite modernised, but now it would be a shame to break the character by trying to renovate it. I quite like the whole arrangement, although it feels tired in places, especially the toilets.

The service at the bar was prompt and I felt genuinely friendly, with the staff member telling me that there were two dark beers on. She was happy to explain the options, although I decided that I’d just get a half pint of each rather than just pick one.

The Darkroom oatmeal stout from Anstey Ale Brewery, which was very drinkable.

It’s this one that I was most confused about, the Smoked Porter from Hoskins Brothers brewery. This is the first beer that I’ve had which I haven’t been able to add on Untappd, and it seems reading some of the other ratings at https://untappd.com/w/hoskins-brothers-ales/9223 that others are having difficulties. There’s a message that:

“Hoskins Brothers Ales do not brew. All beers are brewed by Tower Brewery. The brothers own the Ale Wagon pub in Leicester and this is the base for a brewery that is brewing both Hoskins ales and ales from the former Oldfield Brewery.”

But I don’t really understand this, the pump clip is named as Hoskins Brothers Ales and so I don’t much care whether it’s brewed at the pub or off-site. Anyway, the beer was excellent, one of the best examples of a smoked porter that I’ve had. It might be though that this situation has arisen as one of the Hoskins brothers who ran the pub died last year.

This was a traditional pub with some interesting beers and I’m glad that it’s in the Good Beer Guide, as it would perhaps be easy to miss. I got the impression that nearly every other customer was a local, but it wasn’t any less friendly for that.

This micro-pub was recommended to me by the helpful barman at the Two-Tailed Lion. It’s a bit of a walk out of the city centre, but such is the sacrifice that I must make to find quality.

And that blackboard oozed quality, there were seven beers on there that I wanted to try and hadn’t had before, although I limited myself to just three. I can’t see any beer that I would consider as being average or generic on there, some really decent options and most beer styles are covered as well.

We sat in the Headmaster’s Study room at the rear, with the pub having an education theme as the owners worked as secondary school teachers before deciding this pub thing seemed to be a better idea.

The pub is small as it’s a conversion from a shop (it was a computer shop and then a clothes shop), with one front room, one rear room (the study one) and until recently that was it other than for some seats outside. They’ve now though expanded into the garden at the rear to give them some more seating options. As a micro-pub, it was the first in Leicester.

This is the Somewhere Within from Cloudwater, that’s about as good as an IPA as I can imagine getting. Smooth, full of tropical fruit flavour and with a slightly orangey aftertaste. Really rather lovely, and perhaps quite decadent even.

The Too Many Steves from Shiny Brewing, a small micro-brewery in Little Eaton in Derbyshire. More tropical fruit flavours here, to the point where I wonder whether I’m being a little too healthy.

I felt the need to have a dark beer as well, and there were several options on the menu which surprised and delighted me. This is the very decent Post Impact Porter from Staggeringly Good brewery who are based in Portsmouth.

As for the service, it was friendly, engaging and conversational. The pub was spotlessly clean, it felt on-trend without trying to be and there was clear enthusiasm from the staff about the beers that were being offered.

The pub also notes on their web-site that:

“Prior to buying we also check all of our beers via Untappd; to guarantee we offer the best available beer to you, our drinkers.”

I genuinely slightly despair at pubs who don’t do this, although I understand that some pubs are tied or restricted in their options. It might prevent some of the average dross getting through and I won’t mention any brewers in particular, although I obviously include Greene King in that.

Passionate, authentic and absolutely as good as a micro-pub could realistically get, all really rather lovely. It’s also listed in the Good Beer Guide, and it would be a travesty if it wasn’t.