20th February 2023.
Hope you’ve already had your lunch before you saw that pic. Mrs RM just cooked James and I a lovely roast dinner (NRDSS 4), but a pint of Pedigree as good as the one at the Greyhound in Hinckley would have raised it even higher.
I did the full cultural tour of the last town in Leicestershire before you reach scary Nuneaton, but you can have that as a bonus post next as I haven’t got the energy for a long blog.
Lovely looking pub, and I wondered how I could have missed it on my last trip here, when it was all micros and craft.
Not much craft in the Greyhound, and none of the promised Bass either. “It’ll be on later today” says the landlord. Yeah, that’s what they all say.
I’m not that disheartened; this is classic Pedi territory, and I reckon they pulled a dozen pints while I was there.
I know that because I chose the bench seating in the darts room with the view of the bar and counted them.
Cool, foamy and tasty, if not quite sulphuric, I reckoned a 3.5
It was a cracking atmosphere, a bit like a Craft Union with a simple lunchtime food trade and gentlefolk popping in to say hello to mates over a cup of coffee.
The banter at the bar was about rugby union fines, disappointingly, a reminder this is the Midlands not The North.
Blur’s “Country House” gave way to this 1983 classic.
Are you allowed to like Mike Oldfield now ?
Faggots (from Frank Parker), chips and mushy peas for £6.50 was a bit of a bargain. How so cheap ?
A young lad about 10 came up and asked “Do you need any condiments Sir ?” and then “Have you got your cutlery“. Ah, child labour. No, it was half-term. Lovely polite lad; his mum looked on proudly.
It was tremendous, trencherman fayre. Homemade, a perfect portion size. You could really live well, and balloon in size, if this was your local.
What else could Hinckley offer ?
retiredmartin 
I’ve never seen the Bass in there, always Marston’s and something guesty from a local brewery. Used to be a cracking local, then went a bit scuzzy, last heard it was in the hands of the New Plough licensee who does a good job. What else will you find? You’ve been to the lovely Wharf Inn I hope.
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Someone on National Bass Day Facebook page said they had Bass the week before and landlord said it was due. Goodness know why you’d have such a gap.
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Whenever I go to Hinckley it’s a meet-up with local friends and I just can’t get the buggers any further up the hill than the Pestle & Mortar, need to try harder next time.
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The Greyhound is what makes being a retired retired pub ticker so great.
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I always liked Moonlight Shadow but only recently learnt that it might be about the murder of John Lennon.
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I’ve heard tell of a similar tenuous idea that REM’s Losing My Religion is about the same thing, albeit from the viewpoint of Chapman. Nonsense, of course. Probably.
I’ve also just made up a rumour that REM’s The One I Love is Michael Stipe’s paean to drinking Doom Bar in Wetherspoons.
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I think you’ll find that The One I Love predates Doom Bar, Bobby. It was actually about Youngers Scotch, which was commonly sold at 99p in Spoons in 1986-87.
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I’d say, you are definitely allowed to like Mike Oldfield now Martin, and Maggie Reilly too, of course.
Stafford Paul, any connection between Moonlight Shadow and John Lennon’s tragic murder, seem very tenuous, and more like a far-out conspiracy theory.
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It was definitely “Blue Peter” that was about the death of Paul McCartney, I think.
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Yeah, there was a theory that he was replaced by Viv Stanshall. I guess that’s pretty kaput now, then.
https://paulmccartneyisreallydead.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/paul-mccartney-really-died-in-1966/
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T’other Paul,
I’m not one for far-out conspiracy theories so am probably wrong here then.
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