retiredmartin

April 2023.

Another day, another county falls;

Leicestershire took longer than usual to complete due to the 5pm opening at Sapcote Club.

“Sapcote ?” you ask. “Never heard of it“.

Another of those unsung Leics/Staffs/Warwicks border style* places with much to be unsung about.

But, as with Warton last month, I will do my best to convince you Sapcote deserves your immediate holiday booking.

In its favour, it has a place you can camp overnight, easy egress off the M69 (in one direction), a mound on which once stood a castle,

and a few reminders of industry.

There’s another pub, a Marston’s house which looked exactly like you’d expect a Marston’s village pub to look.

In the 1700s the village was raided by neighbouring Aston Flamville for letters to use in their own game of medieval Scrabble, with disastrous results.

And that’s your lot. Oh, apart from Stoney Cove scuba centre. Which I COMPLETELY MISSED, despite walking the whole village before 5pm.

The Club did indeed open on time.

A vast place in the function place mould, but at least you get proper seating for your bad back.

Inevitably, despite it appearing deserted at 16:58, there were already a half-dozen regulars at the bar at 17:02, so at least I knew the Ghost Ship, well under £4, had already been poured by the cheery Landlord.

The CAMRA AGM is about to start, and there will be a load of old blokes competing to grumble about nothing, so let me say here that CAMRA branches nearly always get it right with there Beer Guide entries.

The Adnam’s, an up-and-down beer, was cool, rich (Oxford comma) and superbly foamy (NBSS 3.5). The last pint in a county is often one of the best, and so it was here.

Big screens showed more interviews with Coventry City players than you’d think healthy, so I took a stroll to admire the Noel Edmonds gaming machine and the Myster Mix dispenser.

I reckon you can trust a bar with a Mystery Mix dispenser, but more research is definitely needed.

*Yes I know it’s not actually on the border but you know exactly what I mean.