retiredmartin

October 2024. Leicester.

Leicester looked splendid, if a little quiet before the Diwali and Christmas rushes.

Odd to get a completely new pub in the Guide, particularly one as central as the Castle,

tucked away in a rather underappreciated part of a rather underappreciated city.

Honestly, pubs apart, Leicester is far more interesting than, say, Derby.

I see this new self proclaimed micro becoming a fixture on a compact run of half a dozen essential Leicester stops,

a cosy and welcoming 2 roomer with a touch of craft,

and cask favourites like Plum Porter (NBSS 3+).

A group of lads who look like they could have played left-back for Birmingham City in the early 90s are holding court in the main (only) room.

“There’s someone sitting there mate” says the bald one as I take the empty table, then laughs.

I tell them there’s more space upstairs and they spend five minutes looking up secret hatches for an upstairs that doesn’t exist.

Actually they were trying to turn the music up a notch, Fleetwood Mac’s “Sara” played at that unsatisfactory volume where you can guess it’s Stevie Nicks but Shazam gives up.

They’re good lads, I’d guess 3 pubs into an epic pub crawl that will end up in a Wetherspoons,

but whether that’s Spoons will in Leicester, Loughborough or Luton, who can say ?