December 2024. Glenfield. Leicester.
Glenfield ?
I asked ChatGPT what this village is famous for.
You can trust ChatGPT. ChatGPT itself told me that.
I’d been in town once before, an obviously forgettable visit to the Forge, a “Beautiful Pubs” house famed for its campaign to “bring back jugs”, possibly a call to reinstate Gary Lineker or something.
What Pub has little to say about the Railway,
which you can identify as a Stonegate pub from one of those UFOs that seem oddly fixated on the American air bases round here.
“Comfortably modernised”, “TVs everywhere”, “oddly located dartboard” your 3 takeaways.
I’ll takeaway “comfortable”, a real mix of folk in the 4pm Golden Hour, food trade low key, tat not overdone.
Note that a century ago only Liberal Party members got discount, as CAMRA had yet to be invented.
Never mind that. What a welcome from the barmaid,
“Had a nice day ?” she asks.
“No ta” I reply. I must get my hearing checked.
And on the bar.
The Wickingman has handed over the mantle of Bass Saviour to Sir Quinno, who will shortly be relocating to Leicester, where cool, tight headed pints like this will reassure him that the future of the red triangle is in safe hands.
Just a shame it comes in a London Pride glass.
retiredmartin 
I’m quite liking Stonegate pubs recently. They have a Wetherspoons feel but a bit more adult, and much fewer people playing stuff out loud on their phones (the bane of JDW in the last year or two).
They also tend to be esrly-openers, which is handy for those of us who wake at 5am!
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Spinko,
I couldn’t agree more, and never go wrong with their Craft Union pubs in Rugeley, Lichfield and Newport – just a shame that the Coach and Horses in Stafford can’t seem to sell enough cask beer.
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I have no (knowing) personal experience of Craft Union pubs, as there’s just one in Cardiff, and it doesn’t serve cask, but in York at the moment, where I have family, Stonegate are not renewing leases in at least two pubs, Bay Horse and Roman Bath, and forcing landlords out in order to change them into Craft Union pubs.
https://www.change.org/p/save-the-bay-horse-say-no-to-craft
https://yorkmix.com/new-look-revealed-for-york-pub-ahead-of-controversial-changes/
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Rhys,
Yes, criticism they’ve attracted is hardly surprising, but their offer of premium brands at keen prices with morning opening in normal sized pubs often gets them busy.
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“I must get my hearing checked”.
Be careful though.
It should remain selective – just like your beer choice.
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Hard to think of a prettier pump clip than that Bass clip.
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