A WHIGFIELD REVELATION IN THE SWAN IN THE RUSHES

March 2025. Loughborough.

A day without plans in an unsung Leicestershire town, bar a Spoons breakfast and “culture”; makes a change from a CAMRA-approved “pub research trip” with strict timings and no time to nip in the nearest museum or Brew Dog or pause to take photos of dead pubs.

The only “must” on my pubs list was the Swan in the Rushes, a venerable Castle Rock house I hadn’t been in for 30 years,

and it hadn’t changed much (toilets notably bigger than the actual rooms) since the 30th June 1995, when we stopped in town on the way to deliver the NHS annual accounts to Leeds on the last permitted day.

Delivering paperwork to Quarry House in pre-internet days was a much sought-after errand for an accountant only recently introduced to the joys of GBG ticking (I was a late starter).

No idea how 1995 compares with 2025 beer wise, but I’ll wager they didn’t have that array of identically coloured jam jars.

I picked the only one that looks like real beer, the Preservation still Castle Rock’s bellwether pint.

Not a lot of custom to keep the pumps ticking over,

and although it looked great, slow turnover always leaves its mark (NBSS 3-).

It’s a comfy pub, the sort of boozer where you can admit to a mate that on that 1995 trip you bought the first Whigfield album (CD, £9.99, Woolworths) to accompany the trip up the A1 in a Popular Plus.

Quinno, who knows a bit too much about female euro pop for comfort, then tells me it’s not her singing on “Saturday Night” and other stuff about pullovers that’s best left for my Patronised readers.

Today we get a soundtrack of the inevitable ELO and Whitney Houston (2nd pub in a row).

No music at all at the Spoons across the road, of course,

and that was absolutely heaving. Draw your own conclusions. And then go and play that “Whigfield” debut.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

9 thoughts on “A WHIGFIELD REVELATION IN THE SWAN IN THE RUSHES”

  1. Castle Rock Brewery reminds me that four months ago in London I was drinking with its founder Chris Holmes who seemed in remarkably good health despite being a year older than me, but that’s probably what good beer can do as part of a balanced diet.

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    1. Presume Chris Holmes sold up/retired by now ?

      Their beers are still excellent but I’m not sure reducing cask turnover does them any favours. Preservation is a terrific beer.

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      1. I’m not sure as he mentioned everything closed for the day of the annual party for the 300 pub and brewery staff.
        I also don’t know if Humphrey retired on reaching eighty in December or if Tim will on his seventieth birthday next month.

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      2. He’s still the owner. He pops in everytime he is back in Notts. Genuinely nice guy. Swan in the rushes has just been sold to punch.

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  2. So, are we to expect you in Glasgow for the CAMRA-approved pub research trip, or not? It seems likely not, judging by the level of sarcasm. Which would be a shame, as we’ll be doing some good pubs and we’ll miss your enthusiasm and wit. But it’s a hell of a long way to drive for a couple of halves of Heavy and a can of Irn Bru.

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