March 2025. Loughborough.
I’ve rather lost faith in the little Blue Monkey’s little chain of East Midlands pubs since some disappointing cask in Nottingham and Newark, but they cling on to hard-won GBG places in Loughborough,
where the Organ Grinder has just won “Traditional” Pub of the Year, which tells you a lot.
I guess it’s the bloke with waistcoat and top hat that says “tradition”.
Certainly there’s more folk here than anywhere bar Spoons, and it’s notably welcoming, especially to canines.
Common sense, rare in Quinno and myself, dictates halves,
but that cherry amber beer merited a pint, the beer of the day (3.5+).
You’ve just missed Elvis,
but Quinno was just in time to pick up the Loughborough Echo and read of the opening of the Blue Boar, presumably a sister for the one in his new home of Leicester.
Exciting times for local ale fans, with the arrival of Mansfield Trad (again) and Mild.
You should have seen the look of disappointment on his face when I pointed out this was a page from the Echo of 1995.
In Loughborough, you can never leave 1995.
retiredmartin 
I wonder how they define “traditional”. Changing the pub name isn’t a good start.
I missed Elvis when he was in Hastings on 7th March.
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Sensible drinking! Well done RM and Quinno. I was once on a pub crawl in Worcester with the Pubs Galore crowd (not a “pub research trip” – a pub crawl), and Quinno and I consulted the list of pubs and the amount of time left before our respective trains, and agreed to drink a half between us in each of the next three or four pubs, which came very close together. He had to message me a couple of days later, when writing up his notes, as he had no idea what he had been drinking in one of those pubs. Luckily I am made of sterner stuff.
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