retiredmartin

October 2025. Leicester.

36 hours in Leicester; time to complete the GBG entries for the county and provide Mrs RM with enough material for her own blogpost to boost tourist trade, provisionally titled “Oh, go on, it can’t be worse than Maidenhead“.

We’d petered out a bit after completing the art trail along the Soar and Grand Union, and took a turn to Belgrave Road, Leicester’s Golden Mile.

Loads of Indian restaurants, but we’re interested in Desi pubs. And, since I’m not ticking the GBG anymore (no, really), and that Manchester beer book is tough enough to complete, the few dozen Asian run bars in David Jesudason’s wonderful CAMRA book is something to aim at.

Sadly, some of the Leicester picks in David’s picks don’t open till 5 (bloomin’ micro hours), and although it’s not yet 4 Mrs RM is hungry, and tired.

So, the Blue Peter aka Doon Spice was a “Try Also” worth trying, particularly when we see “free pint“.

In August Mrs RM had popped into Smethwick on her own (a lone woman !) for a Desi tick at the Red Cow, something which even I considered “a bit brave” at the time.

She’d been a bit confused by the lack of real ale, her only experience of Desi pubs being the Vine.

Your typical Desi has the beer range of the social club it once was, which at least gives me a glass of Spanish craft in the absence of Bass Brew XI.

The Blue Peter is set out as if expecting lots of diners, though perhaps not at 15:56, and the trade is a cultural melting pot of Carling drinkers with the India v England Women’s cricket on the telly.

Gadwali lamb, crispy aubergine, poppadoms, naan and rice,

for £10.99, an astonishing bargain. I don’t think the pints were free (some disagreement over whether it was actually Wednesday, and perhaps the bar was operated separately from the curry), but some sort of complex adjustment to the bill seemed to have been made. An essential visit.

We emerged into the bright lights of post-(watered down) Diwali Belgrave Road,

a half-hour walk to our hotel where 28,000 step Mrs RM would promptly collapse on the bed and not stir ’till morning. I meanwhile, was to make better use of the evening.