April 2025. Smeeton Westerby Leicestershire. We’re getting good use out of the campervan now, and that 4 pint container of Triple fff Moondance that serves as my en-suite. It comes into its own visiting remote pubs like the King’s Head in Smeeton Westerby, tucked away in the posh villages betwixt Leicester and Harborough. This is… Continue reading GLASSWARE DRAMA IN SMEETON WESTERBY
Tag: Leicestershire
WHERE HAS LEICESTER’s CHERRY TREE BEEN ALL MY LIFE ?
April 2025. Leicester. The last knockings of my Big Day Out in Hinckley, as I decide that 24 minutes is, in fact, enough time to see a bit more of Leicester, and somehow squeeze in a pint at the Cherry Tree, which a quick look at my giant spreadsheet confirms I’ve never been to before… Continue reading WHERE HAS LEICESTER’s CHERRY TREE BEEN ALL MY LIFE ?
KEG PEDI, PROPER PUB
April 2025. Hinckley. Back, again, through Hinckley’s pedestrianised centre to my final pub before the train home, stopping only to note the dramatic relocation of Mr Tax. Every trip to a UK town gives you a new perspective on the architecture, but to really understand a place you have to visit a tax advisor there,… Continue reading KEG PEDI, PROPER PUB
THE WILLIAM BASS TRAIL REACHES THE PESTLE & MORTAR
You try coming up with blog titles for four successive Bass pubs. April 2025. Hinckley. Well, this hastily convened exploration of a rarely visited (for pubs, I’m sure folk visit for the household wares shop) Leicestershire market town was going well, and a fourth pint of Bass in three hours came two minutes from our… Continue reading THE WILLIAM BASS TRAIL REACHES THE PESTLE & MORTAR
TOP 100 PUBS – THE GREYHOUND, HINCKLEY
April 2025. Hinckley. It’s just gone 1pm as our Gang of Four (nice post-punk reference for Quinno there) and we decide on a bus for the mile and a half back into Hinckley and Pub 3. I’d have walked to save 3 quid, but it’s a dull old route, and at least the bus gives… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE GREYHOUND, HINCKLEY
MORE BASS IN BURBAGE
April 2025. Burbage. I do have a number of rules I apply to my blogging. No more than ten pictures, a two minute read so you can read it in the time it takes to sink a pint of Bass, all facts checked independently by ChatGPT, and NO MORE than 100 pubs in the Top… Continue reading MORE BASS IN BURBAGE
THE RED LION. BEAUTIFUL BASS IN BURBAGE
April 2025. Burbage. While I’d been leading Stafford Paul on a curated tour of church doors, horsepools and wildflowers, our fellow toppers Quinno and Leon were on a meandering route to meet up at the Red Lion. A solid place to start, though perhaps not a cask line up to impress folk who believe all… Continue reading THE RED LION. BEAUTIFUL BASS IN BURBAGE
THE INEVITABLE TIM TAYLOR LANDLORD, EVEN IN LOUGHBOROUGH
March 2025. Loughborough. One cask pump is plenty, often more than enough, but sometimes five (5) pubs isn’t enough, and a sixth was demanded. Always best pick one you’ve never heard of, lest folk on Discourse accuse you of only going to the “best” pubs to keep your NBSS averages up. The Blacksmiths doesn’t look… Continue reading THE INEVITABLE TIM TAYLOR LANDLORD, EVEN IN LOUGHBOROUGH
A WORKINGMAN’S BASS AT LOUGHBOROUGH’S PEACOCK
March 2025. Loughborough. Despite his looks Quinno is actually younger than I am, so doesn’t remember those magical times when the Good Beer Guide described entries as ” basic town pub”, “rough pub, women tolerated” and “workingman’s pub”, which was all the description you needed in 1975, in an age before street art. I don’t… Continue reading A WORKINGMAN’S BASS AT LOUGHBOROUGH’S PEACOCK
BACK TO 1995 AT THE BLUE MONKEY
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… Continue reading BACK TO 1995 AT THE BLUE MONKEY
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