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
Tag: 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
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… Continue reading A WHIGFIELD REVELATION IN THE SWAN IN THE RUSHES
CULTURE IN CHARNWOOD
March 2025. Loughborough. I’d been hoping to catch up with Quinno for a few years, but he’s rarely sober and used to live in a dangerous part of the UK. But now he’s oop North in Leicester, the new custodian* of the sacred Bass list, it’s time to talk matters Red Triangle and NBSS with… Continue reading CULTURE IN CHARNWOOD
WHY LOUGHBOROUGH ?
March 2025. Loughborough. “You gone ? Where you off to ?” texts Mrs RM, waking up to a cold cup of coffee and sourdough with marmite an hour after I’d left for the tram. “Lutterworth. Meeting Quinno. I did tell you“. I probably didn’t tell her, but she wouldn’t have come anyway, knowing she’d “only… Continue reading WHY LOUGHBOROUGH ?
IT’S ACE AT MOONFACE
My third Charnwood pub of the day had the best beer and is the hardest to write about. Yes, it’s a brewery tap. Not quite on an industrial estate, tucked away in the southern half of Loughborough, well clear of studentz in the sort of location enjoyed by the Falstaff or the Free Trade. I… Continue reading IT’S ACE AT MOONFACE
LOUGHBOROUGH LACINGS
The blog-naming committee had a tough time on this one. Loughborough, famous for over-excitable athletes, bells and a steam train from Leicester. And lace, apparently. We stopped in Loughborough to complete the Leicestershire section of the Beer Guide for 2017. The welcoming committee was nowhere to be seen. But “New Loughborough” awaited, in all… Continue reading LOUGHBOROUGH LACINGS
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