The 68
The 2024 Good Beer Guide(GBG) contains 68 pubs in Leicestershire, in 41 distinct locations.
One evening, over a pint, in late 2023, The Whetstone Beer Club (comprising Steve Collins and Barry Glover) decided to plan to visit all sixty-eight pubs and have at least one pint in every one during the calendar year 2024. That seems easy enough I hear you say, but when pubs on the list appear in places we have never heard of, e.g. Branston, Hemington, Plungar, Redmile, let alone know where they are, it starts to get interesting. As neither of us intend driving to any of these places for obvious reasons, public transport, Shanks’s pony, or the occasional lift will be our options.
Here is the story of this quest (note: some of these pubs have since closed or changed hands. The buses used may not still be running)
Saturday 6 January
So, the journey begins with a walk to the nearest pub to where we live that is in the guide, The Bakers Arms in Blaby. Although this pub is less than two miles from where we live, it is not a place we visit due to previous bad experiences. We were surprised to find that it was in the GBG. However, things have changed and although not having any guest ales on (they had sold out over Christmas and New Year) the Everards Tiger and Old Original were both excellent.
Next, we took the 85 bus from Blaby into Leicester St Margaret’s Bus station and a short walk to The Salmon. Here we sampled Salopian Lemon Dream. Magic Dragon Dolphin and Beowulf Zwodder pale. All in excellent condition. Another short walk took us to The Blue Boar for Northern Alchemy New Tricks, a beer so good that we stayed on this for the rest of the evening. And so ended the first day of our journey. Three easy-to-get-to pubs crossed off the list. (We still haven’t a clue how to get to Plungar although at least we now know where it is)
Wednesday 10 January
Our usual 84 bus from Whetstone took us into Leicester for our weekly beer trip, and we visited The Globe where we chose Everards Tiger from a good range of Everards beers and guests.
Saturday 3 February
The plan today was to get the Skylink bus from Leicester to Kegworth, a journey that should take fifty-three minutes. Not today! One hour and fifty-three minutes after leaving Leicester we finally arrived at Kegworth. Road works had closed the A6 north of Birstall and our bus driver then decided to not follow the detour signs and turn into Cossington and on towards Sileby, where more road works, temporary traffic lights and parked cars caused chaos. Having battled half a mile or so through Sileby, we came to another grinding halt at a police incident. The bus driver then decided to do a seven-point turn outside The Free Trade inn and battle his way all the way back to the correct detour route.
On our arrival at Kegworth we quickly made our way to the Red Lion. This was a first visit for both of us to this pub and what a great pub it is. Eight hand pulls including a cider. Our choice was Charnwood Salvation, Blue Monkey BG Sips and Titanic Plum Porter, all in excellent condition. Great to be able to chat to the landlady Vanessa, who was very welcoming.
It was soon time to catch the Skylink back to Loughborough to visit the Moonface Brewery Tap, another first for us. We were somewhat disappointed with this establishment, very dark and gloomy inside, few beers to choose from, and only one being from their own brewery. Our choice of gravity-fed beers however was, Moonface It’s only Porter, Bang the Elephant Street Squirrel and Hop Kettle Acton’s Favourite strong ale. Then onto the ever-popular Organ Grinder offering an impressive range of Blue Monkey ales of which we sampled Infinity and BG Sips.
On to our last stop of the day in Loughborough, the Wheeltapper. Unlike The Organ Grinder, it was relatively empty and consequently lacking in atmosphere. A reasonable choice of beers however and a truly knowledgeable owner. We chose Little Brewing Villi 5000, Black Iris Rise and Shine and Shipstone IPA.
Wednesday 7 February
A short midweek trip on the Arriva 29 bus to Groby for a visit to The Stamford Arms. A good range of five Everards beers on cask plus a cider served by a very efficient young lady who, without being prompted, asked us if we were CAMRA members and offered us the CAMRA discount. Also saw one of the bar staff deliver beer to a table. You do not see that very often these days. We selected two Everards limited edition beers, Renegade and Distant Sun.
Saturday 10 February
Six buses and six pubs today (one being a Wetherspoons for food), but only two being part of ‘The 68’. Having arrived in Leicester on the usual 84 from Whetstone we caught the X3 to Kibworth Beauchamp with a plan to walk to Smeeton Westerby and visit a highly recommended pub, The Kings Head. Because we arrived in Kibworth at about 12.25, and The Kings Head did not open until 1.00, we decided to have a swift half of Timothy Taylor Landlord in The Swan in Kibworth Beauchamp.
We then made the fifteen-minute walk to The Kings Head at Smeeton Westerby, and we were not disappointed by this excellent pub where we sampled Church End Gravedigger and Langton North Star.
Time to catch the third bus of the day, the Centrebus 44 to Church Langton and pub number 10 of ‘The 68’, The Langton Arms. Here we found a large establishment which is predominately an eating pub, but with a very nice front bar area serving a couple of well-kept beers, Langton Brewery Widebeam and Inclined Plane, which we consumed for a couple of hours until the next bus was scheduled.
Back onto the 44 bus for journey number four to Market Harborough and much-needed food at Wetherspoons’ The Sugarloaf before moving on to The Beerhouse. Here I had Blue Monkey BG Sips, and Steve had one of his all-time favourite beers Hop Back Summer Lightning. Bus journey number five took us back to Leicester on the X3 and because we had a short wait for our last bus of the day, we were obliged to drop into The Blue Boar for a pint of Rocky while we waited.
Saturday 24 February
It was the Arriva 127 to Rothley today for pubs 12 and 13. First stop was The Blue Bell Inn. Just two beers available, so both were sampled, St Austell Tribute and Blue Monkey Infinity. Both beers were not that good but just about acceptable. A short walk took us to The Woodman’s Stroke. A traditional pub with a great atmosphere. Very welcoming and looks to be a good summer location. Four beers available of which we had Bass (always to be tried), Brewsters Hophead and Charnwood Try Hopped.
Friday 1 March
Two months gone and Friday saw us frequent the ever-popular Leicester city centre pub The Ale Wagon. With eight beers on the bar there was no need to visit anywhere else today. We enjoyed Oakham Pendulum, Salopian Broken Promise, Charnwood Salvation, Fixed Wheel Chain Reaction and the excellent Thornbridge Jaipur. All beers were in tip-top condition. A great start to March.
Saturday 16 March
We caught the 148 Stagecoach bus from St Margaret’s to Earl Shilton to visit The Shilton Vaults. This was another first for us and we were not disappointed. It was a much larger pub than I had imagined and with a lively Saturday afternoon crowd in, it had a good atmosphere. With five beers to choose from, our choice was Bass and Woodfords Tap & Go.
Back on the 148 for the short journey to Hinckley and the Queen’s Head. This is one of our favourite pubs in Hinckley and with a roaring real fire and four beers on the bar, we were in a happy place. Beers sampled here were Thornbridge Brother Rabbit and Castle Rock Black Gold.
Back on the 148 for our return journey to Leicester where we decided to get off at St Nicholas Circle and pay a visit to The Highcross. This being a Wetherspoon establishment and Saturday night with a beer festival taking place, it was very busy, but with a pint of Lighthouse Pale ale costing £1.99, what was there not to like.
Wednesday 3 April
With a quarter of the year gone and exactly a quarter of the 68 visited, it was time for a trip to the King’s Head in Leicester city centre. With the usual good selection of beers to choose from, we decided on Oakham Vista, which is brewed in collaboration with St Austell Brewery, along with Teignmouth Brewery Deckhand, Attic Brew Method West Coast Pale and Fixed Wheel Hoppy Stout.
Friday 6 April
A plan to walk between three Leicester pubs. Just a ten-minute bus journey on the X3 from the Haymarket took us to London Road and The Old Horse, which is a deceptively large Everards pub which offered five Everards beers, three from their core range and two specials. Also on offer was an impressive range of eight ciders. We tried both specials, which today were Starlight and Nocturnal stout. Both excellent.
A twenty-minute walk took us to Allandale Road and pub 20, The Real Ale Classroom. Here they had three cask ales and six keg available. We choose to try all three cask beers which were Two by Two’s Leapfrog and Idaho, and Right to Roam by Buxton brewery. The pub was very busy for a Friday afternoon, and being half-term, there was an assortment of dogs and children to add to the atmosphere.
Another twenty-minute walk took us to Queens Road and Babelas Continental Bar. Good to see one of our favourite beers here, Oakham Citra. Unfortunately we caught the end of the barrel and so it went back. Next was the Timothy Taylor Landlord, which also was not brilliant, so after seeing a new barrel of Oakham Citra had been put on, we returned to that, and we at last had an acceptable pint. It was now time for food, and whilst sitting in Babelas Steve noticed a noodle bar over the road called Wok 68. As we were doing ‘The 68’ it had to be tried, and we were not disappointed. Highly recommended if you fancy a bit of oriental grub.
Walking to the bus stop for the bus back to the city centre, we called into the Queens Road Tap (which is not in the 2024 Good Beer Guide) for a pint of Thornbridge Green Mountain before getting the 44A to the city centre, and finally the 84 home. Another excellent day doing ‘The 68’.
Saturday 13 April
Today’s plan was to visit The Blue Boar in Leicester for the Castle Rock tap takeover, and so we thought it was a good opportunity to call into The Two Tailed Lion, for our first pint of the day before sampling the Castle Rock beers next door. As usual, The Two Tailed Lion had three cask ales available plus several keg beers. Steve felt the need to criticise the 2/3pint pricing policy on the keg range but was met with the usual nonsensical response, rather than the admission that pricing per pint would inform customers just how expensive they are, without having to do the maths. Our choice was Staggeringly Good Prehistoric Creatures and Wiper & True’s Shipping Forecast, both new breweries to us, and both were well kept.
Friday 19 April
Our usual 84 bus today, but in the opposite direction, to today’s destination, Lutterworth.
With three pubs to visit, our first stop was The Unicorn Inn. This is a traditional town-centre pub with a good choice, including three cask ales. The landlord was very surprised when we told him why we were visiting, as he had no idea that the pub was in The Good Beer Guide. Although we found this very strange, the Bass and St Austell Proper Job were in excellent condition and with Timothy Taylor Landlord also being available, we felt that the pub was well worthy of being in the GBG.
We then moved on to The Fox Inn (note: closed since February 2025) where three cask ales were available. Our first choice was Timothy Taylor Landlord, another excellent pint from a fresh barrel. I stayed on this while Steve sampled the Old Speckled Hen. Our final pub of the day was The Real Ale Classroom, which offered a choice of three cask ales. They were all tried, and we were not disappointed by any of them. The beers were the excellent Brass Castle Hazelnut Mild, Glass House Haru and Two by Two Houseplants IPA.
Before getting the 84 back to Whetstone we returned to The Fox Inn, not for more beer, but for Thai food at Sawasdee Thai. Another great place to eat.
Wednesday 24 April
A short midweek trip on a number 13 First Leicester bus out of St Margaret’s to The Forge Inn at Glenfield. This is a large Everards pub with areas obviously set up for food, but we were pleased to see that there were plenty of tables for those who simply wanted to drink. With a good range of Everards beers and a couple of guests, we chose Beartown Best Bitter, and Pheasantry Dancing Dragonfly.
Thursday 2 May
A third of the year gone already. Nevertheless, we were on target, with more than a third of ‘The 68’ visited.
Today, Mountsorrel was our destination and our first stop on the 127 bus was The Swan Inn. This is a fine free house serving a range of five cask ales with a very pleasant garden overlooking the river Soar. Beers sampled today were Round Corner Market Pale, Portobello Stiff Lip IPA and a wonderful Brown Ale on draught, Milestone’s Newark Castle. A short walk back towards Leicester brought us to The Sorrel Fox. This is a Charnwood Brewery micro-pub serving four Charnwood beers from which we selected Salvation, one of our favourites, and Blue Fox, another excellent beer.
Time to get back on the 127 for the short journey to Rothley and visit once again The Woodman’s Stroke for the presentation of their award for becoming Leicester CAMRA’s Rural pub of the year winner. After a little confusion on my part, probably due to beer excess, we managed to miss our planned bus back to Leicester, and so it was back to Woody’s for another swift half where our excellent social secretary kindly offered to give us a lift all the way back to Whetstone. Thanks again Gary!
Thursday 15 May
We had planned to walk to Enderby to attend the award presentation of joint winner of Leicester CAMRA suburban pub of the year to Mill Hill Cask & Coffee. However, due to inclement weather, we got a lift from Steve’s wife to Enderby, but before walking on to Mill Hill we took the opportunity to visit The New Inn. This is a nice, thatched roof pub owned by Everards and a pub where we had often played skittles matches. It is managed by Mick, one of the longest serving Everards licensees. On offer tonight were three Everards beers, Tiger, Sunchaser and a limited edition special, Hourglass. All three were sampled and found to be in excellent condition.
Saturday 1 June
The plan today was to visit Nether Broughton and Bottesford, which meant catching the 5A Arriva bus from The Haymarket as far as Asfordby, and then the 23 Centrebus to Nether Broughton. Unfortunately, due to an error on the Centrebus route map we were waiting at the wrong stop in Asfordby and managed to see the 23 bus turn off before getting to us and disappear off into the back streets of Asfordby. As this was the only bus of the day which afforded us the time to execute our village-to-village plan, we had to implement plan B, which was to catch the next 5A bus to Melton Mowbray to visit the three pubs there instead.
Firstly, pub 30, The Half Moon, where three cask ales were on tap. We had the Castle Rock Harvest Pale and Black Sheep bitter.
Charlie’s Bar,(note; closed long term) however, took a bit of finding as it is not well signed outside. Despite no cask ale being available here, it is in the Good Beer Guide, which probably causes heated debate within CAMRA. There was a particularly broad selection of eight keg beers on offer, of which we tried Fyne Ales Happy Snaps, Unbarred Joosy and Round Corner Everyday Journey. In our opinion, we had indeed been guided to good beers. Chatting to a couple in the bar, we were given directions to the Round Corner Brewery Tap located nearby in Melton Mowbray cattle market. Here they served us a very enjoyable dark mild, Breakfast at Timothy’s.
Time to continue our mission, and head back to The Kettleby Cross, a Wetherspoon’s establishment. By this time of the day, food was required, and Ultimate Burgers were devoured, accompanied by a nice pint of Mad Squirrel Unity, one of seven cask ales available. And so, it was time to head back to Leicester on the 5A for a couple more in the Blue Boar before getting the 84 back to Whetstone. A day out that did not go to plan but turned out great in the end.
Saturday 8 June
Our second attempt to visit Nether Broughton and Bottesford was abandoned straight away as the 10.17 bus from Cosby to Leicester was cancelled. With the prospect of getting our required bus connection in Asfordby now very uncertain, we decided to implement plan B again and take the 11.50 29A to our most westerly destination, Ashby De La Zouch.
Here we visited Tap at No 76. This Tollgate brewery pub is in one of the oldest buildings in Ashby, is grade 2 listed, and presented us with six cask ales, of which we had Portobello Polari, Tollgate Ashby Pale and Tollgate Old Rasputin.
The 29 now took us back towards Leicester where we took the opportunity to alight at Whitwick for The Three Horseshoes. Two cask ales available here, Bass and Pedigree. As I have mentioned previously, where Bass is served, it must be tried. We were not disappointed, one of the best pints of Bass sampled ever. Top marks on What Pub beer scoring. To top things off at this great little pub, affectionately known as Polly’s, the landlady distributed packets of Doritos around the pub. So that was lunch sorted.
Back on the 29 to Coalville and a visit to The Rock Café & Bar. An excellent range of quality cask ales available here as you would expect, it being the sister pub to The Blue Boar in Leicester. It also has a ‘keg wall’ if that is your thing. And the snacks…, well think Blue Boar cheese cobs plus! Beers tasted here were, Attic Brew Co Hop Series Pale Ale and New Bristol Brewery The Joy of Sesh. Keep up the good work Richard!
Wednesday 12 June
A short journey today to Aylestone to visit The Ale Stone and the Black Horse. The Ale Stone had four cask beers on tap today and all four were sampled. They were Leatherbritches Ashbourne IPA, Leatherbritches Bohemian Bock, Leatherbritches Hairy Helmet and Church End Bobs Dog Jumping Frogs. A short walk then to The Black Horse, surely one of the best Everards establishments, regularly offering comedy nights and beer festivals amongst other community-based activities. Original and Tiger were available, but we went for the limited editions Hour Glass and Pinball, along with some very tasty pub grub.
Saturday 15 June
Our third attempt to visit Nether Broughton and Bottesford. After leaving Whetstone at 10.17, we finally arrived in Nether Broughton at 13.05 having travelled on the Arriva 84 to Leicester, Arriva 5A to Melton and then the Centrebus 23, with two minutes to spare, to The Anchor. This is a small free house pub with two cask ales available, Green King IPA and Old Speckled Hen. With just fifty minutes to the next bus, we had a pint and a half of the Green King IPA.
Back on the next No 23 bus, it was on to Bottesford and The Bull, an excellent destination, and both the most northerly and most easterly pubs on our expedition. Four ales available here today, Castle Rock Harvest Pale, Oakham Citra, Theakston Bitter and Black Sheep. We tried the Harvest Pale and the Citra, both very good. With time now to spare we decided to move just around the corner to see what The Rutland Arms had to offer, as we had been informed that they also served food, but NOT TODAY. Kitchen closed, and so after a swift half of very poor-quality Purity Mad Goose it was back to The Bull for more Citra.
At 17.05 we caught the last bus back to Melton, where we had time before the next bus back to Leicester to call into Charlie’s Bar for a final drink of the day. We finally arrived home at 21.30. A long day but we did at least finally manage to get to two of the villages beyond Melton Mowbray.
Saturday 29 June
Today’s trip was to the north-west of the county to visit The Flag at Castle Donington, and the Jolly Sailor at Hemington. Fortunately, upon checking the opening times before we left, we discovered that the Flag had closed in April, due to problems with licence renewal.
However, we made the long journey on the Skylink to Castle Donington and after a very pleasant seventeen-minute walk we arrived at pub number 40, the Jolly Sailor, where five cask ales were available. We started off with Byker Two by Two followed by Vocation/Neon Raptor Burton Ale. This was followed by Blue Bee American Five Hop and while I had a pint of excellent Bass, Steve tried the Castle Rock Black Gold. All beers were of top quality, the bar snacks were particularly good, and we could quite easily have stayed there for the rest of the day, because of all the pubs unknown to us at the start of our journey, this goes into the top two out of those visited so far.
However, with two pubs still to visit in Loughborough, we decided to walk back to Castle Donington to catch the Skylink back to Loughborough. En route, we passed by The Flag, now an empty shell of a building, and although we obviously could not have a pint there, it was still a visit, albeit dry.
Upon arriving in Loughborough, we firstly came to The White Hart. With six beers to choose from, we opted for Charnwood Salvation, Shiny Amarillo Type Beats and Brewsters Dragon Street Porter, which we enjoyed in their excellent beer garden. Onward to our last pub of the day, The Needle & Pin. A genuinely nice micro pub with four beers to choose from, of which we had Branscombe Vale Mild, Salcombe Shingle Bay, and North Riding US IPA, which we enjoyed in the company of some friendly Loughborough CAMRA members.
Half-way through the year, and 43 out of 68 visited. We are on target, but several of the remainder are not the easiest to get to. Plenty still to do, but we are up for the challenge!
Saturday 13 July
Our destination today was the village of Foxton to visit Bridge 61. Our journey started with the usual 84 into Leicester and then the X7 Stagecoach to Market Harborough. Time for an excellent pint of Purity UBU in The Sugar Loaf before getting the 44 Centrebus to Foxton. A twenty-minute walk along the canal towpath brought us to Foxton Locks. Bridge 61 is a small establishment but with a very pleasant outside garden area. We had both cask beers on offer today, Adnams Southwold, which unfortunately needed a new barrel, and Langton Inclined Plane.
Across the canal from Bridge 61 is the Foxton Locks Inn which although not on our list, we thought we ought to look in. This proved to be an unwise decision, because both the Adnams Ghost Ship, sent back even though the bartender insisted that it was a new barrel, and Timothy Taylor Landlord, were not in good condition.
Back to Foxton to catch the 44 back to Market Harborough to visit The Admiral Nelson. This is a traditional and welcoming Charles Wells pub with four cask ales available, of which we tried Brewpoint Shallow Bay, Brewpoint Anchorman and of course the Bass. All in excellent condition. Our last pub of the day was a return visit to pub 11 Beerhouse where we sampled Shiny Vortex and Salopian/Castleford Dominion.
Wednesday 17 July
An evening visit tonight on the 125 Diamond bus to Anstey and the Mash & Press. Plenty of choice here with three cask ales and one cider available tonight on the bar, plus seven beers and two ciders on keg. We started on the Shiny Cashmere Type Beats before moving on to the Monstex Hellfire for me and the Grainstore Ten Fifty for Steve, followed by Round Corner Drovers. All beers tonight were particularly good, some of which we enjoyed in their beer garden.
Saturday 27 July
The Arriva 153 to Market Bosworth today to attend the Hinckley branch Rail Ale Festival. However, after arriving in The Square at Market Bosworth, we first took the opportunity to walk to the village of Carlton. After about a twenty-minute walk we arrived at The Gate Hangs Well, another establishment that starts the day as a coffee and cake shop and then morphs into an excellent pub. Three cask ales were available, and we chose to try the Bass and Church End What the Foxes Hat before taking the very pleasant fifty-minute walk along the canal to the beer festival in Market Bosworth.
Saturday 3 August
Military precision needed for our bus journeys today. The usual 84 to Leicester, followed by the 5A to Syston to be able to pick up the Centrebus 100 to Somerby, and The Stilton Cheese Inn. This is an extremely popular pub serving Pedigree, Grainstore Ten Fifty, plus three guest ales. Lynn, the bar manager, explained to us how she and her sister were taking over the reins from their father with Lynn running the bar and her sister being the chef. We were then introduced to their father who told us of his vast experience of the license trade over many years before giving us a tour of the outside area.
Also, behind the bar was one of his grandsons, so with three generations working here it is certainly a family run pub. Beer sampled her today were the three guest ales, Oakham Citra, Nene Valley Simple Pleasure, and Brewsters Sticks & Stones, all in excellent condition. This pub is a real gem!
Now back on the 100 to The Malt Shovel in Barkby. Being primarily an eating pub, we took the opportunity to have a pleasant lunch, washed down with the two cask ales available, Wainwrights Gold, and Thwaites Amber. Time for a walk, and so we had a pleasant thirty-minute stroll back into Syston for a pint in The Pharmacie Arms before making our return journey back to Whetstone.
Saturday 10 August
A short journey today, via the Ale Stone, to Wigston and a visit to pub 50, The Tap & Barrel. (note: closed end of January 2025) Four cask and eight keg beers available today of which we tried the Weldon Bakehouse Quencher, Lister’s Dark Mild and Two by Two Savro Citra.
Tuesday 20 August
Steve’s wife Dawn kindly offered to drive us tonight for a midweek tipple to Sapcote Club, which is only a few miles as the crow flies, but tricky to get to by public transport. Of the two cask ales available, we enjoyed a couple of pints of St Austell Summer Sun.
Saturday 24 August
Today’s plan was to visit three pubs in Hinckley with a detour to Stoke Golding,
On arriving in Hinckley on the 158 from Leicester our first port of call was The New Plough Inn. Landlady Louise explained that since the takeover of Marstons by Carlsberg UK they could buy in beers from local breweries to make up for the reduced offering from the Marstons owned breweries, and on offer here today were four beers from Magpie Brewery plus Marstons Pedigree and Courage Directors. We sampled three of the Magpie beers, Thieving Rogue, Coconut Summer, and Raven.
Time to move on with a quick detour on the 7A bus from Hinckley to Stoke Golding to visit The George & Dragon. With six Church End Brewery beers plus two guest ales, this was a genuinely nice pub with a good Saturday afternoon atmosphere. We had the Church End Goat’s Milk, Oakham/ Salopian Harmonic and Thornbridge Jaipur.
Then back on the 7A to Hinckley to take in The Pestle & Mortar. A broad selection of beers available as usual with five cask and seven keg. We tried the Fixed Wheel Chain Reaction, Bass and Blue Monkey Guerrilla. Time for our last pub of the day, the ever-popular Elbow Room. Six cask and eleven keg beers on offer here today and we tried the Brass Castle Pacer, Red Willow Faithless and Shiny/Black Iris Diamond Eyes. Another enjoyable day, fifty-five pubs now visited, thirteen to go.
Saturday 13 September
A Leicester CAMRA trip today to east Leicestershire on the vintage bus. One of the six pubs visited was on our list, The Bell at Frisby on the Wreake. The Bell is an excellent community run pub with manager Dave being the third licensee. Three cask ales available today of which we had Round Corner Hotel Oscar Papa.
Friday 4 October
Today we decided to visit two pubs in Shepshed and one in Quorn. Using the Skylink to Loughborough and the 127 to Shepshed.
A short walk took us to The Black Swan. Five cask ales available in this fine traditional English pub of which we had St Austell Tribute, Blue Monkey BG Sips, Wye Valley HPA and Bass. Another short walk took us next to the Hall Croft Tap. This popular Charnwood brewery tap was busy, but we were able to join a local couple at a table where we not only enjoyed their company but also the Charnwood Salvation and Over the Rainbow.
Back on the 127 to Leicester we stopped off in the village of Quorn to visit to The Royal Oak. If we thought the Hall Croft Tap was busy, then think again. This place was heaving with the early evening crowd, but we did manage to get a seat in the outside covered area with outside heaters. Once again, we enjoyed the company of a young local couple and Timothy Taylor Landlord and Langton Top Lock. Another very pleasant day visiting three top-quality pubs.
Saturday 26 October
We decided that today we would try to visit what we considered to be the most difficult pubs to get to, the Wheel Inn at Branston, and Eye Kettleby Lakes. After leaving Whetstone at 9.47, we caught the 5A to Melton Mowbray from the Haymarket. We stayed on the same bus, which heads back to Leicester, but first goes around a residential area just outside of the town centre.
We got off at Valley Road from where it was a 1.7 mile walk to the Eye Kettleby Lakes club house. The walk, which took us about 40 minutes, needed a short walk across a muddy field! From the two casks on offer in the restaurant bar, we chose Grainstore Witches Brew, but it took the bar staff ten minutes before we received a fresh pint. Considering three hours had elapsed since we had left home, we were gasping for beer by this time. Fortunately, it was particularly good when it finally arrived.
It was now time to get a taxi for the twelve-mile journey to Branston. After receiving a list of several local taxi firms by the staff at The Lakes, none were available, so Plan B was to order an Uber, and one came from all the way from Syston to take us to Branston. When we arrived at Branston we persuaded the driver to wait for us and take us back to Melton. So, unfortunately, we only had a quick visit to The Wheel. which had three cask beers available from which we selected Hobson’s Best Bitter and Castle Rock Our House.
On the journey back to Melton, we realised that the forty quid we had just paid for the uber experience was the only time we had spent any money on transport during our mission! Time for food, and so we had a nosebag in the Kettleby Cross before making our return journey to Whetstone via The Blue Boar. A successful day and now only seven more pubs to go!
Saturday 2 November
Once again it was the 5A from the Haymarket to Melton but this time we alighted at Asfordby to catch the Centrebus 23 to the wilds of The Vale of Belvoir.
As we had a thirty-minute wait in Asfordby, we decided to call into The Crown for our first drink of the day which was an excellent pint of Black Sheep.
We arrived in Plungar at 13.40 and made our way to pub 62, The Anchor Inn. Three well-kept cask ales on today and we tried them all, Round Corner Market Pale and Night Garden Stout, and Pheasantry Best Bitter.
An hour later it was time to get the next bus onwards to Redmile, and the Windmill, an excellent destination with Castle Rock Harvest Pale and Bass available. The first pint of Harvest Pale was so good, we decided we would stay on that for the rest of our visit. Food was available here and it was also top quality. After about a two hour stay, it was time to get the last bus of the day back to Melton before making our way home. Nearly six hours spent on seven different bus journeys today, but mission north-east Leicestershire accomplished!
Saturday 9 November
A trip today to two pubs that are in the very south of the county, looked after by Rugby CAMRA.
With no direct buses serving either destination, it was down to asking for a lift from my stepson, who duly agreed and took us to The Cherry Tree at Catthorpe. Here we had a long chat with Chris the landlord about his beers and how the pub is surviving by just opening three days a week. Three cask ales were available today, Dow Bridge Ratae’d, Roman Way Autumnus and Phipps IPA. All three were in excellent condition.
Time for a thirty-minute walk under the Catthorpe Interchange, to pub 65 of our 68, The Chequers at Swinford. Again, the landlord was available to come and chat to us about beer, pub business and CAMRA contact. Three well-kept cask ales available, Wye Valley Butty Bach, Timothy Taylor Landlord and St Austell Tribute.
Heading back towards home and so for just the second time in all our trips, an Uber was required, which dropped us off in the centre of Lutterworth where we had time to visit Cheikho’s Italian restaurant, The Real Ale Classroom, and The Greyhound, before getting the 84 back to Whetstone. Three pubs left. We are on the home straight!
Saturday 30 November
Another seven-bus journey today, starting with the 84 to Leicester followed by the Skylink to Loughborough, from where we caught the 27 Centrebus to Walton on the Wolds to visit The Anchor. Four cask ales on the bar today, including the obligatory Bass, and Charnwood Salvation. After a chat with landlady Paula, it was time to get back on the 27 to take us to Barrow upon Soar, where we sampled an excellent sausage roll from their Xmas market before arriving at our penultimate pub, The Navigation Inn. Of three cask ales available, the one we chose was at the end of the barrel, but the landlady visited the cellar to offer us Castle Rock Our House. Two well-presented pubs today, which would have been much busier in the summer months.
Saturday 14 December
Saturday 14 December. We end our journey as we began by walking from Whetstone to our final Leicestershire pub from the 2024 GBG, Everards Beer Hall. With all the usual Everards beers available plus their seasonal specials, we tried the Winter Solstice, New World IPA, and Sleighbells. And so, with all the Christmas decorations on, and lots of people enjoying the pre-Christmas festivities, our 2024 adventure ends.
Epilogue
During the year, we have often been asked to name our favourite pubs. We could not possibly comment here, but if you bump into us (and maybe buy us a pint…), we could name a selection of brilliant pubs which we had never previously visited. Thanks go to all the Leicestershire branches for their excellent selections!
SOME STATISTICS
Total pubs visited 68 (67 plus The Flag at Castle Donington which we did walk past, even though it had permanently closed when we visited)
Buses used 132.
Ubers used 3.
Lifts 4,
Approx miles travelled 1160,
Shortest trip (Blaby) 1.1 miles
Longest trip (Bottesford round trip) 94.8 miles