Motorhead Micros In Loughborough

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A festive filler here as I’m catching up on my notes and this also gives me an opportunity to compare my views with the doyen of all things pub blogging –  https://twitter.com/NHS_Martin

A recent visit to Loughborough for Martin saw him, I sensed, becoming somewhat jaded with the avalanche of new Micropubs in the GBG.

https://retiredmartin.com/2017/11/19/loughborough-lacings/

Whilst Martin is far more cosmopolitan than I am jetting off to exotic parts of Britain such as Maidenhead, Slough and Crawley in order to complete his never-ending GBG quest I am a much more parochial soul.

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The rules of my blog are only that it must be in the Midlands and whilst that means I can stretch from Bromyard to Burslem, it does mean I can go into any boozer I like.

Therefore, if I chance upon a Micropub (I am campaigning to call them small pubs) or an Ember Inn then the likelihood is, I’ve not been to one for a while whereas RM needs to weave his magic (and it really is) to ensure his blogs are an essential read.  He even turned down the Waggon and Horses in Digbeth due to its shock omission from this year’s GBG!

So, in Loughborough on a Thursday evening at about 7pm, I thought I should do the right thing and check out 121 – The Needle And Pin LE11 5BG.

Arguably the biggest talking point in The Needle And Pin wasn’t about the beer and that for me, is always the sign of a decent boozer.

Firstly, there were male and female toilets so, under Richard’s  guidelines, https://twitter.com/RichardColdwell, this is actually a ‘proper pub!’  The bloke’s loo also had a Motorhead poster with supporting band Fester And The Vomits and I can honestly say that is the first time I’ve been into a pub with a Fester And The Vomits poster.

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With the upstairs a shrine to music and the opportunity to put a bit of vinyl on then this has a bit more to offer than your average micro.

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The bar staff were top class, friendly and happy to recommend a pint of unrefined Mad Squirrel (Berkhopstead) which was as excellent as when Martin visited.

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The vagaries of pub life are such that it was empty for around ten minutes on a Thursday but, by quarter past seven a group of six people came in (and piled upstairs) then a couple, then two mates, then another bloke on his own and all of a sudden there were as a decent atmosphere.  What struck me most of all about The Needle And Pin was the amount of beards on show!

All the bar staff were sporting Mile Jedinak style beards and then one of the punters arrived with a dread style beard and it all looked very middle class.

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No problem with that whatsoever and I wondered if Micro pubs are arguably more middle class than traditional working class boozers?  Have they morphed into social clubs/working men’s clubs whereas more pubs are becoming gastro and micro?  Or could I go into a Micropub in another part of the country and find it is an old skool style place?

Nonetheless, I like this place and a Chester Bennington beermat augments Martin’s Glen Campbell beermat on his visit and whilst you are unlikely to find a Hi-viz jacket in this place, it is most definitely a warm and welcoming boozer.

10B - Needle And Pin Loughborough

 

 

Published by lifeafterfootball839

A man looking to visit as many pubs as possible in the Midlands and prove that the great British boozer is alive and kicking!

12 thoughts on “Motorhead Micros In Loughborough”

  1. At first micropubs modelled on the first one stuck to the prescribed approach – no music, keg beer, spirits etc. The second wave sometimes comply and sometimes not with that ethos so many are indeed just small bars, often in shop fronts. Nothing wrong with that for me though it blurs attempts at definition. I liked the Needle and Pin and thought beer quality there was very good. Like the Bromyard to Burslem self-imposed restriction!

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  2. Oooh! This is a good one. Requiring a bit of inward looking and deep soul searching and a great deal of socio-econo-political thinking too. Basically the micro thing seems to be the bastion of middle age folk like ‘ourselves’, who like a good pint and possess some personal musical heritage, think late 60’s early 70’s to (?) mid 80’s. Often folk who, for a variety of reasons, have become displaced from a lot of so called mainstream pubs – I might call a lot of these old fashioned. Many of these folk, like myself came from a working class background, and still consider themselves, via these roots, to be working class. Take myself for instance; however someone looking at my professional background, my place and rank within my chosen profession and my all round circumstances, would probably deem me middle class. I don’t think Martin would mind me saying that he fits this bill nicely too? There are others in the ‘beer blogging world’. Thing is, I still don’t see myself as middle class and I don’t want to be middle class, but I have probably transformed into the very essence of what I don’t want to be without realising. Net result, total beer snob. People like me are setting micro pubs up all over, resisting anything like a mainstream pilsner variant and sticking a good 50p, or more, on the price of a pint (comparative to other local hostelries) with the sole intention of maintaining the ‘middle class’ atmosphere they seek. Some would say, keeping the riff-raff out! I have direct verbal evidence from proprietors of this happening, in some excellent venues, and do you know what? The hypocrite that I am actually welcomes this. And all this is at total variance to the type of pub that you and I regularly comment upon. I told you it needed some soul searching and I’m still looking for the new soul brothers – I just can’t find them anywhere

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  4. With regards to working class vs. middle class, may I proffer a slightly contrarian view (which does not mean I am in complete agreement with it).

    I think with the passing of the years, and prosperity (i.e. prosperity in the sense of being compared to many many years ago) the definition of ‘class’ has moved upwards on the scale of however each class is defined. In that sense then yes, we are technically working class. I won’t elaborate further (partly because my wife is eager to finish watching Season 4 of Peaky Blinders on Netflix) except to say this:

    Consider our definition of poor (or poverty perhaps). Nowadays that means someone who doesn’t have the latest phone or the biggest TV or fanciest fridge. But still, they have a fridge, phone and TV. If that’s poverty then perhaps we are still working class in a sense. 🙂

    Cheers!

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