West End Girl…In Coalville

(spot the pub gaffer!) 

I have just read the dreadfully sad news about pub legend Alan Winfield and would like to dedicate this post to him because this is the sort of pub he would have caught a bus all the way from Stapleford for.

https://neverendingpubcrawl.blogspot.com/2018/07/my-top-five-pubs.html

I’m not sure if you can get the bus from Coalville to Nottingham but, in a town of ‘estate pubs,’ this is undoubtedly the estate pub of Coalville.

One of the doyens of pub blogging, Alan’s crawls are legendary not only for the volume of ale but also the areas he ventures into and, whilst this place most definitely is earthy, it is also a boozer that hit the spot for me.

I’m pretty sure fellow bloggers Martin, Si, Dunc and Mudgie would warm to this place as well, whilst Rich would love the craft selection available.

249 – West End Bar LE67 3LF is the boozer in question and on the Ashby Road that runs through Coalville into the town centre.  It’s a real warren of houses and backstreets with new and old housing stock vying for attention along with a chip shop, corner shop and bikers shop.

The write up on whatpub is none too promising though as the only description of this boozer is that of having “two large dogs welcome customers to this Coalville attraction.”

A lack of photographic evidence still leaves you wondering, but that LE67 postcode has some belting bars and this is clearly another one you can have a right royal knees up at. Plus, I only spotted one small, cuddly mutt!

A quick peek at their FB page shows a boozer that supports lots of local causes and a gaffer who clearly cares.

https://www.facebook.com/mandz.brooks/videos/pcb.10214461832971062/10214461810010488/?type=3&theater

She was serving behind the bar when I walked in at about half four on a Tuesday and in the absence of any cask I ordered a Creamflow (Worthington) and immediately warmed to the bar banter

There were four blokes at the bar and one of them asked me what I’d had.  I told him it was a Worthington and he said “is this your first time here?”

When I replied yes he said with a glint in his eye “Drink it, tell her it’s no good and get her to pour you another one!”

The gaffer steamed straight back in with a response and another bloke was chuckling at the bar said “Welcome to the West End”

The local punters were friendly and it’s a classic big boozer inside with bench seating, beermats, two pool tables, a dart board and a big screen, which was playing Magic FM during my time there and UB40 “Kingston Town” came on, which suited this place perfectly.

There is loads of Leicester City memorabilia around the pub and a fantastic array of England flags, even three days after our World Cup exploits had finished.  It’s also a pub that is putting some TLC into its surroundings with the bloke who said “Welcome to The West End” proceeding to go outside for half an hour and water the hanging baskets.

I had a good chat with the gaffer who said “Come back again,” and I found the place, like all local boozers, friendly and funny, as long as you are looking to enjoy yourself.

The banter continued at the bar about the Creamflow, even though one of the other punters was drinking it and one of the other boys was threating to show off his physique by lifting up his top to the gaffer who took it all in her stride and chuckled.

As with all good Coalville pubs the language isn’t for the faint-hearted, but this is your classic local boozer and obviously attracting in enough punters in this part of town to be a success.

There are cover bands, discos, pool teams and they have fund raised cash for worthwhile causes, SSAFA as well as Alzheimer’s, so there is clearly a supportive band of people drinking here and that can only be  a good thing.

A proper local in a no nonsense location with people happy to chat and generally have a good time…sounds like a good recipe to me.

I’ll raise a glass to you Alan #pubman.