Coalville Completists Club

I can’t imagine there are too many members of the CCC amongst the pub blogging fraternity.  Although Alan Winfield probably did it in half a day to be honest and then finished off Whitwick and Ibstock in the afternoon.

Mark might have been to most Coalville  pubs on his travels and Brad has probably been turned away from a lot of them after they presumed he’s a sky sports inspector.  Martin, Duncan and Si would have visited all of them had they been in the GBG but, as the new ruling states, “only pubs with at least six different hand pumps on and with opening hours of less than three hours per week shall be considered from 2019 onwards.”

Rich wouldn’t go anywhere near any boozers in Coalville whereas Mudgie and Paul might have been in the CCC had a Beer & Pubs Forum Day out all day session classic pub visit occurred, but the lack of a train station vetoed that idea.

A lack of nearby canals in Coalville ruled out Pete whilst Paul WME is primarily West Midlands Exploration guru, so I reckon this is a bit too far east for him.

Citra and Garden Hermit need a passport to leave Hampshire whist Dick and Dave weren’t let through customs at Coalville Airport whereas Russ couldn’t get past the Canadian authorities due to his many misdemeanours.

Of course it would be remiss of me not to mention the Wickingman who refused to enter all but this final boozer due to a Bass shortage.

Looking back at Coalville – the pinnacle of LE67 – then there have been some classic pubs in the past 21 months such as drinking in the Stamford & Warrington where I was served a fantastic pint of Pedigree by a man in a purple vest.

A Bob Flemming sound alike in The Monkey Walk along with Coalville Town scarves in The Snibstone New Inn and drinks called Asbos and Chavs in the Bitter and Twisted.

A Keg only treat at the very earthy West End Bar whilst the edgiest of the lot was The Engineers Arms with a youthful lively crowd.  Of course, not forgetting the fairly poor Victoria Bikers Pub with overpriced underwhelming cask beer.

Anyway, enough of this preamble, I finished with a classic and Coalville’s only Bass House 403 – The Leicester Inn LE67 3JA.

It’s situated on the London Road in Coalville just on the edge of the town centre and is a proper builders/plumbers/sparkies boozer as the place was buzzing with orange and green fluorescent jackets when I arrived at around 5pm on a Thursday.

A lively atmosphere and I thought it was Creamflow on this occasion but then I saw the red triangle and the only cask option was Bass.

It was hot and I wasn’t optimistic but you can’t refuse Bass and even the bar blockers moved to one side let me in…

Wham followed by Queen were on in the background and the conversation was raucous and funny but people were friendly enough.

A two roomer with at least two dart boards, a pool table and I noted an Elvis tribute had been on the previous Saturday.

It was clean and well kept and, that is why the Bass had a better than even chance of being top class.

Rich had left his calling card scrawled on the wall in the toilets but it felt like a town centre local with that post work 4-5 buzz that proper pubs have.

I went onto the beer patio and a bloke acknowledged the fellers on the next table and sat next to me.  When I said “It’s hot” he replied “Yes, it’s really f****g hot.  I mean really f*****g hot mate.”

He then lay back closed his eyes and let the Strongbow work its magic before restarting the conversation again.

“I tell you what pal, it’s so f*****g hot, I can’t believe it.  You’re right. It is f*****g roasting.”

I could sense this conversation had probably run its course when he shut his eyes again and I wandered back inside, but it was a friendly place and the Bass was good.  I repeat the Bass was good.  Not as good as The Railway Tavern in Ashby but definitely good enough to make me want to drink Cask again if it was my first ever pint!

The old adage of less is more is definitely true here and whilst I didn’t see anyone else on the Bass there are clearly people drinking it as it’s in good nick.  Three mums with their pushchairs arrived and it was just a fantastic mix of Coalville people enjoying a pint.

What a town!