Final Piece In The Whitwick Jigsaw

Isn’t very good alliteration I know but you try and make a blog post title out of Whitwick…

Martin made a great point in the last comments section, which leads me to believe CAMRA may have be infiltrated by members of the IOC.

I’ve long argued that sports such as darts are equally as worthy of a place in the Olympics as the likes of shooting, archery and cycling.

I reckon it is pure snobbery and Baron Pierre De Coubertain opened a can of worms with me over century ago when he made his choices!

In fact, I reckon it should be pitching for the Commonwealth Games as can you imagine Darts at the 2022 event in Brum?

It wouldn’t cost anything as they could all turn up at The Bull Ring Tavern and it’s almost a guaranteed gold for England or Scotland to boot!

However, as Martin and his fellow GBG tickers travel every corner of the UK in search of Utopia (or a Brunning & Price pub) he has noted that he can’t recall any boozers in the GBG that have had a darts match going on during his sessions visits.

Which kind of fits with the fact that a lot of solid local boozers are no longer making it into the GBG but not that 452 – The Lady Jane LE67 5PH seem overly concerned.

This is a bona fide estate pub tucked away off the main drag in Whitwick and a welcome return for the most coveted of all postcode addresses on this blog; LE67.

It’s also the final piece of the Whitwick jigsaw after joining the Coalville Completists Club earlier this year so it’s a moment to be savoured.

There are thousands of chimney pots nearby so this place is definitely a locals’ boozer and it was a classic 60s/70s build.

I half expected Rod Stewart’s “Baby Jane” to be blasting out when I walked in but no such luck…

 

A huge bar and separate lounge with the added bonus of not only a dart board, but two pool tables at the back of the room.

It had not long opened just after 5 on a Thursday and as well as all the aforementioned, The Lady Jane also had the obligatory ‘man sitting at the bar’ and the latest addition to estate boozers…The Chase!

(oh look..a quiz machine too)

More often than not, even in pubs with Sky Sports, you will find The Chase compulsive viewing for punters in some boozers as ‘man sitting at the bar’ was shouting out answers on a regular basis.

However, the other staple in an estate pub, ‘man in a Hi-Viz jacket’ appeared and had been camping and was sharing his tales of windswept woe and pictures with his pals and the atmosphere was just warming up.

(I reckon this place is very lively Fri-Sun)

He sounded like yet another exiled Brummie and was in good form regaling all with his damp squib few days…a modern day slideshow if you like that you had to watch in the seventies at your Uncle John’s house.

(lacings)

It’s very much a Leicester City boozer and there is often a misconception that backstreet/estate pubs don’t have much demand for cask.  That’s not the case in LE67 and I spoke to the landlady who said the Shy Giant (Ringwood) had sold really well the night before so I thought why not?  I could have and Pedigree as well but this was absolute nectar.

It might well have been the first one out the traps but it was an absolute corker of a pint and I reckon, on the strength of that pint, this could well be a contender for 2021.

Unlikely I suspect but good to see a landlady who looks after her pub as both inside and out was tidy and as well as your obligatory darts and pool teams it also runs a possible future Olympic sport with guns and pellets!

I often say (well, not that often) that 99% of the people 99% of the time are spot on and this place was no different with no one bothering and a “see you later” from a couple of the punters as I left.

A cracking local pub that is well worth a visit….

Is there a better pub postcode in the Midlands?  In Britain?  On the Planet?