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Grand Union, Leicester
Leicester
LE1 6RL
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about Grand Union
The Grand Union is a long and thin pub with a small carpeted seating area in the window to the right of the main entrance off King Street. Parquet flooring leads to the bar on the left-hand wall and booth seating up the right. Some steps at the rear lead up to a small seating area and the toilets. Televisions are located throughout, muted Coronation Street was on during my recent midweek evening visit. There were lots of Six Nations rugby advertisements, so I’m guessing there is no Sky Sports here. Background music was playing. The bar supports standard and premium keg and the friendly staff were in discussions regarding drinks promotions for the upcoming weekend. Alas, it would seem that the previous owners have moved on, as has the passion for real ale. This is a bar geared towards the weekend so is of little interest to me.
On 6th March 2023
- rating: 4
[User has posted 5251 recommendations about 5219 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Broood @ VinQuatre
A husband and wife team run this pub and we had the honour of meeting both of them serving behind the bar on our Saturday eve visit. We found the two of them to be welcoming and chatty. They both share a good passion about real ale and they even went down to the cellar to let us try Intrepid Brewery Myrce 5.8%, which was settling there. The beer was so good I had to send them down to the cellar twice. Seven ales on handpump on our visit, also tried was the Intrepid IPA, which was also excellent.
On 27th September 2017
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Broood @ VinQuatre
This place used to be a free house specialising in real ales called Out of the Vaults before it closed in 2009. It has been without ale ever since, until in 2016 the place was taken over by the Broood team who also own the old Prince of Wales pub in Hinckley. We now have a modern beer bar with a pub-cum-cafe vibe in a premises that is deceptively bigger than you first expect. Steps at the entrance take you up into a bare boarded room with a zigzag layout determined by the positioning of furniture and partitioning walls in an otherwise narrow but deep room. The front part of the room is nice and bright thanks to the light let in through the large windows with their etched panes bearing the pub's awkward name in full. High tables and stools are the main form of seating along with a drinking ledge to the left under a mirror and Jackson Pollock style painting. To the right there are a series of padded benches formed into booths and behind them there is a huge cable spool which acts as a mid height table with garden furniture around it. There is a note on the spool asking people to graffiti it, so there were some amusing jokes, doodles and the like scrawled on it - the sort of humour you normally find on the toilet walls. Some standard tables and chairs appear on the other side of the room under another large plain mirror with a TV to one side showing a muted sports channel above another Pollock inspired piece. The servery is to the rear right with a grey counter, plain bar back and canopy lined with fairy lights. A few more high tables and stools can be found opposite the bar under some art prints and beyond there are sofas and some retro chairs offering comfier seating options. The whole place has half panelled walls and is painted in pastel shades, which makes it feel a bit uniform and lacking in character - a feeling which may change as the place settles down over time. Background music was playing unobtrusively throughout my visit and I noticed some pizza menus with a 9" pizza costing £5.50.
There were six beers and six ciders on the bar plus three keg beers from continental Europe and the US. The cask options were North Riding Hunter's Dream and Nue, XT Mild, Instant Karma Brew 2, Ship & Mitre Silhouette and Pig & Porter Skylarking Session IPA. I'm not likely to turn down a beer that references XTC, so I asked the friendly barman for a pint of the Skylarking Session IPA, which turned out to be a pretty decent example of the style.
This place rather reminded me of one of Leicester's former ale houses, 'The Pub' - a place with a real focus on the beer but lacking a bit in terms of character and comfort. There is potential for this place to be a must-do on the Leicester pub circuit, but as it stands, I thought it was worthy of a quick visit without doing enough to encourage a longer stay.
On 12th July 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
paulof horsham left this review about Out of the Vaults
Now called "Vin IV".
Somewhat gloomy inside, and the gents aren't the best, but it does have a large number of (fully-utilised) handpumps, as well as occasional festivals. The staff are knowledgeable, friendly & enthusiastic.
On 2nd June 2009
- rating: 8
[User has posted 453 recommendations about 425 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Vin IV
[review originally posted as Out of the Vaults incarnation]
Excellent real ale outlet in a beautiful location (well at the New Walk end anyway), has a lot to choose from and the prices are very cheap too. The interior is a bit dark and basic. I prefer the Criterion for atmosphere if I'm out for a beer early on, I think this place is better later in the day.
[Edit: this venue is now closed and it's new incarnation 'The Pub' is but a few yards away up New Walk]
On 30th July 2006
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5096 recommendations about 5079 pubs]