Sapphire, Leicester

I came to this pub with no real expectations and was pleased to find an excellent two bar ale house that probably turned out to be my favourite of an extended crawl around the city. The main front entrance takes you into the main bar, which is carpeted with half panelled walls and some decent banquette and standard seating. The servery area is surprisingly small, beyond which there is a bar billiards table with a TV screen suspended above. A framed Leicester Tigers shirt was proudly displayed on one wall (their stadium being just a short walk down the road) and there is a collection of whiskey boxes on a ledge above the servery. A second bar can be accessed via a side entrance or through a connecting passageway at the back of the main bar. This room was also carpeted with similar banquettes and a few low stools. A dartboard was hung on one wall and the room seemed to be a bit brighter and more comfortable than the main bar. A small paved beer garden can be accessed from the connecting passageway, as can the toilets, which boasted some snazzy modern tiling, a bit out of keeping with the rest of the pub. The line of hand pumps, some of which were double clipped to indicate beers served from the second bar, offered one of the widest ale selections we encountered in the city. The choice on our visit comprised Batemans XB, Oakham JHB and Bishops Farewell, Brewsters Sadie the Goat, Tunnel Trade Winds, Wentworth APA, Salamander X-Ray Zulu, Kelham Island 45 rpm and Grainstore Rutland Panther. I sampled the APA, which was in fine shape and admired the sound range of bottled beer available in the fridges. A good value pub grub menu was also in evidence. There is much to recommend about this pub and I’m shocked to see that it didn’t even make the top five of the Leicester CAMRA pub of the Year 2013 awards. Pub of the day for me and top of the list for my next trip to Leicester.

Another visit to this excellent Ale house and the five double clipped pumps in the back room are a sight for sore eyes on a chilly day. So much so that it seems that it completely distracted me from noticing the bar billiards table in the main room before and have walked straight past it to get to the back room on previous visits. And as on previous visits, Oakham Ales along with Bateman's and Grainstore offerings are to the fore, but good to see Brewsters Sadie the Goat, Kelham Island 45RPM and Salamander X-Ray Zulu complementing these. And both I tried were on fine form. A must visit when in Leicester IMHO.

A classic ale house ,wedge shaped with the entrance at the apex.The main bar room has a bar billiards,a drinking ledge at the front and a few tables and chairs dotted about.There is a listing of 10 real ales,with Oakham seemingly a regular contributor to the range.My Bishop's Farewell was in fine condition. I particularly liked the back room with it's own bar access,a large curved banquette and a darts board.It seemed a calmer area ,due in part to the PuG crawlers congregating on the other side to watch the bar billiards. There were some inexpensive rolls to be had ,and from what I saw this pub should always been on a list if engaging in beer tourism in Leicester.It's been a GBG regular for years.