The Western, West End, Leicester

Enjoyed our visit to this friendly pub. We chose beers from Hook Norton and Highland / Swannay breweries which were fine. There is a bar and lounge, plus a beer garden, and there are a lot of old pub signs forming a lot of the decor. There is a theatre upstairs here.

Official site of The Western - steamin-billy.co.uk

Official site of The Western - steamin-billy.co.uk

A short walk from the city centre, this is a pleasant two bar pub run by the local Steamin’ Billy brewery. Entering through the lobby, doors lead into separate bars on either side of the pub. On the right hand side is the main bar which has bare floorboards and some decent banquette seating formed into small booths along the wall opposite the servery. There was a TV screen on one wall, but it was turned off during our stay. A connecting corridor at the rear leads past a flight of stairs which give access to a small theatre, and into the left hand side of the pub, signposted as the Theatre Bar. This room is partly carpeted and has standard table and chair arrangements with a couple of old settles here and there. There is a dartboard available and the walls are nicely decorated with a mix of old adverts and pub signs. Out the back there is a garden area where several more pub signs are on display. Three Steamin’ Billy beers – Tipsy Fisherman, Bitter and Skydiver – were on alongside Everards Yakima, Hilden Barney’s Brew, Abbeydale Dark Side and Oldershaw Academy. I gave the latter a try and thought it was pretty good – all the more so thanks to the unexpected CAMRA discount offered to all PuG crawlers by the genial barman. I enjoyed the visit to this pub and thought it was worth deviating slightly from the city centre pub circuit in order to take it in. The friendly staff and decent beer range make this a good addition to any pub crawl.

An impressive-looking building that has survived in the redeveloped backstreets in the De Montfort University area and as such often has a younger crowd in. However our visit found the place fairly quiet on a Friday afternoon outside term-time with some piped rock music providing background. Taken over by the Steamin Billy Brewery a few years back (presumably with assistance from Everards ‘Project William’ judging by the presence of their beers). Two rooms served by a single bar with three Steamin Billy plus Everards and a couple of guests. My Steamin Red was in good nick and we were given a CAMRA discount of 20p a pint which I assume is the norm here. Service was jovial and prompt. The walls are decorated with brewerania plus a number of old pub signs including, interestingly, a Wetherspoons one. Décor is fairly plain, with unfussy wood flooring and furniture with some fabric covered banquettes. There was also a fire which looked like a proper one to me. However, it’s not particularly homely in other respects. There’s a theatre upstairs according to the signs though I didn’t explore there. A good pub for the area and worth taking in as part of an extended crawl.

A solid looking Victorian pub close to the western bank of the River Soar ,there are two bars,one names The Theatre Bar with a performance area upstairs.On the otherside is a wooden floored tap room with 3 handpumps featuring Steaming Billy brews while the other bar has five guest ales.There was a friendly welcome from the barman and a blanket CAMRA 20p discount for all the PuG team.The furniture was unfussy but there didn't seem to be many original features.Quieter than the city centre pubs,I thought the ale range was decent and my pint of Tipsy Fisherman was in good order.Often in the GBG,worth including on a crawl around the city.

A friendly pub from the Steaming Billy brewery in the backstreets beyond the Grand Union canal. The room on the right was the busier of the two; we trekked round to the other via a narrow passage leading to the loos and, judging by the aroma, there's seems a possibility that not everyone's got there in time! Not pleasant. As for the beer, I was pleasantly surprised to see Long Man Brewery (of Sussex)'s American Pale Ale on the bar, but we'd come for the house ales. We opted for the weakest of the range (Tipsy Fisherman); while ok, it failed to greatly excite. In summary, then: worth a visit if you're in the area but would I trek out of the city centre next time? I'm not sure.