The Horse, Loughborough

A bit sanded, modernised and anaemic for my tastes but nice enough and busy, with a mix of family diners and middle aged male drinkers (does that include me now?). The description below still stands, so I needn’t add to it in any meaningful manner. Three ales and my Bass was in good form (NBSS 3.5) – GK Abbot and one from Charnwood were the others. Handy for the bus back to Leicester, so I’ll likely drop by again. 6.5

We picked this one out for lunch on our way up to Derbyshire due to its accessibility from the M1 after reading the menu on their web site and making sure it had decent ales. Many thanks to the friend of the owners for his history and description of the pub below as it still largely stands. We sat in their modern dining room extension and the Horse may be one of the oldest pubs in Shepshed but there’s nothing of that remaining now and the rest of the interior including the lounge bar is all very clean and modern. You can see from the two remaining front doors and the large ceiling beam in the restaurant where the original two bar pub was before the extension was added. Fortunately it is still a pub, with a comfortable lounge area around the mentioned feature fireplace and the separate dining room with its own bar section and both sections of the bar has three hand pumps with four ales available ( one pump was double clipped) which for our visit were Draft Bass, Greene King Abbott, Sharps Twin Coast Session Pale Ale and the local Charnwood Brewery Salvation Golden Ale, and my Bass was perfectly decent. There is definitely a focus on food here and although we knew it was probably a cut above your normal pub fare, we were not prepared for how good the food was. Our criteria is always a pub that has decent real ales and does good food and the Horse delivered that in spades and the meals would not been out of place in a high quality restaurant. Of course, the price point was closer to a restaurant than your normal pub fayre, but the quality justified that and there was a lower price bar menu available as well for those that don’t want the restaurant experience. The service was fine but a little laid back. I got the impression that this is one where you need the time to enjoy the experience and not be in a hurry or under time pressure. So, if you are travelling up or down the M1 and want a decent place to stop for a quality lunch in a place that has a decent ale choice and are not in too much of a hurry, I can thoroughly recommend this one.

The Horse Shepshed (formerly known as the White Horse) is one of the oldest public houses in Shepshed, Leicestershire being close to ‘The National Forest in Charnwood’ & University Market Town of Loughborough just off of the M1 J23. The Horse Shepshed is a traditionally built, warm welcoming venue where you can enjoy a relaxing Restaurant & Bar experience with sometimes entertainment too! In 2014 the premises where taken over by two guys Lee & Lloyd with both having extensive backgrounds in Pub/Bar management and Catering and in preparation for the reopening making cosmetic appealing changes to the internal appearance and in keeping with the new name, to the bar & restaurant with greater emphasis on the restaurant side of things. These changes made an almost instant success for both sides of the business for local residents as well as people from further afield so much so that in 2015 a major complimentary extension to the premises was made. In April 2015 The Horse Shepshed re-opened with the extension almost doubling the original size using local contemporary stone giving a country air welcoming from the outside whilst inside using light oak suspended beams and a feature fireplace with wood burning stove for those cooler month days and nights plus varied bar furniture creating more space in the restaurant area to meet increasing demand. This Freehouse venue offers a good range of Beers, wines, spirits and cocktails with a varied menu to suit all tastes, price and ages, with friendly staff keen to meet all of your needs in ensuring you have a fine & enjoyable experience. All food is freshly prepared on the premises using produce where ever possible sourced locally and within a 5 mile radius of Shepshed.

This pub is on a busy road at the southern end of town it was a Marstons tied house,and it is now up for let. Photo taken 9/12/08