The Twisted Trout, Oakham

A nice imposing stone pub on the bend in the A606 at the village of Empingham. A slight change from the previous reviews in that the room to the left (which I presume was the lounge bar) has now been converted into a coffee shop but with layout still very lounge bar like. This means that the main bar is now to the right in the room which does more resemble a dining room and then there is an additional wooden floored dining room with fire place and flat screen tele beyond this. The corridor between the lounge and the other rooms may well be used as an additional seating space but not sure as it was being used for the buffet for a wake on our midweek lunchtime visit. Still four hand pumps on the right hand bar section but now only two available at any time and the other two with the dreaded ‘coming soon’ labels, which I didn’t notice until getting all excited about Oakham Inferno And Dancing Duck Brewery Ay Up. Fortunately, Baker's Dozen Brewing Co. Phantom Session IPA and Hopshackle Brewery Special Bitter were the two that were actually on. We tried both and they were decent, as was their lunchtime Ciabatta’s, which we enjoyed along with the ales on one of the bench tables on the green in front of the pub. I’m not sure if the more comfortable coffee shop lounge room reverts back to a lounge for the pub when the coffee shop is shut. If not then it’s largely the wooden table and chairs seating internally.

A large two-roomer of a place which seems to be veering towards being a posh diner. Nice décor if somewhat twee; dark blue walls, animal print pew seating, various rustic prints on the walls. Noted that the quasi Burberry carpet needed a clean. A surprise to see four pumps all clipped; Sharps Doom Bar, Tim Taylor Landlord, Castle Rock Harvest Pale (warm and listless) and Grainstore Rutland Bitter (so-so). Didn’t see much here to inspire a revisit, really.

The White Horse is a nice looking stone built pub that has got quite a long frontage. Once inside the pub had a few different rooms,we had a drink in the lounge which was to the right,this room was oblong in shape and had two large stone pillars which divided the room up,the seating was bench type and normal tables and chairs,there was a decent looking square shaped bar to the left and two dining rooms to the rear one was up a few steps. There were four real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Grainstore Rutland bitter which went down well,the other beers were Oakham JHB,Castle Rock Harvest Pale and Taylor Landlord. The pub was quite busy with families dining,there was also a decent amount of drinkers. This is quite a nice pub with a good choice of real ales on the bar. Pub visited 19/10/2013