The Black Swan / Dirty Duck, Rugby

The Duck has long been a mainstay of Rugby drinking and although much has changed from the days of open fires and an open roof in the Gents, interesting on a snowy evening, it retained some of the quirkiness and character as well described below. That has now all changed as it has undergone a major refurbishment which has seen a complete remodelling of the interior with the bar being moved further back and the decor and furnishings now calling to mind something between a low rent cocktail bar and a 'spoons. The walls are adorned with screens which were showing indeterminate footy on my early evening visit. There is a large outside drinking area with various heaters for the winter smokers. Beers on were Deuchars IPA, Doom Bar and Byatts Golden Imp and Coventry Bitter. My 5 point rating is all for stocking these two beers from a local, Coventry, brewery. Prior to the refurbishment the pedestrian beer range had long since rendered my visits irregular at best, given the better alternatives in town. I don't see that altering.

The Black Swan is a decent looking white painted pub that is on a narrow street in the middle of Rugby. Once inside there was an L shaped room with the bar facing,the ceilng was low and beamed giving the pub a cosy feel,the seating was a mix of normal tables and chairs and some bench seating,there is a Northants skittles table to the rear right,there was a smarter raised area behind the bar. There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Rugby brewery Union which was a decent proper bitter,the other beer was Hook Norton Old Hookey. There was a mix of drinkers and diners in on my Saturday afternoon visit. I quite liked this pub. Pub visited 12/7/2014

The Black Swan, or Dirty Duck as it is affectionately known locally, is a decent looking pub with a bit of a rural feel to it, thanks to the low beam ceiling and wooden pillars throughout, although some interior designer has sadly heaped on the bland factor, leaving it looking like a bog standard town centre pub which happens to have a low beam ceiling. The layout is centred around what is effectively an island servery, with a mismatch of seating areas around it. The front section seemed as good as anywhere to settle down for a drink, with bench and standard in a smart woodblock floored area. To the left there is a carpeted space with a low fireplace on the end wall and a decent looking wine display where you might otherwise expect the servery to be. The rear part of the pub is on a lower level to the front and has some comfy seating options, TV screens, a dartboard and a skittles table. Completing the circuit round to the right hand side of the room, high tables and stools offer additional seating and a pinball table can be found. There is a large partly covered patio and garden area to the back of the pub and a roof terrace as well, unexplored on this visit. There were three handpulls in operation when we arrived, dispensing Hook Norton Hooky, Wychwood Hobgoblin and Brains Rev James. I rather inexplicably opted for the Hobgoblin which was pretty average and others on the crawl were less than complimentary about their chosen brews. The barman endured a bit of gentle ribbing about the three mainstream ale choices, but he took it in fairly good humour (I think!). This was the last pub of a sizable crawl around town which started with the better pubs before descending into the 'best of the rest', so perhaps I would've felt more favourably towards this place had I caught it earlier in the day. As it stands, I thought it falls some way short of the standards set by Rugby's top pubs, but it's certainly not a write off. One to keep an eye on maybe.

I didn't really take to this place, didn't quite do what it said on the can,initially looks ok on the interior but its all a little sterile and dare I say has a slightly fake feel about it. The beers were uninspiring in choice, Hobgoblin, Reverend James, and Old Hooky ,the latter being my choice and average at best.I wouldn't target this pub as part of a crawl on this form.