The Victoria, Rugby

The Victoria is a nice looking wedged shaped pub that is away from the town centre. Once inside the narrow end of the pub is a public bar with a pool table in the middle and a couple of pumps on the bar,i decided to go into the lounge,this is a much larger oblong shaped room,there was some very comfy bench seating to the right which faced the bar and small stools,the room is carpeted,there were a couple of other small rooms off the main lounge to the right,i did'nt look in these rooms. There was a very good selection of real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Atomic Fusion which was a very nice well kept beer,the other beers i noted were Atomic Spectrum /Dark Matter,Milestone Loxley Ale,Abbeydale Deception and Hook Norton bitter,there were many more i failed to note. This is a very pleasant pub,one i could stay in for a session. Pub visited 12/7/2014

Great looking anvil shaped pub reminiscent of the Baltic Fleet in Liverpool. The sister pub to the Alexandra Arms, both owned by Atomic brewery. The first part of the bar you come to is effectively the tap room and has a dominant pool table. The other rooms cannot be accessed from this room, you need to enter through the next doorway further along the same street. This area has a comfortable lounge and snug. A good range of ales including two from Atomic alongside a large number of guests. I tried two of them and both were in excellent condition. A very good pub and one I'll visit again when in Rugby. Quite rightly listed in the CAMRA GBG 2014.

This is a great, multi-roomed traditional pub run by the Atomic Brewery who operate out of the Alexandra Arms. The pub has a corner location which has given it a wedge shape, most notable in the public bar which you access through the corner door. There are some lovely decorative windows with heavy red curtains, a few old pictures on the walls and access to the servery on the back wall. The room is dominated by the pool table and a TV screen was on showing a 24 hour news channel. To access the rest of the pub, you need to head back outside and enter through the door further along Lower Hillmorton Road. This takes you into a carpeted lounge with a larger bar to the left under a stained glass canopy and with a mirrored bar back and decent looking counter. The room has some fancy wallpaper for decoration, although this was fighting for attention with copious amounts of World Cup bunting that didn't do the room any favours. Some long, comfy banquettes run around the front corner, back wall and opposite the bar and there were some back editions of the Good Beer Guide propped up behind them. The decorative windows are in evidence here too, with stained glass arcs above them and there were a couple of TV screens, again showing rolling news. To the right, a door leads into a small room with bare boards, a nice fireplace and anaglypta walls, where you can find some limited bench and low stool seating, a collection of Atomic pump clips and various CAMRA certificates. One final room, denoted 'Snug' on the stained glass door, can be accessed from here. There are standard tables and chairs within, a fireplace with an oval mirror above and a dartboard. The walls are decorated with framed covers of 'Illustrated London News' and there is an unusual two part M&B sign on show as well. To the rear, there is a rather basic concrete garden with a smoking shelter at the far end. The bar was well stocked, with a long row of hand pumps offering Atomic Strike and Fusion, Allgates Napoleon's Return and Pretoria, Hook Norton Hooky, Blakemere Gold and Hit & Run, Wold Top Anglers Return and Milestone Lionheart, plus Old Rosie cider. I tried the Anglers Return which was an enjoyable pint. This place has the winning combination of a classic, traditional interior and a strong range of well kept ale that makes it an essential port of call when in town. I thought this was arguably the most attractive pub visited on our Rugby crawl and could imagine enjoying a good, long session in here.

Multi-roomed gem that is the sister pub of the Alexandra (both owned by the Atomic brewery). Tight, wedge-shaped corner pub with attractive (if somewhat fading) red white and blue external livery. Two rooms are served by a single bar, with a couple of other rooms accessed to the rear side. It appears that a number of original features remain in situ. Look out for the stained glass window uppers. Rugby theme prevails, with a number of framed pictures to the rear. A plethora of ales available - I sampled one from Atomic which was in good nick. Darts and pool noted. To the rear is a basic patio. Make sure you do this one.