Den Engel, Leek

Den Engel is a shop converted Belgian beer venue with front and rear bars that are tended by a central serving area that was being run by an extremely friendly women, no sign of any grumpy old men during a recent Tuesday evening visit. The front bar has open plan standard furniture that runs along floor to ceiling windows that look onto the passing high street. The rear bar is wallpapered with intimate tables, it was empty in here so I stayed in the front. The toilets are reached downstairs past a window that looks into the cellar under the bar upstairs. Most of the ample beers available are not suited to a pub crawl, so I went for half a Bolleke Amber Ale that came in a nice branded glass. I liked it in here, but I’m a bit of a guzzler so I can’t stay in these bars for too long.

A specialist Belgian beer bar in a market town is certainly unusual, and one also offering a couple of real ales doubly so. Anyway, it features two separate bars with a central servery, plus a side dining room on the route between the two, all decorated in a light café-bar style. I went for Arbor's Mosaic (£4.10), one of the cask offerings, with the other coming from Dancing Duck, but at least 11 continental beers were available on draught (at a price).