Cow & Plough, Leicester

This pub on the fringes of Oadby, is the home of the Steaming Billy brewery and occupies a large old farm building on what now appears to be a small light industrial estate/retail park. The building is very long and split into two halves lengthways, with the first entrance taking you into the main bar area. This is a long, narrow room with a high gabled ceiling and a relatively short bar counter midway through the room. The bar has a pastel shaded counter and simple bar back flanked by two lovely old Ind Coope lamps. Bench and chair seating options are available opposite the bar under the front windows, with stained and etched glass partitioning screens bearing the brewery name and logo creating some semblance of privacy. Either side of the bar there are some deep padded chairs available, all offering good spots to admire the breweriana on display throughout the room including a huge Hoskins and Oldfield mirror next to some nice old Bass and Sam Smith's signs and a large picture of a cow. There is a nice old 'Vaults' window at one end of the room, clearly lifted from elsewhere, a satisfying collection of soda fountains and various bits of earthenware on show. It all adds up to a quirky feel, aided by the antler light shades and ceiling beams covered in more Ind Coope memorabilia, with only a single TV screen offering any sort of alternative visual distraction. To the left of the main entrance there is a long restaurant area with lots of tables pre-set and reserved for Sunday diners. It is a similar shape to the main bar and has some fantastic old pub signs for the likes of the Guido Inn and the Rose & Shamrock hung from the beams. A second bar can be found to the rear of the main servery, with it's own counter. The room has a lower ceiling and a lot more seating under additional breweriana including shelves full of bottles, barrels and the like. The room was also hosting a stag do group, so I gave it a wide berth and instead went to admire the fine collection of pub signs in the corridor leading to the toilets, including an old Tolly Cobbold sign and one for the Cow and Plough. Pop music played in the background throughout my stay but sanctuary was available for those unable to stomach it, thanks to a plentiful supply of outdoor seating options. I was expecting the full range of Steaming Billy beers on the bar, but only Billy and Skydiver were on, supplemented by guests in the form of Brains Reverend James, Rudgate Ruby Mild, Windsor & Eton Guardsman and Belvoir Whipling. I tried the Billy, which took about ten minutes to pour thanks to a barrel change earlier in the day which had left it so lively that filling a glass appeared to be almost impossible. Thankfully it was in pretty good shape, but the barman was pretty gruff, vanishing without warning for a good five minutes midway through the fiasco and offering no apology for the long wait. Thankfully the beer was pretty good but had I not made such an effort to get here, I would've been tempted to give up and try somewhere else. Putting that aside, I really liked this place and thought it was a well thought through venture offering something a little bit different from your average pub experience with the bonus of some decent beer brewed on site. I'm not sure how comfortable the high ceilings and stone floors would be on a cold winter's night, but on a hot summer's day it was a great place to stop off for a pint or two and I was very glad I made the effort to get out here.