The Black Lion, Leighton Buzzard

Enjoyed our visit to this friendly 2019 Good Beer Guide pub entry where we found plenty of cask ales on offer. Elgoods Mortal Wombat and Cambridge Bitter, Nethergate Eons Milk Stout and Suffolk County, Butcombe Gold, Oakham Bishops Finger, Black Country BFG and Bass. If that is not enough choice over 100 bottled beers both British and Continental.

This place consists of a single room with a wooden floor and a peninsula bar. It's been more than well described below. It was packed on my early Thursday evening visit. The eight hand pumps had North Cotswold Tumbling Jack, Beartown Black Bear, Nethergate Five Rifles Red, Lincoln Green Hood, Windmill Deckhand, Partners Stout & About, Bass and Oakham Bishops Farewell. Sadly as noted below nothing from any local microbreweries. I went for the Bishops Farewell (£3.50) which was in good nick. I thought this was a good pub but not a great one.

A comfortable old fashioned pub with eight hand pumps crowded onto the small section of bar which is facing on entry. Round the corner is another section of bar with a board listing the beers, which is handy if bar leaners are obscuring the pump clips. The beer list is diverse, from many parts of the country between North Yorkshire and Cornwall, but on the occasion of my visit there was surprisingly nothing at all from local brewers. Local CAMRA Pub of the Year 2015.

Ably reviewed by the two correspondents below, this is an attractive looking pub at one end of the High Street, and consists of a single U-shape room wrapped around a central bar counter. Décor wise, it is quite cosy and traditional with a few black beams on the ceiling and dark wood panelling on the lower part of the walls with some pale yellow paintwork elsewhere. Flooring is predominantly wood strip, although with some carpeted areas as well. A few black and white photos were dotted around the walls as well as some brewery memorabilia such as branded mirrors from Bass and Flowers. A darts board was tucked away at one end of the pub and a notice advertised some forthcoming live music. There is also a “Knit and Tonic” on the first Tuesday of every month, and the sign advertising this was, appropriately enough, knitted. Beers are clearly a major focus here and on this occasion consisted of Oakham Bishop’s farewell, Grainstore Rutland Panther, Bass, Adnams Southwold, Flipside Franc-in-Stein, Slater’s Green Hop IPA, Adnams Fat Sprat and XT 6 Rich Ruby. The solitary cider was Stowford Press. A menu on the table listed the beers lined up for the forthcoming Oktoberfest which ran to a total of 56 and included one at 12% (Scaldis Ambrée), although it was not clear which ones were draught and which were bottled.