The Charlotte, Leicester

The Charlotte (previously the Princess Charlotte) is a decent sized boozer, well positioned on a main thoroughfare close to De Montfort University. The pub dates back to the 1880's when it was thought to be a coaching inn, but it wasn't until the 1970's that the place started to gain wider notoriety, as it established itself as one of the city's top live music venues, hosting the likes of Oasis, Radiohead, Robert Plant, The Buzzcocks and The Arctic Monkeys. In 2009, the pub closed and despite a couple of short-lived attempts to re-open it as a live music venue, sat empty until October 2015, when two established local landlords took the place on, setting it up as a real ale led enterprise. The pub today has a rather plain, striped out interior and very much looks like it has only been open a short while. The front door leads straight into the main bar area with a tongue and groove pine servery immediately to your right. A number of standard tables and chairs have been set out in a bare boarded space opposite the bar and there is a juke box on the wall here, rather appropriately given the pub's musical heritage. Some nice lattice work windows look out to the busy road outside. A single step takes you onto a raised rear tiled floor space with plenty more standard seating and a single padded banquette in the rear right corner. A couple of unmemorable bits dot the walls, but the place still feels rather bare and I couldn't help but wonder if there might be some old gig posters or the like lying around which might brighten the place up and remind customer's of the pub's interesting history. There was a good selection of ales from microbreweries available on this visit, with handpulled options comprising Windswept AXA and Blonde, Boss Brewing Bliss and two other small batch ales which I couldn't view due to bar blockers. A real cider was also available. My pint of the AXA cost £3.00 and wasn't in particularly good shape, but I'd like to think I got a bit unlucky on that front, as the ale seemed to be flying out of the pumps. I found this quite a friendly place but sadly lacking in character. It's certainly good to see the building still in use as a pub, rather than the flats that were mooted for the site and it's encouraging to see an ale focussed lead from the new owners. I sense some promise in this place and would be keen to revisit once they've had a bit more time to settle in.

has reopened with student accommodation above the pub

A classic toilet venue, it hosted a lot of gigs back in the day and was a cracking place (according to Mrs Quinno who was a regular here in her mis-spent youth). Now sadly shut due the demise of the parent company and due to be demolished and turned into student flats. A real loss.