Sapphire, Leicester

Official site of Sapphire - sapphire-leicester.com

Official site of Sapphire - sapphire-leicester.com

Nice dark wood bar, solid light wood tables, two-roomed pub with great ale selection and, apparently, ~140 bottled beers in the many fridges which wind around behind the bar. The ‘menu' may not always be bang up to date but, from reading a tda review, the prices seemed fair, eg Rochefort8 £3.20. On handpump Oakham No Bully Dozer, JHB, Bishops Farewell, New-K-Ham Brewery Puffin, Bateman's Salem Porter, Burton Bridge Festival, Sam Smiths OBB, Bees Amber Ale. Bar billiards table, soundtrack included Adagio for Strings followed by some cracking blues. Friendly, and beer friendly, barman who was happy to chat, great value Sun lunch suggested roasts (beef/pork/duck) at £6.95.

The Swan and Rushes is a traditional, quality, town centre boozer and I'll add my voice to the many positive thoughts below. Many of the features have been detailed and I'd only add that there is a, slightly disconcerting, life sized astronaut to the left as you walk in, a framed Tigers shirt made me twitch slightly as a Saints fan and the pub could have done with slightly more heating on a chilly November evening. It was curry evening on our Friday visit and many were partaking. It looked home cooked and smelt good. The service was friendly, easy and knowledgeable. Beers on were: Oakham Green Devil IPA, which was excellent, JHB and Bishops Farewell, Thornbridge Jaipur IPA, Moon Gazer Black IPA, Tollgate Kalika IPA, Cameron's Apocalypse Now, Bateman's XB and Salopian Vortex. A fine selection from recognised breweries over varied strengths and styles. One of Leicester's finest and well worth a visit.

I came to this pub with no real expectations and was pleased to find an excellent two bar ale house that probably turned out to be my favourite of an extended crawl around the city. The main front entrance takes you into the main bar, which is carpeted with half panelled walls and some decent banquette and standard seating. The servery area is surprisingly small, beyond which there is a bar billiards table with a TV screen suspended above. A framed Leicester Tigers shirt was proudly displayed on one wall (their stadium being just a short walk down the road) and there is a collection of whiskey boxes on a ledge above the servery. A second bar can be accessed via a side entrance or through a connecting passageway at the back of the main bar. This room was also carpeted with similar banquettes and a few low stools. A dartboard was hung on one wall and the room seemed to be a bit brighter and more comfortable than the main bar. A small paved beer garden can be accessed from the connecting passageway, as can the toilets, which boasted some snazzy modern tiling, a bit out of keeping with the rest of the pub. The line of hand pumps, some of which were double clipped to indicate beers served from the second bar, offered one of the widest ale selections we encountered in the city. The choice on our visit comprised Batemans XB, Oakham JHB and Bishops Farewell, Brewsters Sadie the Goat, Tunnel Trade Winds, Wentworth APA, Salamander X-Ray Zulu, Kelham Island 45 rpm and Grainstore Rutland Panther. I sampled the APA, which was in fine shape and admired the sound range of bottled beer available in the fridges. A good value pub grub menu was also in evidence. There is much to recommend about this pub and I’m shocked to see that it didn’t even make the top five of the Leicester CAMRA pub of the Year 2013 awards. Pub of the day for me and top of the list for my next trip to Leicester.