Sapphire, Leicester

My second visit to the Rushes. The first was a year ago on Royal Wedding day when we were delighted to find a Cider and Cheese festval in full swing. Imagine our surprise this year when the same festival was on again. Result! I sampled an excellent pint of Biggus Dickus and was amused to see what the staff have chalked behind the bar. The cheese was excellent and provided a much needed snack on our crawl of the city. Nice staff, clean toilets and great beer. What more do you need?

A well run traditional pub and only a few minutes walk from the Criterion. Staff and customers friendly and chatty, six ales available on our visit. I went for the Oakham Midnight Mild and the Oakham Scarlet Macaw. A pub not to be missed when on an ale tour.

The Swan and Rushes is probably the best traditional real ale pub I have visited so far on my jaunts up to Leicester. Two bars either side of a central serving area, both with an assortment of comfortable wooden seating and one bar sporting an array of posters of previous Jazz events. Very good ales and seven hand pumps on the go during our mid week visit. As well as the usual Oakham JHB and Bishops Farewell, and Batemans XXB, these included Microbrewery beers from Potbelly Brewery in Kettering and Crouch Vales Brewers Gold. All beers tried were in excellent nick and although fairly early evening and not particularly busy, the barmaid was courteous and efficient and we encountered none of the service issues referred to below.

Essential post-match stop (it's en-route from the Walkers to the city centre). Basic 2-room boozer with half a dozen or so ales, including Oakham & Batemans, & 2 draught Belgians from Lefebvre. Plus, an extensive bottled list, mainly Belgian but also including Belarussian Wheat Beer, if that's what you're looking for.