The Blue Boar, Leicester

Not the best time to visit - 10pm on a the first weekend night after new year - there was only one other punter - and she looked like she had been there an awful long time. A single roomed micro but with a pubby feel. Not sure about the patio door keeping the cellar separated. Maps of old leicester on the walls. An electronic scoreboard lots and lot of choice. St Barnadus and Delirium Xmas Ale detailed at £12.50 a pint. Maybe thats what my drinking partner had been on :-)

The Blue Boar is a small floorboarded single room open plan pub with a mix of standard and high furniture, some of which is made out of old barrels. The walls are wood panelled, a wooden bench runs along the left-hand wall and a beer shelf runs along the right. There are lots of framed old maps of Leicester interspersed with multiple award certificates up on the walls. According to the drinks list on the TV screen, the bar counter along the rear wall was supporting nine cask and four nitro products during my recent midweek evening visit. I went for Beowulf Brewing’s Finn’s Hall Porter which went down well. The food stretches to rolls on the bar. If you’re looking for love I’d probably give this place a miss, but if a few decent pints take your fancy then come on in.

I still rate this micropub as the best pub in Leicester. It's a fairly large and simple, square-shaped room, with the bar at the rear. Cask ales and craft beers are all listed on TV screens, whilst real ciders can be found listed at the side of the bar. With tables and bench seating on the left-hand side and taller tables suitable for upright drinking in the centre, there is plenty of space, even with the usual number of customers late on a Sunday afternoon after the football match. Service from the single barmaid was swift, despite the numbers and she was even happy to make us extra cobs which we devoured on the train back home. Regular real ales are Shiny Rocky & Beowulf Finn's Hall Porter. Guests were 8 Sail Doomed Baa, Blue Bee Reet Pale, Beowulf Black Cherry, Wensleydale High Fives, Salamander Gecko Gecko, Alter Ego Future Sailor & Mr Brown & Church End Grave Digger's Ale. Ciders were Abrahall's Thundering Molly, Biddenden Dry & Lilley's Tropical Cider. Craft beers were S43 Windowsill of Conspiracy & Alter Ego Stockholm Syndrome.

Fine place. No frills with the bar to the rear. Nine real ales and some craft on the wall. Definitely worth a revisit.