Hops d'Amour, Coventry

This micropub wasn't here the last time I went drinking in Coventry and is indeed the city's first and (unless I'm mistaken) only micropub to date. Of 5 new pubs I visited on Saturday, this was easily my favourite. In fact, it probably bettered all of the other pubs we visited too. It's a simple square or possibly rectangular shaped room, with the bar against the back wall. Stairs at the rear left corner lead up to the 2 toilets. A door at the rear right presumably leads to the cellar/cold room where the beers and ciders are kept. A TV screen above the bar lists the full range of real ales, craft beers and real ciders. There was such a lengthy list that it was difficult to read some of the names, as so many were crammed onto such a small screen. Pumpclips scattered around the room also attest to the range of beers and ciders they have stocked in their short existence. Ales on during our visit were Howling Hops Country Mile, Brentwood Legacy, Shiny Affinity, Heritage X Porter, Vocation Karate Kiwi & Neptune On The Bounty. Real ciders listed were Snail's Bank Raspberry Ripple, Lilley's Strawberry Cider, Pina Colada, Lemon & Lime Cider, Peach Cider, Chocolate Apple Cider, Merry Monkey, Apples & Pears & Darkcider, Thistly Cross Whisky Cask & Scottish Fruits, Dudda's Tun Apricot Cider, Cotswold Cider Company Freak Show, Cockeyed Mad Jack & Sandford Orchards Slack Ma Girdle. Craft beers were all from Tiny Rebel - Citra Milkshake IPA, Gold Fermented IPA, Carrot, Apple & Mandarin Sour & Caramac Pale Ale. It's certainly a busy and popular place located slap bang in the middle of Coventry city centre. I was suitably impressed.

Coventry's first - and recently Camra award-winning - micro-pub in a city-centre location that might not seem obvious, but works surprisingly well. Nothing unusual about the shop-unit conversion, with a mix of functional furniture, pump clips and ephemera, but there was a fine selection of real ales in a range of styles on the six handpumps. I went for the tasty, deliberately hazy, Sea of Dreams pale ale from Neptune Brewery (£4.00), with others coming from Abbeydale, Castle Rock, Wild Beer, Cloudwater and Underground Medicine. In a word, excellent.