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The Salmon, Leicester
Leicester
LE1 4QA
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) see review guidelines
Quinno _ left this review about The Salmon
BCA couldn’t help themselves. They have gutted, re-arranged and corporatised the interior – the lovely circular bar has now been consigned to the skip; the servery now sits in a corner and the interior is now more open-plan. Sadly it has lost a bit of charm. BCA Pig on the Wall (NBSS 3) and a taster of the missus’ Facers Caramel Stout (3.5) plus a cob, so the basics remain alright.
November 2022
A long overdue revisit and my first since the BCA takeover. Nicely kept place with a friendly and chatty barman. Pints of Fireside (NBSS 3) and Goffs Black Knight (3.5). Feels like a pleasant place to be and there was a nice gentle atmosphere on a Tuesday night. Cobs available. GBG’22 listed. It’s an LE1 default. Rated 8.5
January 2014
A calmer revisit outside of beer festival time (no sign of the purple ponce), so a proper review. A fabulous bolt hole just half a minute from the immediate town centre with six eclectic ales. My Raising Richard Brandy Ale was sublime and at £1.75 also excellent value for a 6%. Stayed on and also had a fantastic Quatermaster stout. Plush burgundy banquettes, lovely interior tiling and some nice picked colour glasswork in the bar area and lobby door. Some tasteful modern touches such as the design of the blinds. A narrow horseshoe shaped bar, the layout is awkward and if even faintly busy you feel in someone's way at the bar. Rugby focussed, with a smattering of Leicester fans in attendance watching their team stage an improbable comeback away to Saracens. A collection of framed international rugby ties en route to the bogs. Key here is pride in the pub as a whole. I can understand why it is so popular with the local CAMRA crowd and I’d certainly put it joint top of the list for a city centre crawl alongside the Swan & Rushes. Rated 9
April 2013
This back street pub (apparently a former Banks house) is now free of tie and is the current Big Noise on the Leicester ale scene. Located just round the back of the Shires it sports a solid if fairly unremarkable Victorian exterior. The interior has a U-shaped bar with some nice features, particularly a slant towards rugby memorabilia. I visited when the beer fest was already in full swing and the place was duly packed out. A really good selection available and the heavy abv (Betjeman) ale I had was first class. Can’t comment much about the interior as I didn’t see much of it, so packed was the pub. I took a quick pic of the pump clip of the beer I was drinking which elicited a massively OTT response from the purple ponce behind the bar, who wildly pointed to signs (hanging well-above my eye-line) above the bar asking patrons not to take photos because of some auction of the clips. Fair enough, but perhaps you could have been rather less self-righteous, eh? Be calm, find your neutral space…
On 20th February 2024
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Ian Mapp left this review about The Salmon
Not going to add a score to this - I think it depends on how familiar with BCA pubs you are. If new, then you may love the nod to tradition, with roaring fires, cobs, multiple and bewildering selection of many cask, pub games, tv with sports on at a low level.
However, if you are a veteran of many locations, you may be tired of the exact identikit makeovers where everything looks exactly the same. The electronic beer board, the carpets, the colour scheme, the glassware.
They are popular and I love my local but when you travel and instantly connect to the wifi, even though you've never been there before you maybe wish for a new experience.
On 8th January 2024
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 1338 recommendations about 1324 pubs]
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Salmon
The Salmon is a backstreet pub just to the north of Leicester city centre in a much more multi-cultural area. It's a Black Country Ales pub, one of two in the city and I'd say that whilst they are both very good, this one is marginally the better one.
Similar to Quinno below, I hadn't been here since 2014. With a good amount of time available to us in Leicester this time around, I tried to arrange a crawl around a re-visit to the Salmon.
The Salmon has a much more traditional feel than most Black Country Ales pubs. Its corner location means there is a circular bar with seating pretty much all around it. A passageway leads from one side to the toilets and an outdoor area.
With a few quiet afternoon drinkers and a young barman, it didn't quite suit our group of drinkers which had gradually been swelling during the afternoon and now numbered 10. I was conscious that our arrival had increased the noise levels in the pub and had therefore altered the atmosphere. But I don't think we were too unruly at this stage!
Black Country Ales on were Fireside, BFG & Pig on the Wall. Guest beers were Mallinson's Nelson Sauvin, Roman Way Hibernia, Phoenix Keltek, Hancock's HB, Leatherbritches The Bounder & Fixed Wheel Chain Reaction. Also on handpull were a cider (Snail's Bank Pig Squeal) and a perry (Purbeck Katy Perry).
Cobs were available, either ham or cheese & onion. Between our group, we soon polished off what was left. There were certainly a rather thick slab of cheese on mine. Sky Sports News was showing on a TV in one corner. This is another of Leicester's best pubs.
On 4th May 2023
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2452 recommendations about 2451 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Salmon
The Salmon is a small pub with a relatively large U-shaped bar that makes the seating down either side quite cosy. The slightly larger right-hand side of the pub is more public bar like with a dartboard on the rear wall. I noted six hand pumps around this side that were drawing three offerings from Black Country Ales alongside Coach House Brewing’s Post Horn, New Brew Session IPA and Salamander Brewing’s Gothic Stout. Another six hand pumps are found around to the left where Sharp’s Atlantic and Newbridge Brewery’s Big Lizzy were available alongside Gwynt y Ddraig’s Happy Daze and Lilley’s Gladiator ciders. A selection of standard and premium keg was also available. An empty and clean food container was sitting on the bar so I expect premade rolls are available during the day. Each side of the bar has a TV listing the available beers and Sky Sports News was also muted on at least one more screen. There was some background music playing, but it was so low I think it may have been from a flat upstairs. Out the back is a covered decked area with some seating. I found the service to be friendly and the stout was good so I would recommend this place to others.
On 8th March 2023
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5251 recommendations about 5219 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
custodian 42 left this review about The Salmon
Decent real ale pub in the back streets. Black Country ale based of which I had Fireside. Friendly barman. I would return.
On 17th March 2020
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Salmon
Central bar, exposed brick, padded benches, low pipped music and sports TV. Typical Black Coutry Ales pub including good beer and choice.
On 9th November 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about The Salmon
Now part of Black Country Ales chain, the choice and quality of the beers was good yesterday when we called in. Decor is now prints round the walls instead of all the sport items. We enjoyed our beers from Kinver and Fixed Wheel breweries.
On 16th July 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
I L left this review about The Salmon
Having visited this pub last year another visit this year was a must for this award winning pub. We sat in the larger tiled floor part of this two roomed pub next to a very warming fire for n early December night.
A good friendly feel to this place.
On 10th December 2013
- rating: 9
[User has posted 287 recommendations about 284 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Salmon
Voted Leicester CAMRA pub of the Year for the last two years, with landslide majorities, the Salmon is an essential port of call for any real ale fans visiting the city. The pub has a compact U shape layout with a mix of tiles and bare floorboards. The right hand side of the pub was dominated by some temporary stilage set up for a beer festival and was very crowded during our stay. There is fixed seating around the perimeter and the walls have nice tiling and half panels. The left side of the pub has a decent amount of bench and low stool seating, with the PuG crawlers giving the benches a thorough test as they piled on for a group photo. A lit fire was very welcome given the terrible weather outside and the walls were decorated with various bits of Leicester Tigers memorabilia, with a TV screen on one wall for sports coverage. The servery has a stained glass canopy and a Banks’ mirror behind the bar reminds us of the pubs former ownership.
There were five ales available on the bar – Fallen Dragonfly, Elixir Cuzzy Brew, Burnside Blonde, Demonbrew Demon Black and Betjamin Imperial Christmas Stout – plus several more on the aforementioned stilage. My pint of Cuzzy Brew was in fine shape but as others have mentioned, the beers on stilage were pouring flat, which was a shame as there was a tempting line up. Food is available at lunchtimes from Monday to Saturday. The barman seemed friendly enough (although I didn’t have my camera with me, which might have helped!) and talked us through his proposed brewery venture which is set to open soon.
Clearly this is a must do pub for the beer tourist, but I thought it had more to it than just a good ale policy. It’s a well set up, homely pub with friendly locals and enthusiastic staff and it will be one of the first pubs I seek out the next time I’m in town.
On 1st May 2013
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Salmon
I called in here twice during our Leicester jaunt. Once after the beer festival and again on the PuG crawl. On the first visit I had a couple of halves from their festival bar which I thought were in pretty good nick and a pint from one of the handpumps. The day after I just had a pint from the normal bar as the festival bar was crowded with familiar faces. I'd like to visit again when it's a bit quieter, but I thoroughly enjoyed the place. It will also become a brewpub in the very near future when it will be home to Dem Bones brewery.
On 17th April 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]