HINCKLEY'S PUB REVOLUTION.

For many, many years, Hinckley pubs were dominated by the Marston's brewery. With little or no real competition, the brewery did little to invest in their estate and the pubs gradually deteriorated both in appearance and management. Thankfully, all this has been changing over the last 2 or 3 years.

It seems that Marston's have had something of a re-think about their long term strategy and a number of pubs have been sold, resulting in better pubs and more competition. The 'Railway Hotel' and the 'Prince of Wales' have been bought by small independent breweries and both are much improved; the 'Greyhound' has also been sold though in a deal which appears to require the continued sale of Marston's beers alongside a changing number of other cask ales. Another pub, 'The Bounty', which closed several years ago has been bought by a local businessman and re-opened meaning that, together with the 'Queen's Head' on Upper Bond Street, we now have 5 genuine free houses in the town and immediate surrounds. There are also a couple of bars, not places I would ever term pubs, but 'The Baron', a Wetherspoon's house, and the 'Gravity' do provide cask ales of variable type and quality.

With all of this upheaval, Marston's presence in the town has now been severely reduced and it seems that they've finally decided to invest in at least 1 of their remaining houses, the 'Union'. Over the last few weeks, a pretty dull, dingy and uninspiring pub has been transformed and now looks bright and breezy. The beer is still Marston's, and only the ordinary bitter is available as most of the clientele are lager drinkers, but it seems that the revamp has improved patronage substantially. Additional cask ales are promised and the pub is to start selling hot food in the near future. 

From a town in which it was almost impossible to find any alternative to dull, run-down Marston's pubs, we now enjoy numerous free houses and even renewed interest from Marston's. Long may it continue.

HINCKLEY PUBS ATTRACT INTEREST.

Word has it that the two Marston's pubs currently up for sale in Hinckley have attracted the attention of another brewery, Everards, which has no presence in the town. While a transfer to another major brewey may not be the best possible outcome, it would, at least, provide a bit more variety in the Marston's dominated town. Of course, having taken a look, particularly at the 'Greyhound', they may well decide not to bother - in my own inexpert opinion, the asking price of £265,000 is far too much for a building which is in a very poor state of repair, both inside and out. The 'Prince of Wales', which is in far better condition, may be more to their liking though its position on the edge of the town could be an issue.

 

It's also rumoured that the landlady of 'The New Plough' has been taking a 'shuftie'; she's already licensee of the 'Prince' as well as of the 'Plough' and has, apparently, expressed a view that she could sort out the 'Greyhound's' issues for just a few thousand pounds. While I think she's way off the mark with this, she would turn it into a free house which would be no bad thing. However, if I was her, I'd forget the 'Greyhound' and go for the 'Prince' which would need far less work, if any, and for which the asking price is only £30,000 more.

 

With the 'Railway' set for a partial re-opening in a few days, a bit of competition would be good; all will no doubt become clear over the next few weeks and months.

HINCKLEY PUB CRAWL VERDICT : 'PRINCE OF WALES' ON TOP.

Following the unannounced closure of my local pub, the 'Railway Hotel' in Hinckley, by its new owners, the 'Steamin' Billy' brewery, I and a few friends have tried a few other local hostelries. We already made occasional visits to the 'Greyhound' and the 'Queen's Head', but we've now had a look at one or two others.

 

A few days ago, we started with a couple of pints at the 'Greyhound', before moving on to the 'Railway' which had not quite closed then. A couple more pints, fortunately they still had a stock of our tipples, and then it was time for a trip out to the village of Wolvey and a first visit to the 'Blue Pig', a pub under new management. A pint there and it was time to return to the town for one in the 'Sportsman' before finishing our little journey at the 'Prince of Wales'. This was, I hasten to add, a  trip made possible by our non-drinking driver !

 

What did we learn after all of this racing around ? Well, the 'Greyhound' is an OK Marston's pub and one that has reasonable beer at relatively low prices; it does, though, need a fair bit of 'tarting up' as its decor is pretty poor and no one seems to have spent much money on it for many years. Perhaps this is why Marston's are about to place the pub's freehold on the market ! They've also just shunted the landlord and her family off to another of their 'Retail Agreement' outlets, while moving the former landlord of the 'Railway' in until it's sold.

 

Moving on, the 'Blue Pig' offered a different range of beer as it's one of the few non-Marston's outlets in the area. This is a 'Greene King' house with new tenants, and I'm told that it used to do very well. The other day, a Friday evening, it was pretty quiet and, although a menu was available, it didn't seem to be creating much interest or beng promoted. The beer, I drank the 'IPA' as 'Abbot' really is a bit too powerful for consumption during a pub crawl, was passable though not exceptional, and was also a bit pricey compared with other local pubs. One was enough.

 

Back into Hinckley and we tried the 'Sportsman', a good sized pub under a proper Marston's tenancy. The barmaid was friendly enough, the beer, Marston's Bitter, good enough and the atmosphere ok, though, again, the pub seemed a bit on the quiet side. The prices were a fair bit higher than we've been used to and we only stayed for one in the absence of anything else to keep us there.

 

Our final stop was at the 'Prince of Wales', another Marston's tenanted house a few yards from the 'Sportsman' and one that also has a relatively new landlord. Although not crowded, there were a few people there and it was welcoming; the barmaid was quick to serve and the beer was fine. Sadly for our pockets, prices were similar to the 'Sportsman' and 'Blue Pig', but we stayed because of the general atmosphere. Other customers were friendly and more than happy to chat, while the landlady, Katie, was in the bar with her partner and dog, an enormous furry bear of an animal; all were friendly, befurred or not, and the experience here was far-and-away the best of the night.

 

The result of our circumnavigation was an unequivocal victory for the 'Prince of Wales', with the 'Greyhound' in second place though a fair way back. We reinforced our judgement on Sunday by returning to the 'Prince' late in the evening and again finding it a most pleasant environment with, mostly, friendly people. The only blot was an unnecesssary and almost inexplicable outburst from a customer whom we knew from elsewhere and who had clearly had a pint or six too many. After he departed, those remaining chatted amiably and intelligently; forget the idiot, this is a nice pub and we'll be back.