'GREYHOUND' RE-OPENS.

After being closed for a little over a week, the 'Greyhound' in Hinckley re-opened last night as a significantly improved hostelry.

 

While it remains up for sale, Marston's finally appear to have realised that no one was going to be interested in buying a dirty pub with undrinkable beer and frequented by alcoholics, drug addicts and criminals. Their answer to this conundrum has been to send the previous management packing and to bring in the tenant of a successful local house together with an experienced temporary manager. After a week of cleaning, including resolving such issues as filthy pipes and a glass washer clogged up with mould and filth, and getting rid of beer so old that it had separated in the barrel, the pub is now back in business and promises to be a much better place than it's been for quite some time. The undesirable element has gone and won't be returning.

 

Last night, customers were treated to friendly service and good beer, for the first time in a while. Long may it continue.

THE 'RAILWAY' IS OPEN BUT ............................... .

As previously announced by the 'Steamin; Billy' brewery, the 'Railway' re-opened yesterday evening selling an assortment of hand-pumped beers plus a variety of continental lagers. So far, so good.

 

The works on the pub appear to be far from completed and, frankly, it looked a bit of a mess, though this view didn't seem to be shared by most of the others present; perhaps I'm being a bit unreasonable, but the decor seemed to me to be all over the place and much of the work which has been done seems to have been a bit pointless while more pressing matters seem to have been ignored. I really didn't like it very much.

 

Worse, while the beer prices were quite reasonable and even a bit lower than in other local pubs, the lagers began at £3:50 and progressed upwards from there - this seems to be extortionate, though there is a loyalty card available for £2 which does knock 30p off of the price of some, but not all of the drinks. There seemed to be a bit of confusion behind the bar about what to charge as well as I and my companion received different treatment for each round bought; no doubt this was a 'glitch' that will be resolved, but it was pretty annoying.

 

From the look and feel of things, this will no longer be a locals' pub but will attempt to cater for a very different trade. One wonders if that trade will materialise.

HINCKLEY PUBS UP FOR OFFER.

Once upon a time, Hinckley had lots of pubs, almost all owned and run by the Marston's brewery.

 

A few months ago, and quite out of the blue, the brewery placed one of these, "The Railway Hotel", up for sale and that one has now been bought by a small independent Leicestershire brewery. In the last 2 days, 2 more Marston's houses have also appeared on the market, 'The Prince of Wales' and 'The Greyhound'. Both are offered freehold and free of all ties, making them potentially attractive investments at the right price.

 

'The Greyhound' is an old pub not far from the town centre and with a reasonable trade; sadly and for no reason known to anyone in the locality, Marston's has steadfastly refused to maintain it in any sort of decent condition. The exterior is tatty, the carpets need urgent replacement and the exposed floor tiles either need attention or covering up. It's general decoration is poor to say the least and although there is a kitchen, it's reportedly in an unusable state; the rather pokey gents' toilet is not exactly top quality. A large back room which has been used for musical and other events, is mostly empty and in need of attention. The drains frequently produce foul smells and it has no customer parking. The private accommodation has variously been said to be anywhere between disgusting and bearable. Marston's are expecting £265,000 (plus VAT) for this property which needs at least £50,000 spent on it to make it into a decent pub and quite possibly a lot more depending on its structural condition.

 

Conversely, 'The Prince of Wales', which is further from the centre though not by very much, is a more modern building and seems to have been well maintained. The bar and bar areas are much bigger than in 'The Greyhound' and it has a separate and well furnished function room. The general furnishings and decoration are good; the toilets are large and clean. It has a decent and usable commercial kitchen and parking for 20 or so cars; there's a good-sized outside area with a number of tables and chairs. I have no knowledge of the prvate accommodation but there's no reason to believe that it's in a different condition from the rest of the pub. Overall, this is a much nicer, smarter and cleaner pub than 'The Greyhound', and doesn't seem to need much if any further investment. Marston's are looking for £295,000 (plus VAT).

 

I can easily see the price for 'The Prince of Wales' being paid, indeed, I would if I had the money to hand, but why anyone would pay the asking price, or anywhere near it, for 'The Greyhound' defeats me. Time will tell whether or not I'm right.

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.