Christmas Social 2019

Branch Christmas Social 21/12/2019 

On the Saturday before Christmas we took the opportunity for a social pub crawl to visit some of our local pubs and clubs in Sileby; Barrow & Loughborough. Having caught the ‘11:58’ train from Loughborough to Sileby (10 minutes late) five of us were made welcome at the 1912 Club on Cossington Road. There was a choice here, on the day, of a couple of beers from the Belvoir brewery: White Knuckle Ride (white chocolate stout) and Merry Berries (Winter spiced berries), both well worth trying. We gave our thanks then crossed the road for our ‘scheduled’ stop - the Free Trade Inn where we joined two more colleagues. Handpumped beers here were Everards Beacon, Tiger and Sleighbell; Castle Rock Snowhite; Batemans XXXB and the one that I tried which was Milestone Honey Porter.

We split up after this as we were running behind schedule. The plan was for some to visit the Horse and Trumpet (Steaming Billy beers and Belvoir Dark Horse Mild). They would then be driven to the next pub in Barrow-upon-Soar while the rest of us would catch the 13:38 train there. Due to unforeseen circumstances the carload never got to the Horse and Trumpet, but the train was on time and all were re-united in the Navigation at Barrow. Available here were Castle Rock Harvest Pale; Greene King Abbot Ale and Woodfordes Wherry along with ciders from Snails Bank (Herefordshire) and Sea Cider (Brighton). We walked uphill to the Moorings, not risking the alternative walk along the canal bank. Beer choice this time was Butcombe Chris Moose; Titanic Plum Porter; Adnams Southwold; Charnwood Vixen and Greene King IPA. Across the road at the Soar Bridge Inn we were joined by another pilgrim. Beers on offer were Everards Tiger and Original; Castle Rock Snowhite; Titanic Plum Porter and Woods Born & Bred along with Henry Westons Still cider and Friels Plum cider. Last port of call in Barrow before our next train was the Hunting Lodge where the options were Adnams Broadside; Sharps Doom Bar; Greene King Abbot Ale and Brew Dolph from the Park Brewery (Banks’s?).

The 17:43 train took us back to Loughborough station and some of us walked from there to the Windmill. As Loughborough’s oldest pub it is still worth supporting. Beer choice was Marstons Pedigree and Draught Bass. Next door, the Three Nuns had Everards Tiger, Beacon, Original, Sunchaser and Sleighbell. The final pub was the White Hart with a beer selection of Charnwood Salvation and Vixen; Titanic Plum Porter; Timothy Taylor Landlord and two beers from the Parkway brewery: Cracker and 3 Wise Monkeys. Local group ‘Heart of Oak’ were also performing there on the night.

Only two of us crossed the road to finish the session with a curry at the Himalayan Inn but, all in all, the day’s outing had been a success without the hassle of a lot of travelling.

 

Brian Rodgers

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