Leicester
Leicestershire, England
Review last updated Feb 2004.
I lived in Leicester for four years, leaving in April 2003. I haven't
been back much since, but my old cronies keep me informed.
The Criterion and the Swan and Rushes (Mainly Beer Ltd)
Around 2000, a chap named Grant Cook took over the Swan and Rushes.
He turned it from a dive into beer heaven. When I left Leicester he had
seven handpumps and over a hundred bottled beers there. I cannot
express enough what a time I had there. It was the place that educated
me about world beers (before that I had mainly stuck to the British ales).
In late 2002 Grant opened a second pub in Leicester, the Criterion,
branding his nascent pub chain Mainly Beer. The Crit followed the style
of the Swan and Rushes, but it had a much larger kitchen. Grant installed
a pizza oven which was initially manned by former pizza chef and
Swan and Rushes bar manager Sammy Saunders. The place now does a roaring
trade in posh foreign beer and pizzas (being cunningly located near
De Montfort University and several legal practises) as well as serving
many storming real ales.
Mainly Beer website.