Return to Recent Events

Melton Mowbray & Oakham

Tuesday 15th January 2008

A small thirsty group gathered at Hinckley Station on a wet & windy Tuesday morning, keenly anticipating a trip to Melton & Oakham.

We were sad to learn that East Midlands Trains had discontinued the popular Group Save tickets offered by Central Trains, the previous train operator. I was also somewhat surprised that not only does Hinckley Station not appear on the East Midlands route map, but that the whole Leicester to Birmingham line is missing!

However, as Oakham is classed as being in Leicestershire, we were able to use our bus passes for a 50% reduction.

We arrived in Melton Mowbray at about 11:30 and headed straight to the Harboro Hotel. This looks to be a traditional market town hotel with a welcoming bar immediately inside the front door - what every hotel should have? There was a selection of real ales available including Tetley Bitter, Hobgoblin & Timothy Taylor's Landlord. Norman generously bought the first round, then we found out about the 'Tuesday Club'. Pay full price for the first round, then successive rounds are charged at £2.10 per pint. There was quite a scramble to buy the next round, Norman went quiet!

The hour in Melton was quickly over & we headed back to the Station to resume our journey to Oakham.

Grainstore is very conveniently situated, in fact, every Station should have one! There was a good selection of Grainstore ales available - Rutland Panther (Mild ABV 3.4%), Cooking Bitter (ABV 3.6%), Triple B (ABV 4.2%), Ten Fifty (ABV 5%), Three Kings (ABV 4.5%) & Winter Nip (ABV 7.7%).

After a suitable number of aperitifs, we sat down to an excellent pub lunch, before returning home on the 3:23pm.

We had set off in search of good beer, good food and a warm, comfortable pub or two - we had succeeded on all counts! All in all a very convenient & pleasant way to pass a wet & windy January day.

Words & Photos by Alan Cooke

top