Organ Grinder, Loughborough

I’m a fan of Blue Monkey beers and their pubs, this is a good one with the shabby alehouse look and it’s GBG 2025 listed. One room at the front, one at the back and a garden outside. As usual mostly Blue Monkey beers with guests Dark Mild from Left Handed Giant and Rev James, the last of nine pulls was blank. A horseshoe has the usual suspects. The previously separate room to the front left has a selection of bored games, a sofa and CAMRA awards, while the longer right hand side has bench seating and Britannia etc tables with an expanse of vertical drinking space. It is also an excessively dog friendly venue, at least five shitehounds were in attendance barking at each other. There’s an events space upstairs called the Hayloft and in the big garden is some sort of old stables that might be used occasionally.

Official site of Organ Grinder - bluemonkeybrewery.com

Official site of Organ Grinder - bluemonkeybrewery.com

This is a smart looking bar, operated by the popular Blue Monkey Brewery from just up the M1 in Giltbrook. Much like their Nottingham branch, the beer is the star here, and the two-room interior, whilst tidy enough, lacks a little in character. The main bar area is a bare boarded room, set across two sides, with the servery squeezed into the rear right corner and plenty of seating opposite and over in the cosy left-hand part of the room. Banquettes run down the right-hand wall with lots of low stools in support, whilst the left side is furnished in more of a lounge style, with sofas, armchairs and the like. Walls are either bare brick or else painted in plain shades, with bookcases housing a good selection of board games, helpful beer boards and eclectic décor filling up much of the wall space. The bar has a wood panel counter front and bold mirrored bar back with pump clips along the top. A corridor connects this room to the rear Stable Bar, and has a pleasant, tiled floor. The Stable Bar doesn’t actually have a bar of its own, but instead offers three seating booths in a terracotta tile floored space with hard benches and low stool seating. The room has been done out in a vague stable style, with lots of horse-riding items dotted around and horse racing photos on the walls. Crates full of books and board games stood to one side next to a rack that was being used to dry bar towels and there was a good chamber pop/indie soundtrack playing, but sadly no other customers were using the room, so I retreated to the main bar instead. A comprehensive selection of Blue Monkey beers can be found of handpull, with the options on this visit running to Infinity, Infinity +1, Guerrilla, BG Sips, Colours, Serenity and 4am. Ten real ciders were also listed on a blackboard behind the bar and I got the impression that the vast majority of customers were either of the cask or the cider. My pint of the BG Sips was in great shape, and I got chatting to some of the friendly locals who were happy for me to perch at the end of their table on a busy mid-week evening. This is possibly the pick of the Loughborough pub scene – somewhere that has a good atmosphere, plenty of well-kept beer and a friendly welcome – but it lacks that little something to nudge it into the top tier from my perspective. I think the place probably lacks a bit of character and I left feeling only partially satisfied after coming in with high expectations. It’s still a great pub though and I’m sure if I’m ever back in town, this will end up being my first port of call.