The Three Swans Hotel, Market Harborough

Official site of The Three Swans Hotel - threeswans.co.uk

No self-respecting market town should be without a hotel that still looks like this from the road and features an interesting old pub sign, even if the interior has been comprehensively remodelled and modernised. That said, the front bar definitely operates as a pub rather than a fancy bar or with all the tables laid up for those eating. Landlord and Langton's Inclined Plane (£2.15, half) available on handpump from the central servery, behind which the restaurant and other facilities can be found. Now run by the Coaching Inn Group, it was a better experience than I was expecting.

A spacious but modernised interior complete with piped music It didn't do a lot for me pub-wise. On the beer front there was a choice of Landlord and Langton Inclined Plane, having already had the former twice that day I went for the latter which I found to be bland and malty, so not a great over all experience.

Old coaching inns can be a mixed bunch, and if the word "hotel" is involved it can be a red flag for real ale aficionados. Once through the door here, the heart lifts a little at the pub-like appearance and atmosphere of the public bar. The bar counter has just the two hand pumps, one beer from the local Langton Brewery: Inclined Plane, a 4.2% bitter (named after the canal boat lift at Foxton Locks, on the Grand Union canal a few miles west of town, which operated from 1900 to 1911 as an alternative to the 10-lock staircase) plus Timothy Taylor's ubiquitous Landlord. I went for a half of each, the Langton beer (NBSS 3.5, £4.30/pint) was one of a series of 3.5s in Market Harborough on the day, none of them quite achieving the sunlit uplands of a 4 or 4.5. The Landlord was of similar quality, though a whopping 70p per pint more expensive.