The Queen Vic re-opens

The Queen Victoria pub, 28 Southampton St, Leicester, LE1 1SJ reopened on Friday January 18^th. The pub is located near to the Leicester Mercury offices and has had mixed fortunes in the past. 

The pub has been taken on by Tony Francis, owner of “Ales of the Unexpected” beer agency and is on a five year lease from Punch Taverns. However, in a new move for Punch, Tony is allowed to have any real ales he likes and is free of tie. The Manager is Lee Bale.

On the opening day, I visited in the evening and found an interesting range of beers available through the 7 handpumps. The house beer is Sam Smiths OBB which is from wooden casks - Tony says he is a massive fan of beers from the wood. 

Also available were Mystery Tor 3.8 and Hedge Monkey 4.6 from Glastonbury Brewery, Frostbite 5.5 from Shardlow, Queen Bee 4.2 from Slaters and Joules Bitter 4.1 from Tower Brewery. The last beer was Boadicea’s Revenge 4.3 from Ales of the Unexpected which is also brewed at Glastonbury. I tried the Glastonbury beers and found them to be in very good condition - it made it even sweeter that all beers were £2 a pint for the opening weekend!

Tony aims to have 7 beers on every weekend which may drop down to 4 during mid-week depending on how trade is. One thing for sure is his passion for Sam Smiths, which should be in cracking form. Tony will be having some very interesting beers through the pumps and plans to have a beer festival in April already.

The pub opens from 12 noon until 11pm Mon - Sat and 12 - 5 on Sundays. Limited food is available until the kitchen area has been refurbished.

Leicester CAMRA wish Tony and Lee every success, it’s great to be able to write an article about a real ale pub opening in Leicester.

Andy Sales. 

This page last updated: June 3, 2008

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