Cow & Plough, Oadby  

Take an old farm building, add a first class selection of ales, fill the place with Brewerania and you have all the ingredients for a wonderful little pub. Owned by the Steamin' Billy brewery, who also run a small gaggle of pubs in Leicestershire, you'll find no shortage of advertising signs and various other knick-knacks which give this long, thin building a cosy ambience it might otherwise lack. The décor of the intimate 'Vaults' section at the back certainly gives the impression it's been there at lot longer than 1990. Our most recent visit found a good handful of ales on, all superbly kept, the best of which turned out to be the fantastic Steamin' Billy bitter. Despite it's proximity to nothing in particular, it was great to see a wide cross-section of amiable punters present and it seems that this is both a local's bar and a destination venue. The separate restaurant, with its vaulted ceilings, is also very popular, but with prices in the mid-teens its not somewhere to eat every week. Repeated visits, perhaps accompanied by a sampling of the food, might nudge the Cow & Plough into hallowed five pint territory.

reviewed:
21/06/2008

pub features:(click on an icon to see an explanation)

good selection of real ale

rear courtyard

separate restaurant

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