please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Delighted to see that the great John Peel is not dead but working behind the bar. On his recommendation, I tried the Triple B, which slipped down a treat. Would have liked to stay a bit longer to sample more of their range and find out if JP really liked everything he played on his Radio 1 show but had made plans and had to catch the next train.
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Pretty much as BlueScrumpy and Rocky53 have said. I think I too was expecting more from a brewpub but the Osprey was good as was the seasonal stout. Two TV screens on with no one watching (competing with 'spoons?). At least we didn't have to leave until 1 minute before the train was due.
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I was hoping for better from the Grainstore. It certainly seemed popular. But I wasn't as impressed as I'd hoped. The brewery is situated right next to Oakham station. The single bar has a full range of Grainstore ales on, in addition to their 2 ciders - Ten Fifty, Cooking, Rutland Beast, Rutland Panther, Triple B, Apocalypse, Red Herring, Rutland Osprey, Lady In Pink & Hornet. It was quite noisy in here, with football on the TV and a few kids. A nice enough drinking atmosphere. But it would have been nice to have had some non-Grainstore ales on. I'm not sure if CAMRA members get a discount for halves (I believe they do for pints). But I certainly wasn't offered one.
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Busy on a Monday evening. Serving good quality Grainstore ales at a very reasonable price. Good atmosphere among the locals.
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Still a good place to be able to sample the range of Grainstore beers. Osprey suited my taste but range could do with a lighter low gravity bitter. Stange that the bar was being used to carry out a job appraisal for an employee of a local company (not Grainstore)
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The selection of beer is good (if not a bit expensive) but beware this is a local pub for local people. The younger staff are friendly and welcoming but don't catch the landlady on a bad day! Overall I'd say this is nice pub as far as decor goes, however if you're after a nice pub with a warm atmosphere I'd suggest the Lord Nelson down the road.
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Literally in the station yard, so just a short stagger off the train. Have always had a decent pint in here and was served in turn and the conversion from goods yard warehouse to pub/brewery is done quite well. What lets this place down is it's 'regulars', a quite unfriendly crowd who hog the bar and have no time for any 'foreigners' in 'their' pub, expecting to be served in preference etc - though I think it extends pretty much to the whole town as well. Am wondering if the populace England's smallest county have minds to match. A great place when the locals aren't in. As usual the IPA I had on this visit was on top form.
anonymous - 7 Mar 2010 10:34 |
Top quality ales brewed on site. Very close to the trains station, so jump off the train and get the next one an hour later. Unfortunately the prices have gone up and are not as shown in the picture above.
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What has happened to that charming Barmaid called Rozie - we really miss her friendly smiling face, a breath of fresh air! The Grainstore is not the same without her - BRING BACK ROZIE!!!!!! What has happened to her? Is she working at another pub - I hope those lucky customers appreciate her!!!!!!!
Moaky - 27 Jan 2009 17:25 |
Visted on a flying visit on a sunday afternoon - the only decent pub in town that was open mid afternoon I think? The beer was certainly a bit pricey but quality was good.
A quirky sort of place - I'd agree with earlier comments. A brewery tap to visit but maybe not the sort of place that becomes your local.
1050/Cooking and Panther all in good condition on our visit.
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Revisited this place for the first time in years and was disappointed. The beers tasted were great, but that alone does not make a great pub. Firstly the price, �2.85 for a pint of Ten Fifty is a complete rip off. The photograph above of the price board is well out of date. Bear in mind that it's brewed on the premises, so no "transport duty" needs to be added to the price.
The place was filthy. I felt sorry for the person whose 50th birthday disco was being set up. Hardly the greatest venue for a celebration, they'd be better off celebrating in the gutter or a pig sty. It gives the impression that Grainstore Brewery don't care about what their customers think.
There was a special offer on the bottled Ten Fifty - �8 for 12 bottles. Maybe they're actually encouraging folk to drink at home!
Slake - 12 Feb 2008 19:43 |
oh hi its nobby again, may i suggest that anyone going to the grainstore while the weather has turned a tad frosty should take a flask of hot soup or a buffalo skin or perhaps a industrial heater of some discription as it is bloody freezing in there, they have no fire and one manky radiator in the corner of the caveous bar, they have somehow got the doors to blow open when the wind picks up or more beautifully the door stays agape when anyone walks into the pub, honeslty its bloody baltic, how you dont have a open roaring fire in a country pub like that is beyond me, or is this me just moaning again,oh by the way the door that blows open and stays open is a fire door which the owners have cleverly put a couple of barrels against in a high tech solution, not that a fire would stand much chance in that cold, regards nobby
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A very enjoyable place to sink a few (very good) beers from the brewery. Right next to the train station so easily accessable from Leicester or Cambridge.
It's a bit of a one-off place, and has a pleasant atmosphere.
I didn't have any problem with the service in here and the bogs seemed fine to me, although it was Sunday afternoon.
Food is served too, and there's outside seating.
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Best pub in Oakham. Admittedly that's not saying much, but... No, it's a must-visit.
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ive just read the other reviews and they sound about right howerver if you a regular drinker who goes there every night except tuesday (band practise) you would know that the bogs leak causing urine to flow like the orrinoco in flood, the cider which has for months seen more life in a tramps vest and when we complained were told if we dont like it to push off, the beer for the beardy wierdy quiche eating jumper wearing brigrade is supposed to be top notch and has won awards might well your thing, but i think most importantly when you visit the grainstore for the first time you get resonalbly treated cause your 'not from round here parts' but if they know you they treat you like somthing they have walked in. with regard to the princes visit hardly any of the locals got the nod only the great and the good of oakhams society went, not even my dad was invited and hes manager of the local team and a ex police man. the bar staff are rude and ignorant, in the past we have had to phone the bar from the end of the bar because they flock to where no customers are to have a chinwag, its my own fault for going but once i settle into a place then im sort of comftable, ive lived here in oakam all my life you know.
i understand why the other reviewers whould like the pub on a one off but you really should try going most nights, it drives you mad honestly, anyway its the cheapest cider in oakham and i hope it stays that way
anonamous
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This place must be somewhere wonderful to get gently soused on a pleasant summers afternoon. We went on the balmy Saturday evening of the aforementioned Rutland Beer Festival, and the place was heaving - inside and out (unprecendented queue levels outside the gents lavs, let alone the ladies).
Still, the beer was magnificent, the atmosphere wonderfully convivial. The band, The Pulse, impressed by covering The Undertones and Buzzcocks... but surely someone should have imposed a limit on Jam songs.
Great pub which, one can easily imagine, would be lovely a little less lively (and without having to be deafened to A Town Called Malice).
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This is a superb drinking location with loads of beers brewed on the premises and some groovy Belgian stuff as well. We went just a few days after Prince Charles - I bet I slurped more pints there than he did!
Cobbo - 29 May 2004 15:30 |
Possibly the friendliest and most welcoming pub in England and with some superb jazz put on each month - coupled with some amazing beer - the Grainstore is a real ale drinkers heaven.
anonymous - 28 Feb 2004 10:48 |
Discovered this place completely by accident when cycling from Peterborough to Rugby on a very hot day, which happened to coincide with the Rutland Beer Festival.
Actually part of Oakham station, the pub is fairly olde-worlde (wooden benches etc.) and the beer was fantastic - I definitely recommend the 'Ten-Fifty', but if you're undecided they also do a 'sampler' which consists of a third of a pint of each of their brews (nice idea!)
Friendly staff (the bar was empty, but they let me park my bike inside so I could keep an eye on it), good food (had a monstrous baguette) and heavenly beer - it's rather a pity I ended up so smashed I had to complete my journey by train ;-)
Very definitely recommended, and in a nice part of the country as well.
Simon Ward - 26 Aug 2003 10:54 |
