The Lawrence Sheriff

By Steve Heighton
Posted: 29/07/2009

Hi All

The new Lloyds pub from the Wetherspoons chain, the Lawrence Sheriff opens tonight. Myself and Cassie were invited in last night to see the new emporium and were given the downstairs tour. The new manager Steve, who has come from a pub in Coventry, was impressive and certainly comes to the pub with a wealth of experience. He was very pleased with his cellar, which he will be in charge of and is looking forward to what he can offer.

The decor inside was very impressive. It has a traditional feel to it and has been decorated smartly. They are still under Bar Sports license restrictions on outdoor drinking for now, but we were told he intends to have an out door smoking patio and on the other side a non smoking patio. The general shape of the pub hasn't changed and the dance floor and sound system are still central. In the daytime this area is taken up with seats and tables. The pub will clearly be a day time and a night time pub, catering for the two differing age groups.

The real ales last night were Ruddles, Abbot and Pedigree, which he said was going in September, but he didn't know what was replacing it. The two guests were from Sharps and Freeminers. Steve also said that whatever beers the Rupert Brooke has for festivals, he will try and have different ones. He also said he was impressed with the liveliness of Rugby and is clearly excited at the prospect of being part of it. For our part, we told him that as the best drinking town in the Midlands, we would hope the Lawrence Sheriff soon becomes another asset to the town. I also invited him out for a night with Rugby CAMRA members to show him the other good pubs, as he hasn't seen them yet, which I will happily do if no one else wants to.

My overall impression was this will be a real positive addition to the town. Most promising is the prospect of giving younger drinkers a chance to be somewhere trendy with a choice of real ales, as opposed to the [walkabout] across the road, and Oz fizz. It also gives the crumblies amongst us somewhere where we can listen to hip tunes while having a decent beer. And finally, it also gives us another chance for the Aussies to take a beating from the English while the Ashes is on. Bring it on.