Paletto Lounge - Corby

What’s the first rule of Pub Blogging? Well that's an easy one, ‘Get A Good Acronym’ (GAGA)! It’s all very well gushing eloquently about pubs and pubbing, but if you haven’t got a snappy acronym to tempt the readers in, you might as well write it on the back of a beermat and throw it in the pub fire. I’ve got a snappy short-form title, though in truth I hadn’t actually noticed it until Baggie Pete pointed it out. My ‘Every Pub In Corby’ adventure is of course an 'EPIC' adventure’. Neat eh! I decided not to include ‘...& Pole Fair Too’, there was something about 'EPIC & Pft!' that just didn’t scan.

Ye Olde Paletto Lounge

The second, third, and fourth rules of Pub Blogging are more obscure. Technical details around half pints, cuddly toys, and flowerpots that we needn't consider here. The most difficult rule of them all however is the one concerning chain bars and pubs, 'Thou shalt not take agin a pub merely because of its type or category'. Apparently we're supposed to take every pub and bar on its own individual merits rather than prejudge it. Hmm!...

Well I'll give it my best shot, and of course I aim at all times to uphold the mission statement of this blog, approaching every pub, bar, and club with the same happy-clappy schooner half-full positivity I'm well known for. Even a Wetherspoon...

Now I have a deep and abiding antipathy toward chain bars, one that's born of a very serious love of (what I regard) proper community locals. I thoroughly dislike the identikit similarities that mark a collection of bars out as a chain, the same or similar offering everywhere you go. I'm not a huge fan of seating arrangements designed to give customers and groups their own exclusive space, with little opportunity to socialise outside of your own self-selected circle. Hence my love of bench seating. When you're sitting on a bench in a pub, it's almost inevitable you'll be sitting 'next' to someone, perhaps even chatting with them, the very essence of pub culture I believe. I also dislike a pub that discourages those most pubby of all pub activities, the propping up of the bar and the playing of games. All these things and more seem to be the preserve of the chain pub/bar. And yet...

And yet, I have to say, I love Paletto Lounge in Corby! A venue that breaks almost all my self-imposed chain bar rules, a bar that's part of a growing national chain, a bar that in all honesty is not really designed for the likes of me. And yet, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE PALETTO LOUNGE! In fact everybody loves Paletto Lounge in Corby.

Here I am, raising a pint to one of my favourite occasional Corby ©Drinkovers, and absolutely loving it! I'd say there's a fair to middling chance you yourself have been to Paletto Lounge, or at least somewhere very similar, because it's part of the 'Lounge' chain of bars of which there are quite a lot. I've enjoyed a bit of a 'Lounge' in Tewkesbury and Melton Mowbray, and they were both instantly recognisable as Lounges, pleasantly, reassuringly similar. An eye-boggling mish mash of old paintings, paint daubs, and retro bric-a-brac that would probably curl my toes almost anywhere else. It just kind-of works here, and I'm pleased to say the locals share my love of Paletto Lounge because it's always busy, always buzzing with life, and always has the finest craft beer brewed under a railway arch in Scotland on tap.

Here I am again in the pre-COVID era, raising another glass of something that isn't Guinness in Paletto Lounge, probably quite tipsy at this point after a typically bibulous day out in Kettering or Bedford (both of which have their own Lounges by the way). I tend to use Paletto Lounge when transiting the town, changing buses or returning by train. Or as a pre/post pint stop when getting cultural at the Cube or Cinema opposite. There's no televised sport, no live music, no quiz nights, just all the happy chatty smiling people, and the kind of funky food offering modern folk seem to love. You'll find it's young people at ease in Paletto Lounge for the most part, though certainly not exclusively so. In fact it's as mixed a crowd as you're likely to find anywhere in Corby, and all the better for it.

Here's another one, me pretending to be a lady who lunches this time, reading the local paper in the shadow of the mighty Corby Cube opposite. "Nice romantic pint for one?" quips the barman. See, I told you there'd be humour on this blog.

Have I mentioned the staff? Lovely-lovely bunch, always a smile and a welcome no matter how busy, and it's always busy. And a "bye now!" on the way out that makes you feel like a local. In a chain bar! Yes, I know...

Of course they do Coffee and Buns too, and have one of those fancy Orange Juice squeezing machines that make Mrs EPIC squeal with delight and say "Yes!" whenever I suggest going there. It's all so lovely, and refreshingly different, and a real asset to the town.

Toilets always spick and span ladies!