I was really chuffed that what I thought was a left field suggestion for a visit was taken up and that my other suggestion of Loughborough made a strong showing. I'm more than happy to let others sort out the itinerary as I'll be doing a Lite version based on the micropubs and town centre but hopefully including Freebird to the North. These are my recollections from a few years ago and other thoughts.
The Titanic Greyhound and Hopinn are out on a bit of a limb to the East but both well worth going to. I seem to recall that the JDW is slightly to the East as well rather than being in the thick of it.
According to What Pub the 10 green bottles opens at 10:30 which if it's a bottle shop style micropub would make sense,
I'm fairly confident that the 11:00 time stated for the Lymestone Vaults would be right as it's very much a town centre pub.
Don't be put off by the Joules ownership of the Old Bulls Head as it's probably the best Joules pub I've been to. It had a couple of Boss guest ales on when I visited.
The Thirsty Giraffe appears to be a micropub that prefers to be thought of as a bar!
Would it be worth approaching Freebird for an early opening?