please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Refurbished historic pub. Ubu was the only real ale on offer but it was perfectly drinkable. I would happily bring my mum here - it's that kind of a place. and I suspect the tourists will love its quaint olde worlde charm. Personally I prefer a real pub.
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I remember this pub as the Fleur De Lys MANY years ago and I loved it! Having read other reviews, it may well have gone downhill before it's refurbishment and re-emergence as The Snug. Not sure why they bothered, personally. Boring, characterless and a waste of space. That's just the staff! The pub - if it can be called a pub now - is all of that and expensive, too! Go to The Boot!
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Great pub for the summer as they have a nice small beer garden away from everything. Did Titanic on tap last time which was very good. Food good to. Other pubs better on both fronts but still worth a visit.
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Paid a brief visit on Saturday night, nearly every table had been reserved for later that evening. When we sat on the end of a row we were instantly informed by a very unfriendly staff memebr that this area was reserved. We said we were only staying for a few minutes and would of course vacate seats if they were needed but were told to move straight away. When we left 15 min's later all these tables were still empty! Souless place, poor staff, overpriced, what more can I say - avoid, so many better pubs in St A.
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Could do better....well overpriced, someone, somewhere lining their pockets with trust fund pocket money.
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Overpriced poncy cocktail / fizz bar. More atmosphere on the moon. No ale on tap.
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This has been The Snug for at least the last year or more. Been here a handful of times, OK for a drink, food wasn't so good - not really a pub anymore. Does quite a wide selection of drinks if you don't mind lagers, wines and cocktails (non-alcoholic too).
Most recent visit (last night) was after having a meal at L'italiana next door (best Italian in St. Albans). On a Thursday night it has more women, and couples on first dates (it looked like).
Greg. - 30 Apr 2010 15:29 |
came here yesterday was going to have something to eat put off by the price of the beer and 10 pound for a burger so comming back any time soon
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Or The Snug as it now is as mentioned below...it's turned into, or trying to be, a trendy bar. No decent beer. If you're trying to score then that's the only possible reason to visit this place, and even then head elsewhere...
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Ended up in here by accident at the end of the crawl because the Boot was to busy and smelly and I had 20 minutes to kill. What we got in here was the opposite of the Boot - it's a funky funky mofo lounge bar (check out the chocolate and lime coloured cushion covers) with outrageous food and drinks prices - the ale (a pretty nondescript Cottage beer) was �3.30! Music veered from easy listening to quality Indie. Check out the door in the alleyway outside that has the motif "commit no nuisance". Odd. Would I come back here again? Probably not in hurry�
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No longer a pub. Not really. There are still 3 real ale pumps but these are turned inwards and there is NO beer. The food is OK I suppose. Service is good - fact. Yes, well, all right, if they must. But the Fleur de Lys is dead and there is no going back.
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It's a small bit clinical. Free refills on soft drinks with lunch. Not great at night, think the layout doesn't help.
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This pub looks nice since the refurb but it lacks atmosphere. the staff are nice enough, and the drinks are fine (but very over priced). The food wasn't great and again very over priced. I'm just always a bit disappointed when i come here...
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Is this place still called the Fleur de Lys? When I visited yesterday the "Snug Bar" signs were everywhere. The new owners originally promised to respect the pub's heritage, but....
Worse than that, while the Boot opposite was absolutely heaving, there were 4 customers here listening drunkenly to a very brave singer. She was great but deserved a bigger audience. Which begs the question: what is the purpose of the Snug/Fleur? It seems to have lost all of its character and distinctiveness.
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Fantastic building; wonderful location. No longer, in any meaningful sense of the word, a "pub". Destroyed by the new owners. Formulaic dross.
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A good after-work pub. I've only visited this pub on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, where there's not been many customers in, which probably did reduce the atmosphere somewhat. Still very pleasant if you are in a bigger group. On many Wednesday's there is live music which was very good. Excellent bar staff. Good drinks selection and the barman who served us was happy to make cocktails for our group that weren't on their (extensive) menu.
Hope to go back on a Friday or Saturday night to see if it's a little more lively.
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I agree, this pub has no atmosphere.
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The Snug at the Fleur De Lys doesn�t really work for me. It�s a decent enough refurb, they�ve left some of the original beams and there�s some exposed brickwork but the layout is very strange. They seem to have taken the new name literally and created a series of snugs which I guess is OK if there are 8-10 of you and you want to get there early and set up base camp for the evening. Staff are attentive and professional although the guy behind the bar had a �dragged through a hedge backwards� thing going on with his hair and reminded me of Edward Scissorhands. Three hand pumps but only one on, from the local Red Squirrel Brewery. Looks like they cater more for the cocktail set that the beer drinkers.
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Another useless stuck-up overpriced bistro job. The best thing you can say about it is that it will not last long: it's even closing early some nights due to lack of custom.
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What is it with this place? You would think that a pub this old (16th century is it?) would have bags of character, yet no-one seems to be able to make a decent job of refurbing it. Sod-all atmosphere or character, or anything to recommend it really. (Still not as bad as the Blacksmiths Arms, mind you.)The beer is as crap as it was before, when it was being run as a kind of chavvy Lloyds kinda thing.
This pub continues to be strangely uninviting.
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This old historic pub has been refurbished and has now new management. It has gone from a chav pub in the evening to one with no atmosphere at all. Pop into it on a Saturday afternoon if you happen to be in St Albans. Not a place to spend an evening.
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this used to be a great pub when dave and mickey worjed there. the bar staff were very welcoming to now it has just gone down hill big time. they need to sort there staff out and teach them some manners. and when we walk into a pub we do not expext to be jumped on asking if we will be eating, desperate times call for desperate measures. buisness must be doing bad, bring back the old fleur.
anonymous - 31 Jul 2007 17:02 |
this bar has changed it used to be an excellent pub to drink in now what has happened to it ? i think these people buy pubs in st.albans thinking that we are loaded round here i think they need to think again.
anonymous - 24 Jul 2007 16:32 |
Not sure. For quite a while this evening there was only 1 customer (me) and I resented the way that the only "nibbles" were pistachio nuts, at exhorbitant price. Guys, that makes short-term profits but long-term loss of customers.
Also, I can hardly believe it but the main songs playing were RAP (ie crap) stuff including "Crazy Bitch". Wwwwhhattt????!!! Here in St Albans??? No way Jose!!! The jury is still out.
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Nice - very St Albans. Their greatest achievement has been to change the clientele completely. Had a wrap for lunch, was very nice, free refills on soft drinks. Had a few pints and a cocktail later that night, all very good. BTW - the bar counter is very high! Feels like you are trying to buy a drink over a wall!!
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Hmmm, very very interesting! All credit to the new team for what they've done. The old dirty, violent Fleur has been replaced by a tastefully designed bar with attentive staff and an astonishing menu. There are salads, brunch, pasta, burgers, wraps and sandwiches. Drinks-wise there are more than 80 cocktails, plus wines, gin, martini, vodka, champagne and 3 real ales.
Unlike its obvious competitors - the Slug & Lettuce and Peahen - there isn't a huge amount of space in the Fleur, so I'm not sure how they'll cope when things get really busy. But by any objective measure this new venture has been well thought-out and deserves to succeed.
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We were very impressed with what had been done to this place. 3 excellent guest ales on when we visited including an interesting stout. The food was very nice and service was friendly and efficient. The whole place is simillar in many ways to The Peahen, but with very well made cocktails. Nice outdoor tables for when the weather improves.
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Alot better than it used to be. Well worth a visit.
Good food, service etc. FOC Refils on Coke.
Ill be back
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What a relief, the new pub is nothing like the disgusting old one. Had only a very quick look yesterday, but shall be back. Looks like the new managers are very professional and well seasoned in this line of trade.
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Grand opening on Friday 18th May, according to their website.
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Yeah, I've just checked the Snug Bar's website and they're quoting May as the reopening date.
Actually I'm intrigued about what the new Fleur will be like. It might form a rather romantic pairing with The Boot opposite: middle class and hoity-toity in the Fleur, down-to-earth and a bit scruffy in The Boot. Nothing wrong with that, and they do say opposites attract!
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Looks as though the builders have finally started work on the refurb.
anonymous - 16 Mar 2007 08:47 |
Now due to open in March. They're even recruiting staff, so I think it's gonna happen!
anonymous - 30 Dec 2006 15:04 |
The opening date has slipped back to early November. I had a chat with a manager at the Snug Bar in Hertford, and the St Albans Fleur project has been slightly delayed due to the usual sort of bureaucracy. Nothing to worry about.
I'm cautiously optimistic about the upgrading of the Fleur, especially now that the Snugbar team have answered people's concerns about the heritage issues. The bottom line is that the old Fleur was a disgrace and had to go.
anonymous - 21 Aug 2006 07:14 |
Fantastic news! The Fleur is about to close for a couple of months for refurbishment. Structurally there won't be many changes - good, coz after all this is a very historic building - but the inside will be cleaned and painted, and the electrical wiring made safe!!!!!!
The new front bar will be called The Snug, but there is some uncertainty about whether the name of the pub will be changed. (Personally I hope it remains the Fleur, as a link to its noble past rather than its horrible present.)
Well done to whoever decided to arrange the refurb. At present the Fleur is easily the worst pub in St Albans, for reasons stated by recent reviewers on BITE. "When in a hole, stop digging" and someone has decided to follow that advice. Excellent.
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Scruffy pub. Got stared at by some other young blokes, so we drank up quickly and left. I didn't think St Albans was supposed to have rough pubs like this?!
Then found the Verulam Arms, which was much much better.
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Still no chavs, and the barstaff are OK, but this pub has a BAD atmosphere. Lots of tough young blokes trying to establish eye contact prior to starting the "Who are you looking at?" routine. Nasty. No thanks. 3/10
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Terrified by this pub's reputation, I entered on Thursday evening somewhat nervously. It was my first visit in 3 years, and ... it wasn't too bad! Either I just struck lucky, or the chavs have been chucked out/moved on. There were several groups of people having quiet conversations; attentive barstaff; 2 ales plus the usual lagers; a reasonable degree of cleanliness - worth 6/10 overall, I reckon.
anonymous - 29 Jan 2006 17:17 |
Woeful pub with rude staff, lots of chav types and a reputation for violence. Avoid.
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Despite being genuinely ancient, this place seems to love catering to the chav brigade as a tanking up joint before the antisocial behavior starts. A DJ plays chav anthems to set the mood.
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