The White Hart Tap, St Albans

The best pub in St. Albans, now run by long-standing landlord 'S' together with newcomer 'A' (a refugee from the downsizing in the world of financial services). The food is excellent, and you don't suddenly get blasted with deafening music when you're trying to read a newspaper. The bar staff are very good, and the regulars really ARE regulars. The quiz night makes Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons look like a vicar's tea party.

26 Apr 2012 20:02

The Beehive, St Albans

This place on London Road has gone through the hoops over the years. It used to be the meeting place (in a room upstairs) for the St. Albans branch of the Socialist Workers Party. It had a spell has 'the place to be' for students & teenagers in the late 80's. Now it's rather large & neglected during the afternoon - but it does have the excellent White Hart Tap to compete with down the road. The barmaid told me, though, that last Saturday night it was so busy they completely ran out of glasses. Barman 'C' has just moved here from the Blacksmiths Arms, so the atmosphere will soon get a bit better.

26 Apr 2012 19:55

Pitcher and Piano, Tower Hill

As many financial services companies have migrated to Mayfair, the Eastern edge of the City around Tower Hill & Aldgate has lost its soul. There are many boarded up properties. What has happened to the bar I still think of as the Savage Grill is a good example. It's changed names more times than I can remember since those days, and when I saw its latest mutation was into a Bavarian Beer House (I know the Royal Family originally came from Germany, but allowing a monstrosity like this right by the Tower of London is absurd) I didn't even go in. I went into the Cheshire Cheese over the road instead. The idea of sitting at a table with a blue & white checkered cloth, waiting for a girl in German native dress to come and serve me was more than I could stand... The Pitcher & Piano was OK, and I had bored the girl behind the bar telling her what it had been like there in the early 80s. Eventually there won't be a bar or pub there at all. Hopefully the Ship will still be there up the road, or even the Wine Lodge in Fenchurch Street if you really desperate for a drink.

26 Feb 2012 19:22