The Pakenham Arms, Clerkenwell

As a local of the area I have to comment that the decline in this pub over the past 18 months has been nothing short of shocking.

It used to be a light airy venue at the heart of the community, frequented by a great bunch of locals, posties from Mount Pleasant and professionals and office staff. Now it is pretty much abandoned by them all, and attracts an odd clientele - a mix of die hard posties (the rest have vanished to The Apple Tree and The Exmouth Arms), professional drunks, and lost tourists.

So what has gone wrong - a light airy venue with a great atmosphere has been into an oppressive cave with dodgy cheap photos filling every possible piece of wall, and a direct contrast to the explosion of flower boxes outside. The friendly entertaining staff have mostly been replaced by a strange bunch who interact with an elite group of their friends and thats about it - when they are actually behind the bar - they seem to spend a lot of time outside smoking.

The drinks choice varies from week to week - sometimes they don't even have any overpriced white wine at all, which would appear to indicate bigger underlying problems. Real Ale fans seem to have abandoned it for some of the other bars in the area. Some days there is an appalling smell, some days not. Sky Sports and a decent sound system is long gone replaced by a selection of music that is quite weird.

Positives - they have a chef who seems inventive and waiting for a chance to shine, the infestation of rodents appears to have been sorted for the time being, and the lights in the toilet have been fixed.

It is really sad that what could be a viable business is being systematically destroyed - it is rumoured to be on the market - hopefully any new owners will breathe life into, and indeed restore this once great centre of the community back to its former status.

8 Jul 2013 23:25