PuG Summer meet - St Albans: Friday 17th July 2015

As the date and venue for this summer's Pubs Galore meet up have been agreed, should we start looking at some pubs? I did a little tour there one afternoon before a Luton Town match earlier this year:

The Garibaldi
The White Lion
The Goat
The Beehive
(these were pubs that hadn't had a recent review on the site)

In the same area, there are also
White Hart Tap
Hare & Hounds
(which I didn't have time for, and they'd recently been reviewed)

I would suggest that Ye Olde Fighting Cocks would probably be one we ought to include. There's a nice walk through the park to The Six Bells and The Rose & Crown. Going back towards town there's Lower Red Lion. Someone recommended The Foragers at Verulam Arms to me, and there's Farriers Arms with historical Camra connections. I don't know the town centre pubs, apart from The Mermaid, which I would suggest might make a good final pub, as it's not very far from the station.

Any suggestions?

That's a very good list and also suggests a sensible crawl route.I would only suggest adding Blacksmiths Arms just before The Mermaid at the end of the crawl as folk head back towards the station.

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Originally Posted by Bucking Fastard

That's a very good list and also suggests a sensible crawl route.I would only suggest adding Blacksmiths Arms just before The Mermaid at the end of the crawl as folk head back towards the station.

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...as long as it's not too late, as John's review suggests that it gets pretty loud here on a Friday night.

The Wetherspoons seems to be above average, going by John's review, and would seem to suggest itself as a start point for the crawl.

Steve's review of The Victoria gives an inkling of why he's giving this crawl a miss! (To be fair, it might have improved in the intervening four years.)

Does anyone know anything about Dylans Kings Arms? Seems to be doing craft beers, but is it keg only?

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Originally Posted by sheffield hatter

Does anyone know anything about Dylans Kings Arms? Seems to be doing craft beers, but is it keg only?

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They have three handpulls according to WhatPub with Dark Star APA and Oakham JHB plus a rotating guest (although that photo at the top of their Twitter page shows APA, Hophead and Tribute as the three ales). Real cider also available. Run by the same people that run The Boot, which also sounds like it might be worth a look.

Its a smart modern food led pub and last Saturday had 2 oakham beers and a local three brewers -golden which was good .Whether its one for the crawl is another matter.

I have been to St Albans quite a few times as my daughter lives there.This is my suggestion but feel free to add or delete any pubs.Quite compact crawl which keeps everyone together.Meet at
Wetherspoon -Waterend Barn then walk back to
Mermaid then
Blacksmiths
Cock (greene king pub with guests or walk to the Craft and Cleaver a new pub then
Boot
Peahen (modern Mcmullens)
Beehive
White hart tap (should have their own brewed beer on early june expected
Garibaldi (fullers with guests)
Hare and Hounds
White lion
Goat (chas wells with guest)
White hart hotel (I will play my joker card and say this is worth a visit)
if we miss out the Peahen and Goat we could walk the 10 mins to the
Farrier + foragers at the Verulam +lower red lion

I have missed out the Farmers boy as its not a great pub but the Verulam beers brewed out the back can be very good and can be visited on the way back to the station.What do you think.

There is a useful feature about, and map of, St Albans pubs on pages 50 / 51 in the current issue of Nottingham Camra's Nottingham Drinker magazine. Available here:

http://nottinghamcamra.org/ND/ND127_2015_WEB.pdf

NB - This is a very large file, almost 30 MB!

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Originally Posted by rpadam

There is a useful feature about, and map of, St Albans pubs on pages 50 / 51 in the current issue of Nottingham Camra's Nottingham Drinker magazine. Available here:

http://nottinghamcamra.org/ND/ND127_2015_WEB.pdf

NB - This is a very large file, almost 30 MB!

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Their crawl is very like my first thoughts - albeit theirs goes anticlockwise round the city!

I tend to agree with John that the Farmers Boy is not worth bothering with (see my review of 26th February 2015 and his of a couple of days later). I think the Fighting Cocks and the walk through the park to the Six Bells are worth doing, though. Perhaps we need to separate out the "must does" from the "wild cards".

How about this:

Meet at Wetherspoon - Waterend Barn

Boot [wild card: Kings Arms ]

Peahen [wild card: White Hart]

White Hart Tap [wild card: Beehive]

Garibaldi [wild card: White Lion]

Hare & Hounds [wild card: Goat]

Fighting Cocks

Six Bells [wild card: Rose & Crown]

Lower Red Lion [wild card: Verulum Arms]

Farriers Arms [off piste: Craft & Cleaver ]

Blacksmiths [wild card: Cock]

Mermaid

That's 12 pubs on the central crawl, plus eight wild cards and one which I've designated "off piste". (This would have qualified as a "Full Alan Winfield", but he took me to task about that after York, because he now aims to do 22 pubs in a day, not 21.)

Anyone who doesn't fancy the walk through the park to the Six Bells can go direct from the Fighting Cocks to the Lower Red Lion, past the abbey.

I haven't checked the opening times for any of these, by the way - I know the Hare & Hounds is a late opener in the early part of the week but is OK Fridays. The Mermaid is about 8 to 10 minutes from the station, according to Google maps, so seems a suitable last pub.

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Originally Posted by sheffield hatter

Their crawl is very like my first thoughts - albeit theirs goes anticlockwise round the city!

I tend to agree with John that the Farmers Boy is not worth bothering with (see my review of 26th February 2015 and his of a couple of days later). I think the Fighting Cocks and the walk through the park to the Six Bells are worth doing, though. Perhaps we need to separate out the "must does" from the "wild cards".

How about this:

Meet at Wetherspoon - Waterend Barn

Boot [wild card: Kings Arms ]

Peahen [wild card: White Hart]

White Hart Tap [wild card: Beehive]

Garibaldi [wild card: White Lion]

Hare & Hounds [wild card: Goat]

Fighting Cocks

Six Bells [wild card: Rose & Crown]

Lower Red Lion [wild card: Verulum Arms]

Farriers Arms [off piste: Craft & Cleaver ]

Blacksmiths [wild card: Cock]

Mermaid

That's 12 pubs on the central crawl, plus eight wild cards and one which I've designated "off piste". (This would have qualified as a "Full Alan Winfield", but he took me to task about that after York, because he now aims to do 22 pubs in a day, not 21.)

Anyone who doesn't fancy the walk through the park to the Six Bells can go direct from the Fighting Cocks to the Lower Red Lion, past the abbey.

I haven't checked the opening times for any of these, by the way - I know the Hare & Hounds is a late opener in the early part of the week but is OK Fridays. The Mermaid is about 8 to 10 minutes from the station, according to Google maps, so seems a suitable last pub.

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That looks fine to me.I will be in the Craft and Cleaver on Saturday so will find out if its worth including and I have deleted my review of the Fighting Cocks(will it have changed its non PC name by then to the Happy Hens) as it was the Lower Red Lion I visited. cheers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sheffield hatter

Their crawl is very like my first thoughts - albeit theirs goes anticlockwise round the city!

I tend to agree with John that the Farmers Boy is not worth bothering with (see my review of 26th February 2015 and his of a couple of days later). I think the Fighting Cocks and the walk through the park to the Six Bells are worth doing, though. Perhaps we need to separate out the "must does" from the "wild cards".

How about this:

Meet at Wetherspoon - Waterend Barn

Boot [wild card: Kings Arms ]

Peahen [wild card: White Hart]

White Hart Tap [wild card: Beehive]

Garibaldi [wild card: White Lion]

Hare & Hounds [wild card: Goat]

Fighting Cocks

Six Bells [wild card: Rose & Crown]

Lower Red Lion [wild card: Verulum Arms]

Farriers Arms [off piste: Craft & Cleaver ]

Blacksmiths [wild card: Cock]

Mermaid

That's 12 pubs on the central crawl, plus eight wild cards and one which I've designated "off piste". (This would have qualified as a "Full Alan Winfield", but he took me to task about that after York, because he now aims to do 22 pubs in a day, not 21.)

Anyone who doesn't fancy the walk through the park to the Six Bells can go direct from the Fighting Cocks to the Lower Red Lion, past the abbey.

I haven't checked the opening times for any of these, by the way - I know the Hare & Hounds is a late opener in the early part of the week but is OK Fridays. The Mermaid is about 8 to 10 minutes from the station, according to Google maps, so seems a suitable last pub.

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Will,that's a great plan.We should be past The White Hart Tap before their 2.30pm afternoon closure time {My mistake that's the food serving time its open ALL DAY from 11am} and be close to the Verulam Arms for their 5pm opening time,as well as the 5.30pm reopening at The Farriers. (Times gathered from What Pub)

For the early birds ,I couldnt find too many pubs open before noon,apart from the Waterend Barn JDW( of course) and The Blacksmiths (11am) so that just begs the question of when folk intend to arrive in St Albans . I can get there at any time without problems,although I'm not hitting the Waterend Barn at 8am ;)

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Originally Posted by Bucking Fastard

Will,that's a great plan.We should be past The White Hart Tap before their 2.30pm afternoon closure time and be close to the Verulam Arms for their 5pm opening time,as well as the 5.30pm reopening at The Farriers. (Times gathered from What Pub)

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Thanks Nev, for doing the research I was too time-poor to do myself. If we aim to arrive at the Boot for 12, and assume 40 to 45 minutes for each pub (including walking time - those intent on picking up the wild cards will need to go at a different speed, of course), that would get us to the last pub at around a quarter to seven. For me, that would mean a bit of a dash for the 19:28 to get home to Sheffield at around 10pm, though as I've been to the Mermaid a few times before I'm not that bothered if I have to skip it. Hope this schedule will not inconvenience others, though I get the impression most of the northern contingent will be giving this one a miss.

Anyone got any comments or suggestions?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bucking Fastard

Will,that's a great plan.We should be past The White Hart Tap before their 2.30pm afternoon closure time and be close to the Verulam Arms for their 5pm opening time,as well as the 5.30pm reopening at The Farriers. (Times gathered from What Pub)

For the early birds ,I couldnt find too many pubs open before noon,apart from the Waterend Barn JDW( of course) and The Blacksmiths (11am) so that just begs the question of when folk intend to arrive in St Albans . I can get there at any time without problems,although I'm not hitting the Waterend Barn at 8am ;)

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I would be looking at arriving about 11.30ish, not governed by advanced tickets so can leave whenever.

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Originally Posted by Mobyduck

I would be looking at arriving about 11.30ish, not governed by advanced tickets so can leave whenever.

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Anyone travelling a long way and needs to catch an early train can get to the Waterend Barn earlier then the Cock 11.00am and the Blacksmiths 11.00 am opening then meet a the Boot 12.00 so they can get a few pubs in.Surprised and disappointed that they still shut on Friday afternoon. cheers

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Originally Posted by london calling

Anyone travelling a long way and needs to catch an early train can get to the Waterend Barn earlier then the Cock 11.00am and the Blacksmiths 11.00 am opening then meet a the Boot 12.00 so they can get a few pubs in.Surprised and disappointed that they still shut on Friday afternoon. cheers

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Actually shouldn't be surprised as I was I the Waterend Barn at 10.00 on a Sat morning recently and their must have been the best part of a hundred people in.Why go to a pub that opens at 12.00 and throws you out at 2.30

Quote:

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Originally Posted by london calling

Anyone travelling a long way and needs to catch an early train can get to the Waterend Barn earlier then the Cock 11.00am and the Blacksmiths 11.00 am opening then meet a the Boot 12.00 so they can get a few pubs in.Surprised and disappointed that they still shut on Friday afternoon. cheers

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For me to arrive any earlier than 11:30 would involve buying a peak time ticket and more expense, so 11:30 ish it is.