The White Lion, St. Albans

Traditional style pub.Quiet.Tribute and Castle Rock -harvest pale which was in good nick.

Although this is a decent enough pub, my visit was slightly spoilt by the strong smell of cooking fat which pervaded the air. I didn't see anyone eating, but they may have been in the other room, which has no direct link or sightline from the room on the left in which I found myself. Or the smell may have persisted since lunchtime... There were five beers and a cider listed on the blackboard, with the relevant hand pumps apparently split between the two parts of the centrally situated bar. Tring Ridgeway and Side Pocket for a Toad were the local beers, with Fullers London Pride, Adnams Broadside and Youngs Special making up the numbers, plus Westons Old Rosie. My half of Ridgeway was as good as can be expected, given the cooking fat smell; I'd only return here if I knew for sure they had remembered to turn on the extractor fan in the kitchen.

I popped my head into the den bar to the right of the entrance of the White Lion and thought better of entering as it was pretty full with what looked like a CAMRA meeting, but the beardy gentlemen in question were probably just locals. I set up camp at the bar in the larger left hand side of the pub that has a couple of seating areas and a dartboard to the rear. There is a huge beer garden at the rear and I’d imagine that there is a bit of a squeeze at the bar on a hot summer’s weekend afternoon as this pub doesn’t have the longest bar. I counted eight hand pumps split between the two bars and I enjoyed a very nice pint of Sadlers’ Worcester Sorcerer. There are four draught taps, but I didn’t spot anyone drinking the lager. I liked it in here and would have no problem returning to this corner of St Albans as there are some quality pubs.