The Snug, Ware

The pub is well described by BF below, but I would add that as well as a football match being shown on the large TV screen in the corner, there was loud music coming from loudspeakers in every corner - the booming bass was impossible to avoid, and we tried a couple of different seats in the hope of doing so. There were three ales available at the time of our visit: Goddards Fuggle Dee Dum was ok; Batemans We've Blown It (renamed after England's early exit from the World Cup) was also quite good, though both beers were a little tired; we didn't try the third option, which was Sharps Doom Bar. At £3.60 a pint or a cheeky £1.85 for a half we felt that we'd been ripped off, but perhaps that's a normal price (and a normal feeling) this close to London.

There is still a large bell in plasterwork on the front elevation with the date 1900,so the current name does feel incongruous.The pub is on a street corner and with large windows on each side and no curtains you certainly feel on display if drinking inside during the day.Apart from a small raised library section to the left of the entrance,the rest of the interior is open plan with minimalistic decor and a wooden floor.The multiple lager fonts are prominent but there are three handpumps,one reversed and the other dispensing GK Abbott and Northumberland Firkin Freezing. Although you can eat anywhere,at the rear of the building is a seperate restaurant section.The new menu is still firmly gastro but the prices have risen with mains generally £12-£18,stone baked pizza £10,sandwiches and chips £8. Although the rotating real ales may produce something worth drinking,I feel this pub lacks a cosy atmosphere in which to sup and may also be pricing itself out of the local pub food market.

Formerly the Bell, which was a tired old traditional decor Whitbread pub, it was leased from Enterprise Inns by Bright Leisure about three years ago, who gave it the full Gastro pub make over with (according to their blurb), contemporary décor and `vibe` to match. What this means is a food orientated venue with another sterile interior - which is no bad thing if you are looking to eat after shopping all day. And although I didn’t the menu did look like decent non run of the mill meal options, but at a reasonable price level. But what enticed me in here was the fact that the usual chrome fizz dispensers are not your usual suspects and there is a decent Ale range as well. Four or five handpumps (can’t quite remember now) and alongside the ubiquitous GK IPA were some decent guest beers, which were Mauldon's Silver Adder, Woodforde's Wherry and Ringwood Boondoggle and the Boondoggle was a well kept pint. There are aluminium tables and chairs to the front on the High Street and then a small patio area out the back of the pub. I usually bemoan when a traditional pub is Gastrofied, but this isn’t a bad attempt at retaining a pub feel instead of clearly being a restaurant.