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The Mermaid, St Albans Central, St. Albans
St. Albans
AL1 3RL
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Mermaid
I wasn't originally planning to pay a visit to the Mermaid on this visit to St Albans. However, we started heading towards it with a trip to the Robin Hood. So, we thought we would continue onto the Mermaid.
As luck would have it, we stumbled across a beer festival. With 16 real ales in a tent from the garden and the usual number on the bar indoors, we had a good choice. I did enquire about ciders and the cheerful barman did apologise that ciders were not featuring in the festival. So, there was just the usual range of 13 ciders!
The pub is a good old-fashioned one-room boozer with bare boards and a great traditional atmosphere. I don't ever recall venturing out to the garden before, but there is plenty of further seating there in case the interior gets too busy. We were also informed that a burrito van was setting up in the car park. The burritos weren't quite ready when I tried to purchase some, but the nachos I had from the van were very tasty.
The full cask ale range on offer was Oakham Citra, Stardust WIP 007, Milestone North Rock, Nethergate Growler & Suffolk County, Aylesbury Brewhouse Electric Sharp, Exmoor Ram, Fuzzy Duck Cunning Stunt, Jacaranda Raven's Progress, Magpie Best & Days Like These, Okell's Spring Ram, Rooster's One Horse Town, Thornbridge Brother Rabbit & Cat's Eyes, Beartown Eclipse, Fat Cat Incredible Pale, Growling Dog Raspberry Milk Stout, Nene Valley Release The Chimps, Orkney Puffin & Salopian Jumping The Shark. If you hadn't guessed, this was an animal-themed festival!
Ciders on were Pearson's Medium Dry, Cotswold Cider Company Yellow Hammer & Voodoo Pulp, Rich's Farmhouse Cider & Legbender, Sandford Orchards Slack Ma Girdle & Fanny's Bramble, Snail's Bank Orchard Dry & Appley Dapply, Dorset Nectar Top o'The Hill, Gwynt y Ddraig Ancient Warrior, Lilley's Rhubarb Cider & Abrahall's Ruby Tuesday. Craft beers were Tiny Rebel Clwb Tropical & Mad Squirrel De La Nut.
Needless to say, we stopped here significantly longer than anticipated, enjoying the warm atmosphere where conversation thrives. I've always rated this pub as the best in St Albans. I see no reason to change that. Whilst I'll maintain my rating as a 9/10, this comes close to a very rare 10/10 from me and for me is one of the best 10/20 pubs in the country.
On 5th May 2024
- rating: 9
[User has posted 2501 recommendations about 2500 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
peter ashworth left this review about The Mermaid
Quite liked this one called in around 1 30pm and although very quiet the barman was chatty enough. As mentioned below there was 6 cask beers on show,one of which was a porter which was top notch.
On 29th June 2022
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2318 recommendations about 2274 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about The Mermaid
Sort out to get the Good Beer Guide Tick. Well deserved entry - six unusual real ales and a collection of Belgian bottles.
Traditional blokey pub with keen dartsplayers and football fans.
Visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2x7wj5w
On 19th October 2017
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1345 recommendations about 1331 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about The Mermaid
Called into this 2018 Good Beer Guide pub while on a coach trip in the area. Found it to be a comfortable pub with a good selection of real ales. There were also ciders and bottled Belgian beers available. We chose Atomic H Bomb which was fine. Very busy pub for a variety of events to keep locals happy in the pub with darts, quizzes and music nights, plus events in the garden and beer festivals. Also a cider and perry festival.
On 17th October 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The Mermaid
The Mermaid is a very nice looking pub that is a short walk from the middle of St Albans.
Once inside the bar faces in an L shaped room that is bare boarded,there is bench seating and chairs and normal tables and chairs for seating.
There were five real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Dowbridge Acris,which went down well,the other real ales noted were Oakham Citra,Listers Limehouse Porter,Slaughterhouse Short & Curly and Green Duck Flake of the West.
The pub was fairly busy on my Saturday afternoon visit.
I thought this was a very pleasant and comfortable pub to have a drink in.
Pub visited 24/6/2017
On 30th September 2017
- rating: 8
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Danny O'Revey left this review about The Mermaid
Very normal, very probably how you'd expect a pub to look, in a nice way. There is a brick pillar in the middle of the room and some stools at the bar.
Beer quality is ok
On 2nd August 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1456 recommendations about 1434 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Mermaid
Just a short walk from the centre of St Albans, the Mermaid is a smart, traditional roadside pub. Inside, we find an L-shaped interior with dark exposed floorboards and a lovely curved bar counter to the right with a matching canopy and mirrored bar back. Seating comprises various pews and benches around the perimeter plus a particularly comfy settle under the front window bay, ably supported by some decent chairs and low stools. The room has half panelled walls with white uppers adorned with a lot of old brewery mirrors, a few black and white photos of various 70's musicians and a collection of beer bottles displayed along a high shelf. There was a nice old Whitbread pub sign on the ceiling for a pub called the Royal Standard, which I've not been able to find any reference to, so I'm not sure where it has come from. A TV in the front corner was showing muted live football with some gentle folk music providing a nice hum of background noise. To the right of the bar there is a small carpeted snug-like area with tub chairs, a dartboard and some high shelves full of books. The pub doesn't have a typical menu, but Pieminister pies were being promoted along with some tasty sounding bar snacks. Live music was also heavily promoted, perhaps explaining the various musician photos around the room and there was a well maintained front patio area with decent bench seating outside the front of the pub. Blackboards behind the bar and on the canopy list the various ales and one of them explained that if you were to apply the new 72% business rates increase in St Albans to your drinks, a pint of beer would rise from £3.60 to £6.20!
A very friendly barmaid greeted me on arrival and gave me time to peruse the beer range which comprised North Yorkshire Rocket Fuel, Muirhouse Chocolate Mild, Oakham Citra, Batemans Hooker, Nethergate Azzanewt and Grainstore Rutland Beast. My pint of the Citra was absolutely sublime and had almost vanished from the glass before I'd even managed to sit down.
I really liked this place, which happened to be my introduction to the St Albans pub scene. I thought there was a nice relaxed atmosphere within, a good friendly welcome and an interesting and well kept range of ales. It has a traditional feel to it but is set up in such a way that I can see it appealing to a wide range of customers and rewarding repeat visits.
On 22nd April 2017
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Mermaid
Yep ditto, my remembrances of this final stop on the PuG crawl are a bit hazy as well, so thanks to Blackthorns review below for reminding me what a comfortable traditional old fashioned pub this one is.
Remember it being well patronised on this Friday evening with a lively crowd in. Will have to take Blackthorn’s word for the available beers for our visit though as I too only had eyes for the Oakham Citra, which was on splendid form and an excellent way to finish an enjoyable day.
Do not get a great call to utilise St Albans train station, but if I did I would certainly make use of the Mermaid..
On 23rd August 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2125 recommendations about 2001 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Mermaid
A fine old-fashioned boozer, handily located between the city centre and the main line station. Traditional interior with fairly basic furniture, bare boards and breweriana. Also has a couple of benches and a rear beer garden. Two banks of three handpumps, offering a fine range of real ales including North Cotswold Best, plus an extensive selection of ciders.
On 23rd August 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Mermaid
Has been well spruced-up since 2009 and the interior looks much better for it. Lots of old mirrors, bottles on shelves and general breweriana. Dart board spotted. Seven ales on the go and a good selection too. My Oakham JHB was in excellent shape and put the fetid ale at the Blacksmiths into stark perspective. The North Cotswold Best was also a good drop. Plenty of ciders also on, indeed it’s the local CAMRA branch cider pub of the year. Don’t feed the pub dog, he’s very fat! Edged it as my favourite Snorbens pub of a long day’s crawling. 8.5
July 2009
An old-skool J-shaped local that sports an interesting selection of eight real ales and cider - my two were in good nick. As well as guest ales there are also 'guest crisps' (!). Pub features include a dart board, TV and some old-style pub games. The pub spider plants need some urgent TLC and the toilets smelt of old wee and cabbage which was rather unappealing. There were very few punters inside given it was mid-Sunday afternoon. Well-worth a stop for the beer but could be a lot better with some simple touches and upgrades. I wasn't tempted to stay for too long, unfortunately. Rated 7
On 1st August 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5108 recommendations about 5091 pubs]