The Farmers Boy, St Albans Central, St. Albans

This pub was a bit of a disappointment because as stated in the previous review there was only one Verulam beer on tap.The Oakham Scarlett Macaw was in fine form and the barman was very friendly but the pub lacked atmosphere but this was more than likely because it was about 3.30pm.

Farmers Boy official site with menu and event details - www.farmersboy.co.uk

Farmers Boy official site with menu and event details - www.farmersboy.co.uk

Odd little pub, featuring traditional decor and furniture in the 'J'-shaped bar. Probably as much seating again outside in the patio beer garden, but all a bit tatty. Given that it has a micro-brewery (just visible through an open side door in a rear outbuilding), it was a surprise that it only offered one of its own products from the five handpumps. As this was the 2.8% Half Nelson, I opted for the Musashi (£3.10) which was one of three Oakham beers on offer. The fifth real ale was Pride. Overall, not bad, but I'll admit to being a bit disappointed with my visit (although had a different Verulam beer beer been on offer then things might have been different).

The Farmers Boy was fairly quiet when I visited early on a recent Saturday afternoon and the lack of any background music made the atmosphere very flat. Maybe it gets livelier on Thursday nights when there is live music. There were a few people in the paved beer garden where there is a serving hut that probably kicks into life during the summer months. One of the five hand pumps on the bar was unused, but Pride, Veralum Simcoe King, Farmers Joy and Oakham Ales White Dwarf were all available. There is also a standard draught selection along with Tuborg, Peroni and Scrumpy Jack cider. The service was friendly and I wasn’t made to feel unwelcome, but I feel that there are better pubs in the area.

Visited in May 2010 Noteworthy for being the home of the Verulam micro brewery, The Farmers Boy is otherwise a rather unremarkable cottage style pub on the main London Road and reasonably close to the station. The single bar interior is bare boarded and, apart from a fine old framed photo of the pub showing it advertising "Wickhams Pure Beer", my main memory is of hard wooden floors and uncomfortable seats and a slight smell of cleaning fluid. The pub was decidedly quiet with probably fewer than half a dozen or so customers. On the real ale front, on my recent early Saturday evening visit, the usual suspects - Landlord, Pride, Bombardier and Greene King IPA - were all present, but, disappointingly, the only beer from the microbrewery that was on was the Clipper IPA - £ 2.90p. This was however in splendid form and, looking back in retrospect, was probably the best pint of the day. On that basis alone, I think that I'd probably include this pub in the crawl next time

A crushing disappointment. Two of the five ales off when I ventured in on my visit a couple of months back. Of the three remaining one of those was pretty poor (Deuchars) and the brewpub's own Farmers Boy spluttered out as we ordered it with no replacement barrel forthcoming - oh dear! There's a paved beer garden, a TV and a food bar (the Farmer's Kitchen) which was idle, perhaps they had foot and mouth. Possibly the worst pub sign I've ever seen - looks like something from a crèche. There was also a swarm of mites buzzing round which just added to the pain. I really didn't see much here to warrant the hype. Sometimes you catch places on an 'off' day but having seen this I wonder if they know what an 'on' day is.