Farriers Arms, St Albans Central, St. Albans

A pub that warrants a visit due to its historical association with the fledgling CAMRA back in the day. And as a solid enough back street traditional pub serving four ales and with a sizeable local following. But in a town full of excellent drinking houses its difficult to see myself going out of my way to utilise The Farriers over several others.

A typical looking backstreet pub and to be honest was nothing too special as mentioned by my fellow pub crawlers below.The whole place seemed a little in a rut as was the ordinary beer selection, my Fullers Oliver's Island was a little tired and lacking in taste. It was OK for a quick pint but I wouldn't go out of my way again given the unadventurous beer lineup.

Not a great pub for atmosphere on our visit. This also reflected across the beer choice across the pumps, no local microbrewery gems to be found here. The outside loos with polished brass work, were the only feature on the day.

A traditional, street corner pub just a short stroll around the corner from the market place, it consists of an L-shape bar with a sanded wooden floor and white painted boards on the ceiling. There is some further pine wood panelling on the walls, a darts board and a couple of plasma screens, although one was turned off and the other that was showing the cricket had the volume down so these were not too intrusive. There was also a small brick fire-place in the corner. A few photos of the locals were on the walls along with a selection of beer mats suggesting a regularly changing line up. Food wise, the menu appeared to offer a range of “pub grub” dishes such as Thai prawns, scampi & chips, fish & chips, ham egg & chips, etc., and these were mostly priced around £6 or so. Beers on this occasion were McMullen’s County, Betty Stoggs, Tribute and Fullers Oliver’s Island. The solitary cider was a slightly disappointing Aspall’s Suffolk.

Famous as the birthplace of CAMRA, I thought the small L shaped interior was a little spartan and the window blinds seemed a bit too modern.However the outside gents did restore an authentic vibe.Quiet on a crawl visit,the guv'nor appeared tired of tourists and didn't show much enthusiasm.The real ale selection of Fullers Olivers Island,Skinners Betty Stogs,St Austell Tribute and McMullens Country was safe but unexciting and I got the impression that the GBG 2015 listing is more a nod to history that an endorsement of real ale excellence.

Much vaunted as the birthplace of CAMRA, this is a pleasing backstreet local with a red carpeted floor, stained wainscoting and a white painted planked ceiling. Various framed cartoons, old advertisements and maps decorate the place, the bar is central with the room winding around from front to rear. Benches and blue upholstered chars at rustic tables, venetian blinds and a nice big wall clock. There was a vase of roses on the corner of the bar. Three on, McMullen's Country Bitter, Skinner's Betty Stogs and Tribute. Food served and good value too. A nice place, the landlord was a bit miserable however and seemed to have a slight issue with me taking photos however it's his house so I suppose he can say what he likes. Another good pub in this town full of them.