The Garibaldi, St. Albans

Official site of The Garibaldi - www.garibaldistalbans.co.uk

Official site of The Garibaldi - www.garibaldistalbans.co.uk

A cracking little backstreet pub with numerous rooms and areas arranged round a central bar. Very floral outside and cosy inside with a warm, homely feel. A Fullers pub, with London Pride, ESB, HSB, and Hophead. The only real negative was the regulars clustered round the entrance and bar, so we felt a bit intrusive barging in but I expect they were at home.

This is a very pleasant Fullers pub set in the backstreets of St Albans, that proffered a friendly welcome on my midweek evening visit. Entering through a door on the corner of the building, you emerge into the pub’s main room, which is dominated by an island servery that takes up much of the available space, leaving a ribbon of seating around the perimeter. The bar has a tongue and groove panelled counter front, painted in a deep shade of red, beneath a dark wood gantry with some colourful stained-glass inserts. The island bar suggests that the pub would once have been divided up into several smaller bar areas, with the partitioning having since been ripped out, and this is made a little clearer when looking at the somewhat lobotomised bar back, which has come out of the whole ‘open-plan’ thing in pretty bad shape. The space around the bar has been carpeted and offers nice banquette seating under the front windows and down the right-hand side, whilst tables and chairs fill the rear and left sections, with plenty of low stools filling in any gaps. Most of the walls are bare brick and a few of the windows have decorative stained-glass inserts, all of which adds to a nice traditional and homely feel. A large TV screen in the rear right corner was showing some muted cricket coverage, with a well stocked trophy cabinet to one side, whilst elsewhere there was a mix of old photos, brewery mirrors and pump clips on show. Just off to the left of the main bar area there is a narrow side room with exposed brick walls and a few more tables and chairs, whilst a similar amount of additional seating can be found in a lower level room to the right of the bar, which has plain painted walls, an eclectic mix of paintings and a dartboard. A door from here leads out to a beer garden which I didn’t get around to exploring. Sappy pop music playing on the radio in the background was one of the few negative points I took away from this visit. As you would expect, the handpumps were taken up with the usual array of Fullers products, with London Pride, ESB, HSB and Hophead available on this visit. The Hophead was a fairly steep £4.70, served up by a very friendly and chatty barmaid who also explained that card payments can only be taken for purchases of £10 or more. The Hophead turned out to be in great shape and was easily the best pint of it that I’ve had since Fullers took over the Dark Star Brewery. Much like their other St Albans pub, The Portland Arms, I thought Fullers had done a good job here creating a pleasant pub environment in a nice old building which still retains much of its charm despite the opening out of the interior. The good quality beer and cheery service were also strong plus points and I felt this was one of the better back street pubs I’ve discovered in this part of town.

Absolutely stunning pint of Fullers ESB. I know the beer well, but this was the best example I have had. Not just saying this because I had seen the cellarmanship awards they had won. Certainly well deserved. Nice central bar, providing plenty of space for bar hangers to sit and allow punters access. Free cheese on a Monday :-) Visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2x7wj5w

For the second time of visiting St Albans I found this to be the best pub in the town. Although a Fullers tied house it is a really homely pub, very well looked after and the floral displays are excellent. Nice garden area too, although its artificial grass. Small and perfectly formed

Pretty backstreet red brick Fullers outlet. Island bar inside with Fullers standards at the front with two seasonals and a guest, White Horse Weyland Smithy, to the rear. My Beachcomber was in good nick though the useless trainee barman at one point made me worry it’d never see the light of day - luckily a chap who knew his biscuits took over. Quite a cosy pubby interior with a room off to the right for dining. A very well-attended patio garden off to the left which was nicely done-out with plenty of flora and felt like a great place for an idle summer’s day beer. TV's showing golf inside and out. I rather liked this one and would look to do it again next time.