The Goat, St. Albans

St Albans has no shortage of pubs hidden away in its back streets and the Goat is another such example, perhaps a little larger than most thanks to its comfy front lounge and bar areas and sizable rear dining space. There are two front rooms either side of the entrance, but things have been opened out sufficiently that the distinction between each is fairly notional. Some sofas can be found to the right, arranged around a very pleasant looking fireplace, whilst the left side is carpeted and has long, comfy looking banquettes around the wall in what might be the best place for drinkers to try and find a seat. The opening up of the pub has resulted in the servery now effectively becoming an island, with access from all sides. The bar counter retains some nice old wood panelling on its frontage, with a gantry above designed to match it, but much of the bar back appears to have been remodelled in a more modern style. Moving into the rear part of the room, you find yourself in a darker, split-level space that has been filled with tables and chairs plus the occasional pew, giving it a more formal feel than that of the relaxed front rooms. The walls are either wood panelled, or else painted in dark shades, which, when combined with the lack of natural light back here, makes for a bit of a gloomy space. The lower, front part of the room is pretty sparsely furnished and broken up by some crumbling brick pillars, with plenty of standing room closer to the bar area. The rear section has nice flooring and some dark wood beams running across the ceiling, whilst the walls have been decorated with a mix of old paintings, local photographs and some items of sports memorabilia, such as a framed Paulo Di Canio shirt, tucked away in one corner apropos of nothing. A door to the rear right leads out to a beer garden with picnic benches, jumbrellas and a few decent sheltered areas – it seems there were once stables out here and the old archway leading to the rear can still be seen to the right of the pub. I was a little surprised to find they had more ales than customers on my midweek evening visit, with Wells DNA and Origin, St Austell Tribute and Adnams Ghost Ship occupying the hand pumps. An engaging barman took my order as I entered and brought over a pint of the Ghost Ship (£4.70), which was in decent enough shape. This is quite an interesting building that I enjoyed having a bit of a snoop around thanks to the lack of other customers, but it was the missing punters that also showed up some of the pub’s flaws, with perhaps too big an interior to generate a proper pub atmosphere and a fairly uninspiring ale selection likely to lose condition without sufficient demand. I was happy enough in here for a quick pint but this didn’t have enough about it to put it into the ‘must revisit’ category.

The Goat Inn as it is called is situated a short walk from the middle of St Albans. Once inside the bar faces in an oblong shaped room to the front,which is split into two areas by a wall,the room is carpeted and the seating is normal tables and chairs plus two settees,there is a bar billiard table to the front and lots of board games on a shelf. The room to the rear is oblong shaped and carpeted,the rear area of this room is up two steps. There were four real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Wells Eagle IPA,which went down very well,the other real ales were Youngs Special,Redemption Big Chief and St Austell Tribute. Decent background music was playing. The pub was almost empty on my mid Saturday afternoon visit,which was a shame. This is a pub i could settle in for a session. Pub visited 24/6/2017

Deserves a fuller review than I am able to provide from yesterday's visit (hic!), but I enjoyed the Doombar & a joker was declared when Tribute was added to the available selection before we left. Nice large room to rear of central bar with hop adorned beams & good furniture; space was being made for evening music, no idea what style, hopefully we assisted rather than hindered the moving of a heavy table. Had to laugh at the picture, in the gents, of a formidable group of temperance ladies with the annotation that ‘Lips that touch liquor shall never touch ours!'; couldn't help but think that this motley collection may want to consider hedging their bets on that, haha! 9 April 2007 Good looking bar area although it probably gets a bit clogged when busy, chesterfield style sofas in room to the left and seems to open up to the rear with lots more room, possibly for eating. The St.Austell Tribute swings it for me though, it was first rate.

As previously mentioned this pub tucked away on Sopwell Lane has a bit of the ‘tardis’ effect going on and is significantly bigger inside than it looks from the terraced frontage. It is two main bar areas either side of a large square serving area, and as both front and back sections have sets of handpumps on all full circuit has to be done to see what’s on. The back section stretches back a fair way and has several distinct seating areas before leading out to the spacious enclosed garden. In fact it stretches so far back that you can enter the pub via a back alley way from the parallel Albert Street. But the front bar section is the most characterful with its bar billiard table and large collection of assorted board games. Like the others had to go for the Redemption Big Chief and it was in fine form

I quite liked this one, it has a good community feel about the place,a two bar pub which boasts a Bar Billiards table, always good to see. The Redemption Big Chief was the pick of the beers and was very good,the other beers were toward the ordinary end of the spectrum , Youngs Bitter, Tribute and Bombadier. Its a pub I would happily call into again.

Decent old side-street pub, with a relatively plain façade but plenty of character within the various rooms of differing sizes arranged around the central bar area. Traditional furniture and decor throughout, and bar billiards table and a dartboard also noted. Four reals on handpump when we visited: Youngs Ordinary, Tribute, Bombardier (£1.90, half) and Redemption Big Chief. Only had time for the briefest of stops on this occasion, but would certainly go back again when I have more time available.

I liked this pub, the two young barmaids, were very welcoming and friendly and my Redemption Big Chief was in great shape. The large rear lounge, was comfortable looking and mainly set out for dining. A pub worth seeking out, especially if they serve up a decent Thai meal.