The Rats Castle, Fleetville, St. Albans

Despite its unappealing name and a bit of a rough reputation in the past this is quite a nice pub. Community orientated and it's clientele seemed to be mainly from the older local population. The area at the back has tables that looked to be set for food but I didn't see any being served on Saturday afternoon. Pool table, dartboard and Sky TV, other TV's showing horse racing were also evident. Three handpumps, two from caledonian and Youngs Gold. PS. I wish they would put an apostrophe in Rat's Castle.

I popped in here early doors after work,and there was a reasonable crowd gathered within.Either side of the front door there are two large banquettes,with a raised section to the left under a screen showing horse racing with an attentive audience.The bar itself runs halfway down the left hand wall,while the pub opened out towards the rear with two pool tables,one in a window alcove,and a darts board.The section at the rear had a long bench seat ,tables and chairs and was generally a quieter area,although there was a Sky Sports screen here on mute.There is a small outside area for smoking but with an awning with a table football machine. Besides the usual keg suspects ,there were two handpumps dispensing Caledonian 80 shillings and a well kept Raspberry Fool at £3.10 on my trip.Happy hour discounts are advertised. When operational the juke box plays at quite a volume,while on certain days there is live music. A lively place but clean and tidy with carpeting throughout.A pub reflects the community in which it is located but I wouldn't go as far as saying that the pub name is a reliable description of the customer base.