White Hart Hotel, St Albans Central, St. Albans

Probably not the kind of place I would normally frequent , but it was good enough for the purposes of the pub crawl we were engaging in,a suit of Armour and a couple of thrones added some quirkiness to the proceedings. Initially disappointed with the beer on offer in the House beer Alban Ale and Adnams Southwold Bitter, until I spied another pump in the other bar, the more interesting Oakham Preacher, however as BF found out it was on its last knockings and promptly went and as such wasn't at its best.I would consider having another look in here if only to check out any Oakham beer that may be on.

You can enter through a narrow doorway off the coach entrance,and encounter a small lounge with it's own bar access.The other side of the bar has a slightly larger seating area and it's all in wood panelling with several pleasing features.The room away from the bar is larger still with lots of settles and also contains the hotel reception.It feels like a classic hotel bar apart from the intrusive muzak. Oakham have awarded the bar Oakademy status but sadly my Oakham Preacher was tangy and was replaced once the pump clip had been reversed.The house Alban Ale was decent and brewed by Verulam at the nearby Farmers Boy.The other ale option was Adnams Southwold Bitter.Shame that an Oakademy holder didn't have a ready replacement for the single Oakham beer which went off,but it's probably still worth poking your head around the corner to see what's on if crawling around the City centre.

Strange one this.Hotel reception in the bar.Circa 1470 so wood panelling ,suit of armour,couple of gold thrones to sit on .Weird.Very English apart from the staff.2 beers on cask Oakham -mompressons gold and a very good Alehouse -albans ale.Must visit pub as its a bit unique and antique.