The College Arms, Bloomsbury, WC1

The 2019 refurbishment has brought in the standard Stonegate modern style, with lots of recycled timber, tiled walls with inane brewing graphics and industrial shelving. Opposite the bar is a row of high tables with stools, while the far end has a raised area with banquettes. Downstairs is signed 'Crafty Little Room' but not visited. Three handpumps offered Doom Bar plus a couple of interesting guests (New River Riverbed Red and 5 Inch Drop IPA) while 6 craft beer taps on the rear wall had fairly usual offerings from Brewdog, Beavertown and Camden. Pleasant enough, and the prices didn't seem too outrageous for the area.

Official site of The College Arms - www.craft-pubs.co.uk

Official site of The College Arms - www.craft-pubs.co.uk

Originally The Camden Arms then The University Tavern in 1971 and The College Arms since 2002, the pub has a very contemporary/slightly modern interior with conventional furniture, studded brown leatherette sofas, high furniture, low furniture, powder blue walls, patterned wallpaper and birdcages hanging from the ceiling, modified as lights. The floor is of course bare boarded. There's food but it's more a hotch-potch of styles ranging from fish 'n' chips to something more exotic; not a gastropub then. Ales on: Moreland's Old Speckled Hen, Greene King IPA and Adnam's Ghost Ship which was very decent and at £2.10 a half, good value for the area. I'd come here again, but the lighting in here is painfully gloomy and there are better pubs across the road in Fitzrovia.