The Artillery Arms, Old Street, EC1

Situated close the the Honorable Artillery Company barracks which still to this day serves to protect The City of London,this is a very pleasing street corner local tied to Fullers.The interior is small with an island bar and drinking shelves and stools below the windows.There is exposed brickwork to the right side which seems an unnecessary nod to hipsterism,while the back section is cosy with much wood panelling.The upstairs restaurant is called The Barracks.The flatscreens are Sky but strangely not showing the Spurs game,maybe this is the hangout of Gooners. The 6 handpumps were drawing London Pride (doubled up),HSB,Olivers Island,Seafarers English Ale and ESB (not A1,a bit tired,£2.40 the half).The food looked reasonably priced for a London Fullers outlet with mains £10-15 with light bite options.There is an occasional quiz and it does have a boozer vibe.I know it can get packed afterwork on a Friday and the small company of squaddies may well use it too,but when quiet it has a timeless charm and is worth popping in on any crawl of these parts.

Fuller's pub with a small island bar and original interior.

Official site of The Artillery Arms - www.artillery-arms.co.uk

Official site of The Artillery Arms - www.artillery-arms.co.uk

This reputedly 17th century pub, located opposite the atmospheric Bunhill Cemetery, was originally known as the Blue Anchor, before settling on its present name around 1856. The pub today presents itself as a small, single room establishment with some fairly distinct areas on each side of a central island servery. There is a predominance of dark wood in the wall panelling and floorboards, as well as in the compact servery which has some interesting sliding glass panels which give access to the pint glasses lined along a high shelf. The front of the room has some of the pub’s more attractive features including some etched glass in the windows and doors and a few stained glass inserts in several small partitioning panels, which break up the drinking ledges with high stools that provide the only seating in this part of the pub. On the left hand side of the room, a couple of sturdy padded benches serve a single large table which is positioned in front of a fireplace with book shelves and a TV screen above and cigarette card collections on the flanking walls. It’s a nice spot, but not the most efficient use of space. The other side of the room has bare brick walls with some standard table and chair seating and high tables and stools at the rear. Various military themed pictures line the walls and a large blackboard lists various food options, with mains averaging around a tenner. I didn’t spot anyone eating on my midweek evening visit, but a sign suggested most dining is done in an upstairs room known as ‘The Barracks’. The pub is operated by Fullers and has appeared in recent editions of the Good Beer Guide, so there were no real surprises at the bar, with London Pride, ESB, Chiswick and Discovery available. My Chiswick was fine and the barmaid served with a smile, which isn’t always a given in this neck of the woods. This place has a certain charm to it and I quickly warmed to it. There are plenty of pubs around this part of town with more exciting beer ranges, but this place makes up for that with its character and ambiance. Well worth a look.

A Fuller’s tied house opposite Bunhill cemetery (the final resting place of William Blake and Daniel Defoe). It’s quite a compact pub with a very small, ornate, central island bar that has a couple of rooms coming off it. The small size means that drinkers spill out into the street on busy days. Some traditional touches remain inside and the place does have a bit of character. The full Fullers range was on the go on my visit plus a guest (Everards Tiger). My ESB was pedestrian but the Tiger was reported as being much better. Prices are absurdly high – £4.35 change from a tenner for a pint and a half. Food, however, was noticeably cheap for the area so I guess the licensees are being diddled by Fuller’s for their beer. Overall it’s a decent pub for the area but with the Old Fountain and Wenlock competing for business off Old Street tube, context is everything…

Excellent, unspoilt, drinkers' pub. Visited on a Friday afternoon and it was positively heaving with scarce room to stand, however the atmosphere remained good, service was fine and by the time I left, all was well with the world. The guest ale was Elgood's Black Dog, which was quite superb. Recommended.