Dame Alice Owen, EC1

As is always the case theres not much to add if anything when following a thorough Pub SignMan review.The tiling is impressive the ambiance less so although I was there early doors midweek.The beer on was Salopian Shropshire gold which the barman made a point of pulling a pint through before serving mine being first of the day, Butcombe Haka was tagged up as coming soon and Rosies Pig was the Cider. The pub beagan to fill a little as lunchtime approached possibly attracted by the Pizza menu. I didn't find it as dreary as Tris did back in 2015 but I'm unlikely to rush back.

Came here on an unplanned visit, after the pub I had hoped to visit turned out to be closed for a refurb. It’s a large two room pub in a fairly quiet part of the city, seemingly drawing local residents as much as the usual post-work crowd or tourists. The pub is pretty striking on approach, thanks to a great glazed tile exterior, and a large pavement seating area outside, allows you to get a better view of it all. The main bar area sees the servery down the left-hand side, in an area with a nice terracotta tiled floor. Large windows down two sides of the room, allow plenty of light in and there’s a good amount of table and chair seating, including some around a nice fireplace with a smart glazed tile surround. The anaglypta ceiling has been painted in a very dark shade, which contrasts nicely with the cream palette used through the remainder of the room. The servery has an impressive dark wood bar back, which has retained some old Watney’s branding, and large blackboards have been used to detail the wine list and various other items of interest. Perhaps most unusually, there is an upright piano in the far corner, and a bloke was bashing out a bunch of popular tunes, such as Bowie’s ‘Life On Mars’, whilst I was there, to a wholly indifferent audience. An opening to the rear, leads you through into a side room with white wall panels beneath a huge skylight, and another fireplace on the back wall. There’s also an open kitchen in here, implying that the room - empty on this visit - might be used more for diners. The room is decorated with a few large art prints and uses an open backed bookcase as a form of partitioning from the bar area. A lack of soft furnishings meant that despite the modest crowd - most punters were sat outside - the pub was insanely noisy, although the piano was able to cut through this without much trouble. There are five handpulls on the bar, but two were unclipped and another two were dispensing Rosie’s ciders, leaving Marstons 61 Deep as the sole ale option (£4.80). I was served by a very smiley barmaid and thought the beer was in decent enough condition, although not one I’d rush back to have a second pint of. I thought this was a fairly unremarkable place, with little character beyond the external tiling, a noisy interior and too much empty open space. The beer was in good nick, but the range was a little lacking and whilst I was perfectly happy sat here for my 30 minute visit, I can’t say there was all that much that makes me want to return.

Official site of The Blacksmith & the Toffeemaker - www.damealiceowen.com

Official site of The Blacksmith & the Toffeemaker - www.damealiceowen.com

Dating back over 200 years in some form, this pub was until fairly recently trading under its original name of the [New] Red Lion and acquired its current stupid name in 2012. We arrived mid-evening and mid-week to find an empty pub, bar a rather noisy seemingly student party in the rear bar; a gastropub this is not as there was no-one dining and the menu is far from gastro, seemingly drawn in part from a Jewish deli. There are some nice glazed tiles to the exterior which are mirrored in the interior and look rather good; an old roundel above the hanging sign - sadly painted over - indicates that this was once a Watney Combe Reid pub and this information has been retained in the form of an illuminated parapet to the bar back which reads 'Welcome to this Watney's House'. These are about all that remains of this commanding corner pub. Today, there are unnecessary 'trendy' modern touches, a tiled floor and ugly ventilation ducts. Furniture in the middle bar comprises ridiculously high tables and stools with spindly metal legs; absolutely awful! The barman didn't seem interested in his work and English wasn't his strong point. Ales on offer were Deuchars IPA and Caledonian Flying Scotsman (I'm not a fan of either) as well as Blacksmith's Golden Ale and Sheppard Neame's Spitfire which was fine. This is a dreary place and I can't see myself returning - The Peasant down the road is marginally preferable.

Tiled exterior and interior. 4 real ales and food served.

Now a gastropub called 'The Blacksmith and the Toffeemaker'