The Eagle, Clerkenwell, EC1

More of a food place but having said that I was made to feel welcome popping in for a drink. Choice of beers on and kept well. I would call again and maybe try the food which looked good!

London's first gastropub (1991) in a rather dreary part of Farringdon Road. The interior's a bit spartan, described as below and in the words of the pub's owners: 'A gloss Hollybush ceiling and Buttermilk walls, panoramic windows and solid ash floor. Mismatched tables and chairs, punters, young and old. World music and jazz, good food, wine and beer…'. There's also a semi-open kitchen of which I'm not a fan, due to the noise and heat in summer. Lighting is a bit gloomy and the music was a touch loud. Despite the gastropub leanings, few people were eating during our midweek visit at 9.00 pm. The barman was a bit surly and had on offer Wells' Eagle and Bombardier, a reversed clip and Hammerton's New Zealand Pale Ale at £1.80 a half. It was very good and at this price is laughably 'cheap' given the area and reputation of the pub. I'd definitely come here again for the food, but as a drinkery it could do better.

Official site of The Eagle - www.theeaglefarringdon.co.uk

Official site of The Eagle - www.theeaglefarringdon.co.uk

4 real ales and "craft keg" served. Open kitchen.

Here they had on Wells Eagle, Bombardier, Hackney Golden Ale (£3.50 a pint), plus Rosie's Pig cider on handpump. Most of the bar counter and servery behind it is taken up by the open to view kitchen, and the wall behind the servery is occupied entirely by masses of chalkboards advertising food and wine. I didn't recognise most of the food on offer, but I did spot that the braised pigeon, tomato, red wine, and a couple of other things I couldn't read (rubbish handwriting!), cost £14.50. There was nothing resembling pub grub. Must be a gastropub then. The single room pub is predictably bare-boarded, and is furnished with simple, but normal, tables and chairs, including some of those apparently re-cycled old school chairs that we see so often. It always surprises me that chairs that are no longer suitable for kids are deemed suitable for punters in an upmarket pub. There were a few indescribable prints on the walls of nothing recognisable, and otherwise no decor worthy of note. But there were no TVs, fruit machines, or other similar pub distractions. The ceiling was quite interesting though, being covered with (green painted) matchboard panelling. The beer was good, and at a reasonable price, but it's not really the sort of place that I would choose to visit for an evening's drinking.

Very food led pub/rest.Kitchen takes up half the bar room and quite noisy.Very busy with diners.Couple of Chas Wells beers and a lifesaver in Hackney-best bitter.