Old Fountain, Old Street, EC1

Well known and well reviewed, as the City creeps northward the Old Fountain was beginning to feel slightly corporate when I visited. The roof terrace is worth mentioning as it provided a comfortable and popular spot on an especially sultry September evening. Beers on were: Fountain Brewhouse Amber and City Road Pale, London Pride, Siren Craft Undercurrent, Oakham Citra, Saltaire Long Day IPA, Charnwood White Fox and Roosters White Rose. That seems a decent selection but I was assured by my fellow, long experienced Old Fountain drinkers that it fell below previous standards. Some of our choices weren't in the best shapes either which didn't help. There were also 14 keg beers available with breweries such as Kernel, Cloudwater, Moor, Five Points, Brew by Numbers, Northern Monk and Siren represented. Quality brewers and it seems that the Old Fountain's focus has broadened to include keg as well as their traditional cask offers. Well worth a stop given the ale selection.

Red Squirrel Ruby Mild, Archers Bouncing Bunnies, London Porter, Cotleigh Tawny Owl, Pride, plus a golden ale I can't remember. A good line up served by a very congenial host who happily chatted about beer, beer towns, pubs. He also mentioned that one of his ‘tickers' had awarded the Porter 18/20, a dizzy height achieved by only four others in his sampling of 10,000 beers. Yes, it was tasty. If you enter from Baldwin St you first encounter a food servery, then a small bar with handpumps, up a couple of steps to the main bar, same handpumps, plenty of seating here although it was very quiet ystdy 14:00. Friendly, good ale, a worthy visit but, I suspect, closed at weekends?

This was a Whitbread pub which I used to work literally next door to. I remember being dragged kicking and screaming here one lunchtime for a work drink and noted them selling just boring London Pride or some Flower's rubbish. It didn't happen again. Today it is aiming itself squarely at the Real Ale / Craft market, although the boring London Pride remains! Despite the "craft" aspirations there is no predictable Battleship Grey colours in use at all and the way the place is currently done out using a cream and brown colour scheme with the top bar carpetted gives the feel of a two bar traditional pub. There were eight handpumps and ignoring one unused plus the London Pride, there was Dark Star Hophead And American Pale Ale, Mallinson's Small Straw and Amarillo, Burning Sky Plateau and Five Points Hook Island Red. I went for the locally brewed Hook Island Red (£4.00) which was nothing short of superb. Four quid a pint seems a lot but this is Central London and it is a 6% ABV beer. I've been charged more for a run of the mill Pale Ale in grotty Clapton. If I still worked next door I would gladly come in here a lot. It's now one of a small number of Central London pubs on my "visit again" list.

Although I have used this pub for the last 5 years I have never reviewed it.Well described by others.I have never felt it is a comfortable pub and a bit dated but the beer range is very good.The craft keg beers are well priced and imo the selection gets better every visit.Friendly landlord and his son always have time to chat if the pub is quiet but at night that's rare.Its nice see a pub get better and busier.

It's taken me several visits since my first ,some three years or so ago, to really warm to this pub,I had really high expectations back then given it was being hyped up at the time,admittedly it was early in the day mid week so fairly empty ,but I didn't get that ,this is a real pub feel , you get when you walk into a new pub ,empty or busy.I also found the beer OK without being anything special quality wise. However I have persevered several times since ,the last being a busy Saturday evening in June 2013 and I have to say I enjoyed every minute of it.There was a good feel about it , good beers in very good condition,My pint of Oakham Citra was stunningly good. So nowadays its a given to visit along with the revitalized Wenlock Arms just up the road.

The Old Fountain probably started life as a refreshments house catering for people who came to take the medicinal waters from the nearby springs. These days the open fields are a little more populated by urban sprawl and office buildings with the current pub tucked away in a side street near Moorfield's Eye Hospital, The building itself is of no great architectural or decorative merits, a straight forward 2 room pub with the dividing wall mostly removed but still retaining a front/back bar scenario. The front section has more of a public bar feel with bare patterned floors, plain décor and dart board. There is also a basic kitchen area and a food counter taking up half the length of the bar. The rear is more of a traditional lounge bar and also a separate entrance to the street behind. There are a few old pictures dotted about, blackboards displaying various offers including an ale list and , in the rear bar a small aquarium and a fine Whitbread mirror reflecting (bad pun) the pub’s past history as a Whitbread house. There was once a small patio beer garden adjacent to the pub but this has now been built upon. By way of compensation there is now a new roof garden to cater for those who wish to brave the weather and drink al-fresco. The pub is rightly regarded as one of London’s premier pubs for real ales and has numerous justified accolades to this end. They are generally have around 8 ales available mostly rotating micros although London Pride seems to be a mainstay. Prices are quite reasonable. There are regular beer festivals which are immensely popular and well worth keeping an eye out for but you need to get there early if you wish to bag a table. The customer base is a mix of local office workers and a stream of beer enthusiast who return on a regular basis. Service is generally very good despite its popularity meaning that the place is regularly packed. One of the minor gripes was that the pub was closed at weekends but this has now been addressed and the pub is now open all day everyday. A programme of occasional live music has also been introduced at weekends. The Old Fountain is a consistently fine place for beers and with the equally respected Wenlock Arms a short stroll away, a double session makes this area of London well worth visiting for beer fans.