Old Red Cow, Smithfield, EC1

Well known for carry a wide range of craft keg beers,the ground floor is quite small,square with few features and mainly high table seating options although bar stolls will get used and block bar access.The large staircase leads to a calmer dining room with another keg only bar,I expect you can escape up here to just drink but most folk will be eating from a menu long of pizze,pub grub and beer snacks.This will also be served in the bar and outside for vertical consumption. There will always be 4 real ales,on my trip Redemption Pale,Twickenham Naked Ladies,Moor Raw and XT3 West Coast IPA (decent nick).The 12 keg taps offer produce from Kernel,Fourpure,Redchurch,Big Drop,Signature,Beavertown,Hackney and Five Points,so if you understand the London keg scene,this would be a good sampling target. Lots of punters spill outside and there are drinking shelves to the front and in the archway,but the limited internal seating and short real ale menu may limit future trips to a swift one while passing.

A return visit and this place seems to have improved for the better. The too-cool-for-school barman wasn't in evidence and the pub was quieter than usual. A very small bar with around three high tables and a further bar upstairs, unexplored. The place seems to be more functional than is usual, describing itself as "The 'Local Beer House' was born out of a love for 'nice pubs'"; ok, trumpet blown or kazoo? Little décor, with a crystal chandelier on high. An aloof barman presiding over 12 keg taps, an unused pump, Oakham's Citra and Jeffrey Hudson Bitter and Gloucester Brewery's Cascade at £2.00 a half and nice. Worth a look, but the Hand & Shears is just to the rear.