The Conductor, Holborn Viaduct, EC4

A barely branded Fuller's pub, right by the northern entrance to City Thameslink station. Although it has plenty of window space, it sits in the shadow of the tall buildings above and to the sides, so quite dark inside. There is an outdoor seating area too, but that's equally shaded. No real ale, but there is quite a bit of craft keg interest from a total of 20 taps on three founts, and I went for the Dirty Gertie unfiltered IPA from Hobson's (£8.00) that had come a long way from Cleobury Mortimer.

I spotted this one on a crawl of various London pubs when going for a train after visiting the Viaduct Tavern across the road, and decided to come back the next day. It was fairly quiet (between 2 and 3pm Friday), which at least gave the young barman a chance to exercise his customer service skills when trying to find a beer to suit my palate. He succeeded to the extent that I later complimented him on his choice of beer, an 8% NEIPA called Button Pusher, from Liquid Love Brewing of Illinois: neither too sweet, too cold nor too fizzy. I was surprised to find that I quite liked it here, despite its student union vibe and incomplete ceiling. If I'd been here at a busier time, with every table full of giggling student types and loud music belting out, I would doubtless have been less well-disposed. There are 20 keg fonts in three groups along the lengthy bar counter, with some mainstream and some obscurities. The bottles and cans are listed on a video screen, and maybe the draught beers are too, but I never caught the screen at the right moment. Again, this sort of thing would irritate me normally, but I was in a mellow mood and would even consider returning on another occasion, though I am not sure I would be so lucky as to find the same combination of excellent service and congenial atmosphere again.