The Bricklayers Arms, Bishop's Stortford

Slightly out of town but on the main drag, The Bricklayers is a traditional looking pub but with a bit of a modern feel inside despite the old beamed ceiling. There is a two bar arrangement, if I can call it such, the lounge bar is a bit cold feeling with light pine tables and modern fittings, carpeted, but there is an exposed brick fireplace with an old Guinness advert on one side. The other room/public bar is significantly larger, and feels like two areas, being partially divided, a bare boarded floor, pool table, dartboard and bar football table in here as well as a decent sized flat screen for sports. Brewery mirrors and framed signed pics of England and Liverpool FC(?) shirts, I assume the Bishops Stortford ones were awaited. The corridor to the gents had a few framed pics including one of Sir Alex Ferguson's horse, Rock of Gibraltar. I don't know why, no connection I'm aware of. Probably the most unusual and therefore preferable beer selection of the day in Stortford, Buntingford Steady Aim,(what by this time of the day?), Redemption Pale Ale, Saffron Brewery Littlebury Lighthouse, and in the public/sports bar a single pump with Redemption Trinity, so it is worth doing the circuit to check. The interior could do with a bit of settling or ageing time but this is a decent boozer, worth the 10 mins walk from town.

Built on the site of former brickworks on the outskirts of the town centre, the Bricklayers Arms dates from the mid 19th Century although it was lucky to survive a road widening scheme in the late 60’s that was eventually abandoned. The main entrance is through a lobby that looks though it could once have been an old bottle and jug bar. The initial impressions of the interior are that it seems to be half pub, half sports bar with the left hand side having pool and table football games and displaying signed (albeit indecipherable signatures) football shirts. The right hand bar is more of a lounge bar and the recentish refurbishment is evident with fresh pine furnishings. The once two sided fireplace is now bricked up on one side. There are a few old pictures from around town and a Colmans mustard mirror caught my eye.. The Bricklayers has a good reputation for its ales and support of small breweries with the 3 ales available on my visit being Saffron APA & Littlebury Lighthouse and Red Squirrel RSX. I didn’t note any food availability. The place was friendly enough with chatty staff and further entertainment courtesy of the rather dopey pub cat but it was pretty quiet for a Saturday evening and, whilst it is worth a trip for the beers, the place just didn’t have enough charisma for me. That said, I have no doubt that it will become a regular stop for any future visits to the town.

Little new to add to Mr. Fastard's thoughts below. This is the best boozer I've visited in Bishops Stortford for ale. The 3 offered were Black Sheep, Saffron IPA and Buntingford's Twitchell so there's a welcome openess to the smaller breweries products rarely seen in the rest of Bishops Stortford and the Twitchell was quaffable. All three are between 3.6% and 3.8% so there's clearly scope for trying a stronger beer or two but there may not be the demand here. The place to head to in Bishops Stortford for a decent pint.

Having trawled around many of the pubs in Stortford,this is probably the best we encountered for beer.Now a free house with three handpumps dispensing Black Sheep Bitter,a Saffron Brewery ale and Buntingford's Twitchell and the ale quality was fine.However with all beers on our visit around the same strength,a stronger alternative would have been appreciated.Formerly open plan ,the refurb has reinstated a front lounge with carpets,new pine furniture that could do with some weathering and a real fire.The lowered cieling seems unnessary and the exterior remains unaltered but repainted.The public bar area has a Sky Sports screen and in a seperate section a pool table ,so a wide variety of clientele will feel comfortable here and the welcome was friendly and genuine.This pub is a blessed relief from the yoof orientated establishments which seem to dominate the town's pub scene.