The Paper Mill, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead

Even by Fullers' standards this is expensive. Just paid £3.85 for a 4.5% Wild River. I guess the captive clientele allows this. Good service though.

A modern pub that looks to have been purpose built. Attractive interior with open fires and high ceilings. Quite food orientated with clientele mainly from the identikit flats that surround Apsley Marina. Good range of Fullers beers but as ever they come at a price. It vwas a snowy day when I visited but I imagine it's very popular on a Summer's day.

The Papermill is something of a modern Fullers drinking barn but is done out very nicely with lots of wooden beams, mixed wood furniture and various historical pictures and maps of the local area. It is well located by the Grand Union canal which it overlooks. This and the flickering of two real fires, saves the place from the sort of sterile atmosphere found in many 'spoons and it actually feels like a warm, pleasant and even cosy place to be. This is helped by a friendly welcome from the staff. Food looked good but we didn't eat. Beer was from the Fullers range with Gales Seafarer, Fullers Pride, ESB and Bengal Lancer on. The latter was excellent and in very good nick. I will certainly return when in the area.

A modern canalside building in the Apsley Marina development,I liked what Fullers have created here.As you might expect there are plenty of sofas and more regular tables and chairs but the open plan interior boasts two real fires,a corner fireplace and a raised open fire in the middle of one side .There are large picture windows giving good views of boating traffic,but the modern look of the interior is maintained by large ceiling mounted ventilation ducts and a modern open kitchen with several chefs hard at work .On the first floor there is a seperate restaurant ,again with fine views over the canal if you are seated by a window.There is also an exterior terrace running around the first floor and there are more seats with umberellas outside the ground floor. Most customers come to eat,and the food looked good but we were there for the beer and didn't feel uncomfortable on the ground floor.Four handpumps dispence a range from Fullers ,and my Bengal Lancer IPA was very well kept,if a little pricey at £3.65. The gents is upstairs and I liked the wash basins displaying the Thomas Crapper insignia. Despite the modern exterior ,on balance this would be my choice for drinking in Apsley and I will certainly return on my travels.

My wife and myself visited the U.K. from our home in Canada last year and we "eat out" at as many different pubs as we could during our stay. I love my steak and here in North America we enjoy a huge selection of pubs and restaurants with a very high standard of catering (although since the smoking ban the number of pubs has gone down dramatically) We found the Papermill on our last day, unfortunately, and I had the best steak of the holiday. I wish we had found this little gem earlier as we would have used it far more. The staff were friendly and cheerfull and made you feel at home. My only complaint would be that the steak was a tad small but the manager has told me they are introducing larger steak's. We will most certainly return.