The Racketeer, Kings Cross, WC1

On the face of it, there isn’t a great deal about the Carpenters that warrants more than a passing glance. The single room interior looks a bit like a continental café bar with a fully opening frontage onto the busy street. Some remnants of the old tiling can be found but what really stands out is all the exposed brickwork that looks very neat and tidy but which on closer inspection turns out to be plastic! There is a raised corner with a dartboard and trophy collection and a few nick nacks over the bar but little else of obvious interest. The beers are pretty basic with just the one ale available on my recent visit, London Pride at £3.10 a pint which is about par for the area. There are a couple of benches outside if you don’t mind the traffic but it will get you away from the awful piped radio music. To be fair, the place is a better option than some of the tarted up bars around the station area and is fine for a quick, quiet pint before moving on.

Large fronted corner pub that doesn't look too attractive, but I spotted a couple of hand pumps so ventured inside. They has Spitfire and Landlord on and I ordered the latter, at which point the real Landlord jumped in saying it was near the end of the barrel and offering me a taste first to make sure it was OK. I was quite impressed with that, I rarely get that sort of consideration in a pub where I am a regular let alone one where it's my first visit. As it turned out the beer was fine, and judging by the CAMRA newsletters available it usually is. This is more of a pub for a quiet lunchtime reading a newspaper or working out a 20p yankee than for a special night out but it has a nice local feel to it which you don't see too often these days.