Old Cross Tavern, Hertford

This is a pleasant ale house with a traditional feel, despite seeming to occupy a couple of old shop units. If that is the case, it’s certainly a thoughtful conversion which really conveys the sense of a proper ale house. The pub has a bare boarded interior with the servery over to the right and ample seating elsewhere. The bar has a chunky wood panelled counter and matching gantry fronting a modern bar back. Seating is reasonably varied and includes pews to the rear and left, low stools in support and through the centre, and some nice padded booths under the front windows. The rear wall is split by a brick fireplace and modern etched glass partitioning screen, and walls are covered with a mix of panels, plasterwork and the odd bit of exposed brick, mainly along the left-hand wall, where some old timbers are also apparent. There are some great paintings and a grand mirror on this wall, whilst the whole pub has high shelving displaying a collection of bottles, vases, tankards and other such vessels. A few old brewery mirrors to the rear, next to a cabinet full of immaculately displayed bottles, add some good points of visual distraction, as does the yard of ale glass and collection of tankards hung from the ceiling, and the earthenware and ceramics in the window sills. The pub’s main selling point is its beer selection, which didn’t disappoint on this occasion. Options on handpull were Maldon Gold, Dark Star APA, Taylor Landlord, Redemption Fellowship Porter and Tring Side Pocket. I took a pint of the APA (£4.90), which was in excellent condition, and I enjoyed spending my time here, taking in the atmosphere generated by a full house, composed of a wide range of customers. I was really impressed with this place, which struck me as a nice spot to settle down in and enjoy a few pints of well-kept ale. As modern shop converted pubs go, this is about as good as they get and I would suggest this should be anyone’s first port of call when looking for good beer in Hertford.

This is currently the local CAMRA branch's pub of the year, so expect the ale selection to be good - which it is, even though on this occasion I failed to note them all. I had something called Mocha Stout, from Bosun's Brewing Co I think, at £4 a pint. It's almost a rarity to find a stout on handpump. It looks like a shop conversion, so isn't very big inside. But it's big enough, with the bar counter on the right as you enter, with some traditional seating on the left. There's a smallish outside seating area at the back. This is a straightforward drinkers' pub, which is a gem for real ale enthusiasts to find, even if it doesn't boast any pub heritage features. Definitely worth including on any crawl of Hertford.

Official site of Old Cross Tavern - www.oldcrosstavern.com

Official site of Old Cross Tavern - www.oldcrosstavern.com

The GBG comes up trumps for a stranger in town. Exactly my sort of place - from the decor, to the five real ales and a perfect Timothy Taylor Landlord, to the pork pies tempting you from the bar. Not a sound from the handful of punters. Just the hiss of the coal fire and tick tock of an ancient timepiece. Perfect visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2kfV3VM

I was surprised to find this pub was a shop conversion after trying to find it in an old Herts beer guide. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was a pub prior to becoming an antique shop as I assume it must have a proper cellar. The windows outside display a collection of old bottles of beer. Inside it's small with a carpeted seating area on the left and the wooden floored bar area on the right. The bottled beer theme continues inside with display cabinets packed with old bottles. On the bar were eight hand pumps with only six in use. The beers were Taylor's Landlord, Old Cross Gertcha, St Austell Tribute, Tring Kotoku, Church End Vanilla Stout and finally a 6.5% Mighty Oak beer which I was dismayed to see was posted as just being sold in halves at £2.20 a half. I went for the Stout (£3.80) which was in good nick and enjoyable but expensive. I assume this must be a totally free house so to me the prices were too high and I was also put off by the two mainstream beers. I don't like the idea that stronger beers are only sold in halves or thirds especially at a moderate ABV of 6.5%. I would return here if only to try the home brewed stuff, but even that seems to be fairly limited.