Great Northern, St Albans Central, St. Albans

Situated to the east to town and not far from St Albans City station, this is a pub which has appeared in the last few editions of the Good Beer Guide and is one I've been hoping to get to for a while. The pub is basically one large room sub-divided into different sections. The bar itself is off to the left-hand side as you enter. Marston's Pedigree is the regular beer. Guests for our visit were Vale Marathon Runner, 3 Brewers Blonde & Northdown Session Pale Ale. There was also a boxed cider at the end of the bar, which was Sandford Orchards Devon Mist. Craft beers were Brew York Coney & Mad Squirrel Shamrock & Sumo. The barmaid was friendly and knowledgeable, offering us a CAMRA discount, as she'd already decided we were members! There are better pubs in St Albans, but this is a popular community local, which also seems to hold various beer-related events, such as tap takeovers. Dogs are also welcome.

I’d not originally intended to visit this pub, but finding myself with a good amount of time to spend before my train home, I decided to pop in for one final pint and was surprised to find, given it was very late on a midweek evening, that the place was absolutely packed. So much so in fact, that I was forced to take my drink outside where even more punters could be found enjoying their drinks in the dying light. The need to head outside is partly a result of the pub’s quite small, two room layout, which can only handle a fairly modest amount of people at the best of times, and even fewer under the Covid restrictions in place at the time. You enter into the left-hand room, which has the bar down the left-hand wall and some limited seating around the perimeter. The bar has a decent timber counter front, similar to several others seen around town, with a stripped out, mirrored bar back. The room is bare boarded and offers a mix of chair and bench seating that, perhaps due to the small size of the room, helps the space feel a lot cosier than you might expect from a typical main bar in a pub of this sort. Meanwhile, the room to the right is carpeted and has some classic pub seating under brightly coloured walls with a selection of eye-catching art on the walls. Having no choice but to pass through these pleasant spaces, I emerged into the garden which occupies the land to the right and rear of the pub and has some roadside tables served by padded keg stools and benches made from old pallets. The driveway slopes down to a second seating area with similar seating, much under various shelters across a sprawling patio area. There are usually four ales available here, but the reduced capacity had clearly resulted in a reduced ale selection, with just Big Smoke Solaris available alongside a cider from Seacider. The Solaris was in good shape and the staff were really lovely, offering a warm welcome, apologising for the lack of indoor seating and popping out to make sure all was well with my beer. This wildcard ended up being a real turn up for the books and I left feeling this was close to being a top tier St Albans pub. Of course, my experience here would’ve been better had I been able to stay inside the pub and choose from a full range of ales, but I thought there was much to recommend about this place and will look to return once all has returned to normal again.

Official site of Great Northern - greatnorthernpub.co.uk

Official site of Great Northern - greatnorthernpub.co.uk

The Great Northern is a decent looking pub that is on the busy London Road. Once inside there is a square shaped room to the front left,which is bare boarded,the bar is on the front left side,there are normal tables and chairs for seating,there is a separate room to the right which is oblong shaped and runs to the rear,this room is carpeted and has normal tables and chairs,this seemed more like a dining room. There were four real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Farr Brew Pale,which was a decent drink,the other real ales were Otter Ale,Black Sheep Bitter and Tring Fanny Ebbs. Background music was playing. I thought this was a decent enough pub to have a drink in. Pub visited 24/6/2017

I called in just after opening time, on my way from the station to the city centre. I was surprised to find as many as six hand pumps on the bar, and as John mentions below, there seems to have been a fairly expensive makeover here. I had Kite Bluestone Bitter, the others available at the time of my visit being Portobello Star, Dark Star American Pale Ale and Black Sheep Bitter. It came as a shock to be charged £2.10 for my half of Bluestone. Date of visit: 17th July 2015

This pub has had a makeover.Seems to be two rooms but was very busy so just got a drink and stood by the door.Four handpumps with Tring-sunshine and moongazing,black sheep and my Seven Brothers -session beer which was good.Dont walk by.