The Local, St. Albans

A conversion of a former estate agent's premises which opened in April of 2016 and which adheres to the main tenets of the 'micropub' criteria. Split into two areas - the main bar area, and a 'snug' with further seating, the décor is red and white walls with characterful black and white pub-related photos on display. Six firkins were racked behind the small bar dispensing locaAles on gravity - (2 x Tring, 2 x Leighton Buzzard and 1 x 3 Brewers (St Albans)); my LB Cuckoo was in superb shape (£3.50 a pint). Plenty of books, board games (there is also a mini table skittles game), bar snacks, real cider, wine and some crafty beers in bottles, so a lot of boxes ticked. It's all still very new, clean and bright and unfortunately it was the least populated of the three options in Markyate on a weekday evening. Let's hope some word-of-mouth increases their footfall. The only caveat, however, is that parking is pretty much non-existent.