Reading Rooms, St. Albans

Fairly friendly micropub on Wheathampstead's High Street. This one is owned and run by Farr Brew. There are a couple of small rooms downstairs and a larger one upstairs, where you can also find what appeared to be a makeshift toilet in a large broom cupboard. At the bar, three handpulls were clipped. All were Farr Brew beers - one was Golden and another was Triple Crown. A third clip displayed "Guest Beer". So, inevitably I enquired about this one and told it was their Double Dry Hopped Pale Ale. Very nice it was too. A board to the side of the bar mentioned a real cider. So, I assume their 4th handpull is often used for this. Although on this occasion, it was unclipped and the barman confirmed that they did not have a real cider. Customers on my late Thursday afternoon visit were a couple of guys chatting about the local area in the main ground floor room next to the bar and another man and woman in the smaller ground floor room, leaving the first floor room empty. Probably the better of the two pubs I've visited in Wheathampstead so far, the other being the Swan in 2017.

This is a micropub, albeit quite a large one with three rooms, set in a pleasant Hertfordshire village and run by the local Farr Brewery as a de facto taproom. You enter the pub, formerly a florists, through the main bar - a compact space with bare floorboards, a couple of tables and chairs to the rear and a high table and stools under the hop lined front windows. The bar is over to the far right and has a simple timber fronted servery with modern shelving on the bar back and a pretty extensive pump clip collection on display. This is a nice enough space, but it quickly fills up, so there is a second room to the left, about half the size of the main bar area, but with the same flooring and four very comfy leather armchairs under a high, letterbox-style window, which makes the room a little darker and cosier than the full height windowed main bar. Both rooms have nice rugs to help dampen the sound, although I did see one guy trip over one of them, so watch your step when moving around. Decor throughout includes barometers, breweriana and book shelves and there was a ledge full of leaflets for local attractions. Stairs to the rear left lead up to a final room on the first floor, where more tables and chairs can be found along with a leather sofa. There are some kitchen units here as well (presumably this was once living quarters) so you can make yourself a cuppa if you fancy one. The room has a nice gabled ceiling, a large bookcase and various traditional bits of decor, whilst the toilet is also up here and acts as a bric-a-brac storage room too. They had three beers from Farr Brew on handpull - Lock In, Apart and Rusty Stag - along with a few keg options that included one or two mainstream brands. A pint of the Lock In set me back a reasonable £3.80 and was decent enough, without being all that memorable. The landlord seemed very friendly, as did the band of locals who were in, with everyone getting to know each other in a generally convivial atmosphere. This is quite a nice amenity for the village and adds something a bit different to the usual rural pub scene. I liked the ambiance and layout of this place and was happy supping a pint whilst waiting for my bus, with the main question mark being the beer, which I found a little bland, if well-kept. Definitely worth a look if you happen to be in the area.

This micro-pub is also the local Farr Brew tap, offering their Pale (£3.50, and so-so) and Bitter plus Rother Valley Golden Valley as a guest and Lilley's Apples & Pears 'cider'. Comprises two small rooms in an appealing alehouse style, with a couple of tables in the bar area, and just a few chairs in the second, but there is also a slightly larger lounge upstairs in the unlikely event of a rush...