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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Horn, St Albans Central, St. Albans
St. Albans
AL1 3TE
Pub Type
Punch TavernsReviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Pub SignMan left this review about The Horn
This popular pub and live music venue is the first place you pass upon leaving St Albans City station. The pub has a roughly U-shaped interior, wrapped around a centrally positioned servery that stands directly opposite the entrance. The interior is bare boarded with windows down two sides, plain painted walls and a feature wall covered in a wallpaper effect mural of old gig posters. High tables and stools around the bar area give way to standard tables and chairs plus a very long, padded banquette along the front wall. The bar has a wood panelled counter with each panel decorated with paintings of famous musicians, a tongue and groove canopy and a simple, mirrored bar back. The whole pub is decorated with posters for upcoming gigs and photos of famous names who have played the venue over the years. Old LP picture discs line some lintels and the ceiling has quotations from various musicians painted across it. There's a pool table at one end of the room and the venue is in a separate space out the back, which I was unable to explore on this visit.
Just the two handpulls on the go, offering a choice between Taylors Landlord (£4.80 a pint) and Black Sheep Bitter. The barman was pretty friendly and efficient, but my pint of the Landlord was average at best. The pub clearly caters to a more alternative crowd, but there were a few old boys in, a young family were having a meal and several folk were seemingly killing time before getting a train, so a nice mixed clientele overall.
I think this place, which is a staple of the UK's grassroots live music circuit, perhaps works best if you're here for a gig, but I thought it just about held it's own as a pub too. Yes, the beer could've been better, but I liked the atmosphere and friendly service and enjoyed snooping through their music memorabilia.
Date of visit - 27th January 2024
On 17th June 2024
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The Horn
The Horn is a corner pub that is very handy for St Albans train station.
Once inside the bar faces in an L shaped room which is bare boarded,there are tall tables and chairs to the front,the left side extends to the rear,there is bench seating and normal tables and chairs in this area,there is a pool table and darts board to the rear left.
There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Andwell Summer Dayz,which was a decent drink,the other real ale was Oakham Citra.
The background music was crap irish type that i can not stand.
This was a decent enough pub just a shame about the music being played.
Pub visited 24/6/2017
On 30th September 2017
- rating: 6
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The Horn
Very much a music pub with photos and instruments on the wall.Bright modern layout.Good outside space to the rear.Doombar,Hobgoblin and Tring -side pocket on cask.Handy for the train station and a decent pub overall.
On 28th February 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Clive Thompson left this review about The Horn
Unashamedly and proudly a music pub, with music quotes, displays and posters adorning the walls, and a surprise in the gents toilets. Looks as if they have a lot of tribute acts playing. Three handpumps with Doom Bar, Pride and Black Sheep. Looks like it may have had a bit of a refurbishment recently.
On 19th May 2013
- rating: 5
[User has posted 780 recommendations about 697 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Strongers . left this review about The Horn
The Horn is a live music pub handily located around the corner from St Albans Railway Station. There was a band setting up in the rear room of the pub when I visited early on Saturday evening and I noticed that there was a £5 admission charge to watch the band. I didn’t venture out of the front bar area which has seen better days, except to have a cigarette sitting at one of the picnic tables out the front on a fairly busy junction. A standard selection of draught products was available alongside Brakspear from hand pump. I scanned the bar and noticed that everyone was drinking lager so I decided to do the same. Unsurprisingly there is a license until 2am at the weekends and I noticed that a couple of upcoming gigs are sold out so they must be half decent.
As a pub I didn’t think that there was much here to tempt me back and I’m afraid that the live music aspect doesn’t interest me that much either.
On 10th May 2011
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5965 recommendations about 5931 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Horn
The Horn is a well known music pub having started in the 1970’s when it was called the Horn Of Plenty. It has hosted many big names in the rock, punk and indie world, some on their way to fame and fortune, others gasping for the last breaths of their careers, although these days it seems to cater more for cheap tribute acts than well known artists.
Unfortunately I have never managed to see a gig here and can only judge it as a pub although that probably overl;ooks much of what the place is about.
Like most music pubs, the furnishings are quite basic although it all appears quite new so it has presumably been refurbished at some stage quite recently. The décor largely revolves around posters, adverts, memorabilia, photos and a couple of guitars on the bar canopy.
The beers are the general range of lagers, kegs etc although there is a single ale, Brakspear Bitter, which was pretty decent although I didn’t note the price.
Other than a handful of away football fans from nearby Clarence Park (of which I was one) the pub was empty although the barmaid was quite chatty and I would guess that daytime is usually pretty quiet with the pub coming more into its own when the gigs are on. The pub is certainly an important part of the local music scene and should be commended for its longevity in this field although its self styled status as Hertfordshire’s Premier Music Venue might be stretching things a bit. As a pub it is handy for the station and the aforementioned football ground but I wouldn’t particularly use it for anything beyond a meeting point unless I was there for a gig.
On 7th April 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Clive Thompson left this review about The Horn Of Plenty
The Horn is St Albans' premier live music pub and in 2009 won the UK Live Music Pub of the Year award. Real ales available but not always of the best quality.
On 23rd January 2010
- rating: 6
[User has posted 780 recommendations about 697 pubs]