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Detail Pages
The Mermaid, St Albans Central, St. Albans
St. Albans
AL1 3RL
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Mermaid
Has been well spruced-up since 2009 and the interior looks much better for it. Lots of old mirrors, bottles on shelves and general breweriana. Dart board spotted. Seven ales on the go and a good selection too. My Oakham JHB was in excellent shape and put the fetid ale at the Blacksmiths into stark perspective. The North Cotswold Best was also a good drop. Plenty of ciders also on, indeed it’s the local CAMRA branch cider pub of the year. Don’t feed the pub dog, he’s very fat! Edged it as my favourite Snorbens pub of a long day’s crawling. 8.5
July 2009
An old-skool J-shaped local that sports an interesting selection of eight real ales and cider - my two were in good nick. As well as guest ales there are also 'guest crisps' (!). Pub features include a dart board, TV and some old-style pub games. The pub spider plants need some urgent TLC and the toilets smelt of old wee and cabbage which was rather unappealing. There were very few punters inside given it was mid-Sunday afternoon. Well-worth a stop for the beer but could be a lot better with some simple touches and upgrades. I wasn't tempted to stay for too long, unfortunately. Rated 7
On 1st August 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5754 recommendations about 5735 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about The Mermaid
Being the last pub of our crawl so my recollections are more than a little hazy. I do remember though a nice straightforward traditional pub and I also remember a very nice pint of Oakham Citra,one of my favourite beers.A good stop off.
On 28th July 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2232 recommendations about 2198 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Mermaid
A good traditional pub, with a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. This was our last pub to visit on our PG summer meet up, before heading off to the train station. The pub had a good range of ales and handsomely noted by Blackthorn a varied range of ciders also. My couple of pints of North Cotswold's Best, were very quaffable and rounded the day off nicely, on a very satisfying days crawl.
On 22nd July 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3716 recommendations about 3716 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about The Mermaid
A traditional looking pub located just on the edge of the town centre and convenient for the train station, it had a friendly dog and has been awarded Camra’s Herts Cider & Perry Pub of the Year for the last three years so has plenty of choice for apple fans as well as beer drinkers.
Internally it consists of an L-shaped room with sanded wooden boards on the floor, chocolate brown wood panelling on the lower part of the walls and a curved, wood panelled bar counter. A plasma screen was showing the golf, and there was a good collection of brewery mirrors on the walls including Heineken, Adnams and Holsten Pils as well as a few black and white photographs of bands. Black tiling was on the floor at the rear of the pub and there was also a very small snug at the back; so small there was only room for one table in fact.
Beers on tap were Slaughterman’s Wild Boar, Oakham Citra, Clark’s Merrie City Cascadian, Bude Black Rock, North Cotswold’s Cotswold Best and Wentworth Brewers Blond. Cider taps on the bar were Stowford Press and Rosie’s Pig, although a blackboard listed a far more extensive selection which on this occasion were Weston’s Rhubarb and Old Rosie, Barbourne Street Kernel, Hogans Poacher's Perry, Pearson’s Medium Dry and Dry, Cockeyed Cockbird, Bushpig Sweet, Copper Beach Medium and Ginger, Cornish Orchard’s Perry, Millwhite’s Blackberry and Gwynt Y Ddraig Ancient Warrior.
On 21st July 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2098 recommendations about 1997 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The Mermaid
Nice busy but basic pub.Handy for the station.Two Oakham beers on but the rest of the breweries are not my favourites.Dow bridge Nethergate,Goffs and Slaters but my Slaters -black ipa was good.Older Camra types sort of pub but nice enough.
On 28th February 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Mermaid
A small,quite basic pub but well worth including on any ale tour of the city.Previous reviews have accurately described the interior,I would only add that there are five handpumps visible as you enter the front door,with a further three to the left hand leg of the L shaped bar.On my trip there was Patriot Kiwi,Tring Brookmans and Mansion Mild ,Oakham JHB and Scarlet Macaw (£3.30 pp)with a few handpumps unused on a quiet Tuesday lunchtime.A real cider is available together with a list of Belgian beers,and I really liked the policy of always serving a dark mild/stout/porter from handpump 3.My Scarlet Macaw,served in a branded glass, was in top form.
There is a music quiz on Tuesdays and open mic on Wednesdays ,so an effort has been made to appeal beyond the natural CAMRA audience and the welcome was genuinely friendly.
There are a few benches off the carpark for external drinking,this pub deserves to prosper given it's strong commitment to delivering a good variety of quality ale.
On 18th January 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3041 recommendations about 3041 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Mermaid
This cosy but quite down to earth pub is situated just out of the town centre and is yet another of the City’s top class ale pubs.
The interiior is fairly straightforward and basic with bare floors, old pictures and solid furnishings apart from a small recess to the right hand side of the bar that contains a sofa alongside the dart board. There was a comfortable number of patrons for a Saturday night and it all seemed quite respectable and civil.
For my visit there were 5 excellent ales (Bays Topsail, Oakham JHB, Oakham Citra, Potbelly Pigs Do Fly and Tring Side Pocket For A Toad) plus 2 ciders and a perry, enough to keep most ale fans going for a few hours.
Unfiortunately, this being the penultimate pub in a long day’s crawling, the finer features of the pub have become a bit lost in the ether suffice to say this will no doubt become a regular feature in future visits.
On 8th April 2011
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The Mermaid
A single room with the bar directly ahead on entering. The bar area has a wooden boarded floor but this changes to stone flags to the rear left. Traditional seating around the perimeter consisting of banquettes, stools and the odd bench, but there is a small snug area to the right which has a sofa. There is a dartboard in here plus some books and games, including table skittles.
There are five handpumps to the front of the bar but be aware that there are another couple out of sight around to the left where there is also a chalkboard with the current list displayed. Saturday's selection was Oakham Inferno, Dark Star Hophead, RCH Old Slug Porter, Tring Side Pocket for a Toad, and Nethergate Sweeney Todd. Weston's Old Rosie was available for the cider drinkers. A sign indicates that pump 3 always has a dark beer (Porter, Stout or Mild) available. The pub is also a regular outlet for the local Alehouse (Verulam) Brewery Sauvin So Good but this wasn't on at the time.
The decor has a cottage feel, lower panelled walls, curtains at the windows, a few vases of flowers etc. There are a number of old beer/pub related photographs of interest and a detailed drawing showing the workings of a beer engine (set of handpumps).
A TV in a corner was off, a band was advertised for later in the evening. The pub has a cheese club on the second Saturday of the month, which would have been yesterday I reckon. You bring your own cheese, 250g suggested, and the selection is pooled. A nominal £1 charge covers the supply of crackers, bread etc.
A pleasant welcoming spot, certainly worth including in a tour of St Albans' pubs.
On 15th August 2010
- rating: 8
[User has posted 1710 recommendations about 1683 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Clive Thompson left this review about The Mermaid
The Mermaid was for a long time considered to be the premier real ale pub in St. Albans but in my opinion it has fallen behind it’s rivals a little over the last year or so. They do always have some interesting beers but I’ve found they are not always in top condition. This is perhaps due to a slowing down of trade, it certainly seems quieter than it once was and has a bit of a downbeat atmosphere. Still worth a visit to see what’s on and it’s only a few minutes stroll from St Peters Street.
On 30th January 2010
- rating: 8
[User has posted 780 recommendations about 697 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
michael thompson left this review about The Mermaid
definately worth a visit, god selection of ales available
On 3rd July 2009
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8 recommendations about 8 pubs]