Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Pub Of The Month - August 2025 with Thuck Phat
on the Pub Forum
Image posted by Alan Winfield
Submitted on Monday, 28th August 2017
With picture contributions to 6053 other pubs
View all this pub's pictures (10 more images)
Detail Pages
The Portland Arms, St Albans Central, St. Albans
St. Albans
AL3 4RA
Served areas
Reviews of The Portland Arms (Average Rating: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Graham Coombs left this review about The Portland Arms
A pleasant pub hidden in the backstreets. It is C-shaped, round a central bar, with good traditional furnishings and decor. Round one end is a dartboard and sports TV, while outside in the garden are a set of 'pods', presumably dating from the Covid era. A Fullers pub with London Pride, ESB and Seafarers on; the Hophead was off (and the Seafarers should have been although the Pride was fine).
On 3rd August 2025
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3774 recommendations about 3707 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about The Portland Arms
A decent and attractive community local tied to Fullers.The front door gives way to the short end of the L shaped bar with a small snug to the right.Traditional furniture elsewhere with a larger rear lounge and the door to the carpark and beer garden.Lots of wood panelling ,the flatscreens were showing BT Sport with sound turned down and there were a gaggle of older locals supping in the pleasing surroundings.Dog friendly.
Ales on my visit were Fullers London Pride,ESB ,Seafarers and Dark Star Hophead (NBSS 4),take a walk around the bar to see the full range.
Like so many of the other small locals to have survived in St Albans,worth including on any ale tour of the city.
On 8th January 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3005 recommendations about 3005 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Portland Arms
I walked into this cosy little backstreet Fullers pub to find myself the only customer – in fact, I was initially the only person in the room, as the barmaid had popped out to the garden to clear up after the carnage of a family fun day they’d been hosting at lunchtime. She was extremely apologetic and explained that the place had been packed earlier, not that I was complaining. The pub has a compact C-shaped layout, wrapping itself around the centrally positioned servery which has a nice, curved dark wood counter, traditional bar back and ivy lined gantry. To the right is a small lounge – a snug really – with an attractive fireplace with a plain mirror above, a few tables and chairs and a stack of board games. In the bar area, high tables and stools run under the front windows whilst tables and chairs line the left hand wall, running to the back of the room as the servery turns ninety degrees. There are also a couple of smart benches here under some nice old photos of the city, with a collection of hardback books in the window sills. Beyond the bar is another carpeted space with a fair bit of extra seating but some rather featureless decor by comparison. A rear corridor leads to the toilets and has some more nice St Albans pictures on display and beyond this there is a split level beer garden with lots of chunky garden furniture. There was at least one TV screen in the pub and it was showing a 1980’s themed music channel.
Four Fullers beers were available on handpull – London Pride, ESB, Seafarers and Summer Ale. The friendly barmaid poured me a lovely pint of the Summer Ale, which I really enjoyed whilst looking through some of the old photos on the walls.
I really liked this place and whilst it was a bit of a shame that there were no other customers on this occasion, I still felt it had a lot more charm to it than several more popular pubs I’d visited that day. The compact nature of the pub gives it a cosy feel that made it easy to settle down and the friendly welcome and quality beer were factors that would definitely encourage repeat visits.
On 13th November 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3375 recommendations about 3375 pubs]
View more reviews of The Portland Arms (6)
Pubs Galore is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
- Official site of the Portland Arms - theportlandarmspub.co.uk
- Portland Arms page at the official Fullers brewery site - www.fullers.co.uk
- Twitter - Portland Arms
- CAMRA WhatPub :: The Portland Arms - whatpub.com
St Albans City, 1.02 miles, 19 min walk (show)
Park Street, 2.35 miles, 45 min walk (show)
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Beer Garden : Yes last updated 07 August 2013 by Quinno _
- Car Park : No last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Child Friendly : Yes last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Darts : No last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Dog Friendly : Yes last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Hot Food : No last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Jukebox : No last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Live Music : Yes last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Live TV Sports : Yes last updated 07 August 2013 by Quinno _
- Micropub : No last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Pinball : No last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Pool Table : No last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Quiz Night : Yes last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Real Ale : Yes last updated 07 August 2013 by Quinno _
- Real Cider : No last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- Wheelchair Access : Yes last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
- WiFi : Yes last updated 13 November 2017 by Pub SignMan
