Black Horse, Hertford Town, Hertford

This pub certainly is now free of tie, and the benefit of this can be seen in the real ales available now. No McMullens in here, just Tring Fanny Ebbs; 3 Brewers IPA; Young's Bitter; Oakham OPA; Kent Brewery KGB; and Buntingford IPA. An excellent selection. They do food, but I didn't see a menu. This is another lovely old pub in Hertford, and is Grade II Listed. It really does look the part of an historic pub. Comfortably furnished with just traditional furnishings. There's a very large garden at the back, which is unusually accessed up a flight of stairs from the main pub. A cracking pub well worth a visit.

Official site of Black Horse - www.theblackhorse.biz

Official site of Black Horse - www.theblackhorse.biz

This is an old Greene King house that I assume from the beer selection is now entirely free of tie. It is situated to the South West of the busy A414 dual carriageway down a very pleasant side street. Inside the bar faces you as you enter and there is a highly obtrusive TV screen on the left past which is a separate room with a dart board that was completely obstructed by tables and chairs. The interior is clean, functional and unpretentious with a hard wearing carpet rather than trendy wooden floorboards. On the bar were Buntingford Polar Star, Silent Night & Columbus, Tring Redshank & Kingbird and the less local Milk Street Funky Monkey. I went for the Polar Star (£3.60) which was a hoppy pale ale in excellent condition. On the day this was the best of the four Hertford pubs visited even though I failed to find out about the 20P CAMRA discount in advance.