Black Horse, Hertford

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.