The Boot, St Albans Central, St. Albans

Ancient pub in the Market Square serving a good range of real ale with the Oakham Scarlett Macaw being in great form.One L shaped bar which on my visit was fairly quiet.They must have changed the barmaid as this one was very friendly and immediately offered a taster.

I counted eight hand pumps in the Boot along with the usual standard draught products plus Staropramen and Amstel. This is an open plan U-shaped pub with no TVs and there was no background music during my visit on a recent Saturday night. The pub wasn’t overly busy, but there was a wait at the bar and I found the barmaid that served me to be very disinterested in her work. There maybe a large selection of ale, but I think that there are pubs with much better atmospheres within a ten minute walk. Due to the central location I’ll probably find myself in here in the future so I hope that my next visit is better than the forgettable last.

Visited in May 2010 Attractive looking pub in the city centre on the edge of the Market Square. There's low ceilings, exposed beams, bare boards but, despite dating back to the 15th century, a bit of the inevitable city centre chain pub feel to it. The overall vibe however is traditional and not unpleasant. On my recent Saturday lunchtime visit, there was a good cross section of customers, seemingly mainly shoppers and traders from the market, creating a busy but friendly atmosphere. As a city, St Albans has a nice feel good factor to it - and more than its fair share of decent pubs incidentally - and, without wishing to appear naive, I was therefore slightly surprised to see that it's over 21's only on Friday and Saturday night after 6pm. Live music is offered on Sunday evening. Somewhat oddly, the pub sign outside includes a phone number. Beers on were Bass, Adnams, Butcombe Gold, Deuchars IPA, Batemans XXXB and Tribute. The Tribute - £ 3.10p - was really good - and I did notice that this appeared to be outselling all the other real ales put together. I was reasonably impressed with this one.