The Snug @ Fleur De Lys, St Albans Central, St. Albans

12 years since my last review so had to have another look. Worked my way past the two hoodie boys outside and entered a smaller space than I remembered. Spotted the bar. No ales, no customers, no bar staff, no point. Four or five taps with 'designer beers', cans of Meantime and Brewdog Punk IPA in the fridge. The good thing about my visit was that I was able to take in enough basics to do an updated review before any semblance of someone wishing to serve me materialised. An evening cocktail place for an undefined audience.

Dark and a bit gloomy.Busy. Only bombardier on cask.Young crowd.

Nice old building, but heavily refurbished in a rather unsympathetic way (in particular, I didn't think much of the dark decor and anonymous modern furniture). Smallish patio beer garden to rear. Seems to be mostly interested in selling cocktails, but two of the three handpumps were operational - offering Landlord and Spitfire (£3.40).

Ended up in here by accident at the end of the St Albans crawl because the Boot was too busy, smelly and naff for another and I had 20 minutes to kill. What we got in here was the opposite of the Boot - it's a funky funky mofo lounge bar (check out the chocolate and lime coloured cushion covers) with outrageous food and drinks prices - the ale (a pretty nondescript Cottage beer) was £3.30! Music veered from easy listening to quality Indie. Check out the door in the alleyway outside that sports the sign "commit no nuisance". Odd. Would I come back here again? Probably not in hurry…but I'm not really one of their 'core customer demographic' I suppose.