Old Red Cow, Smithfield, EC1

Small craft beer place near Smithfield Market and opposite part of the Crossrail development and on a busy street. 4 real ales as well as a number of craft, but the quality was poor.

Traditional-looking pub, thoroughly revamped inside as a 'Local Beer House' by the small Pubs of Distinction chain. Retains the very compact bar, but now features fairly plain furniture and decor. Dining room upstairs (not visited), with a chalk board stating that it was fully booked. The ground floor was crowded too, with many more customers outside in the covered side alley. Four real ales on handpump, including Can't Stand the Rain from Wild Weather Ales (£4.20), plus 12 craft keg taps offering a wide variety of styles. So pretty good overall, but suffers slightly from not having larger premises to operate from.

Close to Barbican tube station and Smithfield Market, the Old Red Cow is a very small, two storey bar, positioning itself in the ‘craft beer’ market. The downstairs bar is tiny, with bare floorboards, neutral coloured walls and high tables making it fairly unmemorable as well. The servery is on the back wall and, as you might expect in a specialist beer bar, it is decorated with various pump clips. A few enamel beer signs provide a bit of visual distraction, as does a picture of a red cow and I also spotted a juke box on one wall. Stairs lead up to a lounge bar which is comparatively spacious and has a much better range of seating options. Again, the room is bare boarded with the servery on the back wall and windows give a view out to the streets below on both sides of the pub. A decent soundtrack played in the background throughout my stay and blackboards listed a few food options, with main meals around the £15 mark. Four hand pumps were dispensing Oldershaw Heavenly Blonde, Flipside Sterling Pale, Alchemy Five Sisters and Hand Drawn Monkey Malpa. I enjoyed a decent pint of the Heavenly Blonde and whilst I didn’t note down the price, I don’t recall it being particularly expensive. A box of London Glider Cider sat on the bar counter, but the star attraction for beer buffs is likely to be the twelve keg taps which, thanks to a helpful blackboard next to the bar, you can study in great detail before choosing. As mentioned below, these beers are not cheap, ranging from £3.90 for a pint of the house lager to some stronger brews which cost over £4 for a half pint. I timed my visit here fairly well, as the post-work crowds had cleared by the time I arrived, leaving enough space to explore and grab a seat, but I imagine it can very quickly become oppressively crowded. The interesting beer range makes it worth at least a quick look, but the pricing of the keg beers will put off all but the most devoted (or rich) beer enthusiasts.