The Three Cranes Tavern, EC4

In a side street little more than a stone’s throw away from Mansion House Tube Station is The Hatchet, a small traditional relatively unspoilt City pub. The main bar area is a typical stand up to drink bare boarded City bar with much woodwork in evidence and bar stools and ledges around the perimeter of the room. Pleasingly, there was no sign of that awful golf gaming machine that was here on my last visit several years ago. At the far end is a more comfortable, carpeted room with half height wood panelling and upholstered seating. Several large plain mirrors make the room feel a bit larger than it actually is. There’s some elegant cornicing where the walls meet the ceiling and a fine tiled fireplace. The walls are decorated with framed photos of old London street scenes. I was looking for something that might indicate why the pub is so called, but to no avail. On my recent early evening visit, the pub was quite busy with both the pavement outside and the main bar area quite full up with the after work office crowd. Notably, the back room was virtually deserted and I was able to sit and enjoy my pint in some comfort, not an experience often encountered in City pubs in the early evening. The green tinged windows would indicate that this was once a Charringtons house. It’s now a Greene King pub which was offering Abbott and IPA. I didn’t see anything to indicate that any guest beers are ever offered. I like small traditional old fashioned City watering holes like this. If they were to start offering a guest beer, I could easily get into the habit of coming here more often

This is a pub of two halves – but as it’s so small maybe it should be a pub of two quarters. The front room is bare-boarded, with only a few tall stools at the bar and at a ledge by the window. Vertical drinking seems to be the order of the day in here. However, through a door at the back on the left is another room, this one carpeted, with some banquette seating, normal tables and chairs, plus a couple of bucket armchairs. There’s also a nice fireplace in this room, with traditional tiling at the sides, plus a couple of mirrors (one of which has seen much better days) and a number of black and white prints of the City of years past. This is easily the more comfortable of the two rooms. The windows at the front look pretty ancient, with the green banding in the glass suggesting a former life as a Charrington’s pub. But it’s now a Greene King house, with just IPA and Abbot on when I visited. The food looks very reasonably priced (for the City of London) with staples such as bangers and mash for £5.25, and sandwiches for £4. For the City this is an excellent little pub, as long as you’re happy with Greene King ales. I’d be happy to drop in again, but it would be improved immensely with a guest ale although I realise that it’s probably too small to sustain one.

The Hatchet is literally spitting distance from Mansion House Tube Station and it is a typical small London Boozer. It is run by an old school governor and owned by Greene King so the two hand pumps were drawing Abbot and IPA. The draught choice isn’t huge, but the Guinness was spot on and I enjoyed supping it in the back room that was away from the office crowds in attendance. There are a couple of screens in the small bar area, but I didn’t spot any advertisements for Sky Sports. Noticed a bar menu offering baguettes and bar snacks, but I didn’t spot any hearty main meals, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are not available as there is a proper kitchen upstairs by the toilets. The pub is located on a narrow back street so there isn’t the greatest room for people to spill out onto the path, but there are a couple of beer shelves outside for the smokers to rest their pints upon. I’d have no problem visiting this pub again if I was using the tube station, but I wouldn’t make it my end destination.

I have frequented most of the decent pubs around Mansion House but have missed out The Hatchet before, as it is a smallish GK house in an area where there is a lot of different choice. But I decided to drop in and give it a go the other evening whilst on my way down to the Banker at Cannon Street. Have to say I was impressed. It's a small two-room pub, with the bar in the front room mainly for standing with a tele for the sport, and a back room with a fireplace and tables. Nice congenial atmosphere and although quite busy on this early evening the main barman (not sure if it was the Landlord) was making sure people got served in the order they approached the bar. And have to say the pint of IPA was one of the best kept I've had.