Barsmith, EC1

Rather bigger than it initially looks, despite the narrow frontage, because the elongated and slightly tapered room extends back some way. Annoying modern high tables, except for a slightly raised area at the far end. Decor dominated by a bare-brick wall along the side opposite the counter. Talking of which, this sports a bank of five handpumps, but all of these regrettably prove to be long disused. Nearly walking out again, I decided to peruse the line of ten keg taps on the bar-back and there may be several things worth thinking about after all. I counted seven different beers in a variety of styles, plus a cider, and opted for the Rooster's Londinium coffee stout (and a fair pint, albeit at £5.50). Mind you, if cocktails or gin is more your thing then this may appeal more to you than it did to me.

A short walk from Smithfield Market, this is a single room, cocktail bar and pizzeria that also has a decent selection of 'craft' beers. Formerly known as The Gate and then The Longroom, the bar opens into a bare boarded room with a mosaic tile entrance with the number 19 set into the tiles. The front doors open out, giving the front of the pub a café feel, but this quickly dissipates as you proceed into the room with it's tatty bare brick walls and smart tile fronted servery along the left hand wall, with a high mirrored bar back. Seating is mainly high tables and stools to the front and opposite the bar, with standard chairs and padded banquettes appearing further back. At the rear there is a raised seating area, screened by some low wooden panels, where additional tables can be found in a space that tapers almost to a point as the room continues to narrow. The walls are mostly bare, with just the occasional plain mirror on show, which is a bit of a shame and only serves to draw your attention to the shabby brickwork. There is an open kitchen at the far end of the servery with a white tile back and they were serving pizzas for around £10-12. We had a very tasty pizza as well as a calamari starter which had been liberally doused with hot chillies - a point that the menu failed to mention and which we both discovered to our own cost. A decent funky soundtrack played throughout our mid-week, early evening visit and there was a reasonable crowd in creating a bit of a buzz. There were five hand pumps on the bar, but two of these were unclipped and a third had a turned Hogsback TEA clip, leaving just two in operation and a choice of Northern Monk True North Pale Ale and Sambrooks Pumphouse Pale. I opted for the former, which was in good shape and served by one of the very friendly and helpful barmen. Around ten keg taps are mounted on the bar back, serving some fairly interesting stuff from the likes of Camden. A large bottled beer range was also available, but the bar's forte is cocktails, with an extensive menu available and long wait times at the bar are a possibility as a result. I didn't have too much in the way of expectations for this place, but found it was a good spot to try some interesting beers and decent food. There probably isn't too much here that you haven't seen in other bars of its type around the capital, but I enjoyed my visit and will remember this as a good bet for decent beer in this part of town.