The Rising Sun, Mill Hill, NW7

Greatly and perfectly reviewed below, the money shot here is the bar area - intimate, with its square, woody bar, flagstone floor, semi-upholstered settle and single wooden table. Be-aproned staff, separate rooms either side of the bar (set for dining would you believe) and a "drinkers/non-locals in the way" vibe, meant a visit to this Camra Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors entry wasn't quite the "wow" I was looking for.

They had just the two ales on - Doom Bar and London Pride (£4.20 a pint). It seems to have changed a little since Steve's visit over eight years ago. It's now very much food orientated, although the structure of the pub is unchanged. Food is now high end Italian gastro, with nothing like pub grub in sight. You enter into a tiny room with the bar counter in front of you. This room has just one table plus chairs in it, some fixed bench seating on the right, plus a flagstone floor from when a bus decided to come into the pub. To the left is the old Saloon bar, which is no longer the simply decorated room that Steve found, but now the dining room with all tables laid for diners. But the small snug room up a couple of steps to the right is seemingly unchanged, with just four normal tables and chairs in it. So, it's a fairly small "country" pub in a London borough, with fairly limited seating for drinkers. It's still on CAMRA's Regional Inventory of pubs with historic interiors, essentially due to the existence of three separate rooms, plus the original bar counter and panelling. Despite the emphasis on food, this remains a lovely little pub, but it really is out of the way. You can get a bus (251) from Edgware, but it's a fiddly old journey. It does have a car park though, and of course there's some outside seating at both the back and front of the pub. Despite its drawbacks, not least the very uninspiring beer selection, I liked it here.

Official site of The Rising Sun - www.therisingsunmillhill.com

Official site of The Rising Sun - www.therisingsunmillhill.com

Randomness Guide to London - Rising Sun entry

Randomness Guide to London - Rising Sun entry

What a great surprise it was to find this lovely little pub after the dross that I had to endure in the rest of Mill Hill. It looks like a classic picture postcard village pub complete with small picket fence and big heavy doors with old cottage latches to match. There is a blue Taylor Walker heritage inn award plaque adorning the front wall and there are some picnic tables in the small front garden. There is also some more seating in the nice back garden where the toilets are also located in an outhouse. As you walk in the front door you'll find the small bar directly in front of you and you'll be greeted by the extremely friendly landlady. Youngs Ordinary and Abbot Ale were both available, but I decided to have a couple of pints of Adnams which was very good. To the left of the bar there is a good sized and simply decorated room with a fireplace and some tables. To the right of the bar there is a much smaller room with a couple of tables crammed in. I thought that the locals were very friendly and I would love to go here again, but next time I will get a bus rather than try to scale the Hill.