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Baroque, St Albans Central, St. Albans

2 Chequer Street
St. Albans
AL1 3XZ

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Reviews (Current Rating Average: of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Clive Thompson left this review about The Cross Keys (JD Wetherspoon)

This re-opened as Baroque for a few months, an uninspiring cafe type bar. That closed Dec 2012 and there were rumours that Wetherspoons might take the lease back. However notices today show that it is to become a Bills Restaurant, probably opening around April . St Albans doesn't really need any more cafe/restaurants but if it's the same company who have the site in Lewes that i visited last year they should do well here.

On 20th January 2013 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 777 recommendations about 697 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Clive Thompson left this review about The Cross Keys (JD Wetherspoon)

I was in here a couple of weeks ago and remarked about the number of 'available soon' notes on the pumps. I see this a lot in other JDW's but this is a good real ale pub with a good turnover. The reason given was that they were closing down at the end of the month, something I confirmed yesterday. Apparently JDW decided not to renew the lease and rumours are that it has been taken over by Heritage.

The notices on the windows cheekily say that it is a relocation and that they can now be found near the Alban Arena under the name of the Waterend Barn. In truth the Waterend Barn has always been there trading under the Lloyds No1 brand, branding whch has now disappeared. The Cross Keys was always the much better pub for real ale with the Waterend Barn being more food orientated and disappointing when it came to ale. It will be interesting to see if that improves now there is just the one outlet.

On 5th June 2012 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 777 recommendations about 697 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Alesonly . left this review about The Cross Keys (JD Wetherspoon)

We ended up in here yesterday as one of the Pubs on a Pub Crawl after Finding The other Spoons The Watered Barn too packed for getting a Meal. Glad we did really as this one was much better that I thought it would be. Being smaller and less packed we found a nice snug corner too sit and have a Mixed Grill. This Spoons looks very Similar too The Alfred Herring In Palmer's Green in decoration Over-sized lighting Etc and Red signage in the Pictures denoting it was also one of the original Non Smoking Ones years ago. We had a good Blow out and a few pints before continuing our pub crawl. Staff see friendly enough and Ales we tried were all in good condition there was about five on tap at the time and a few coming soon including a Christmas Ale. Other than that its you usual Spoons Menu and a good selection of Ales I would go in again when Passing as its in a handy place.

On 18th November 2011 - rating: 7
[User has posted 132 recommendations about 105 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


david joyce left this review about The Cross Keys (JD Wetherspoon)

not the best pub in town. keep walking past it.

On 2nd July 2011 - rating: 2
[User has posted 2 recommendations about 2 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Steve C left this review about The Cross Keys (JD Wetherspoon)

The Cross Keys is a typically large town centre Wetherspoons complete with drink and food promotions on already cheap for the area prices. I counted twelve hand pumps that were drawing ten ales and two ciders and I had no problem getting served promptly. This was partly due to the pub being very quiet, especially for 22:00 on a Saturday evening when other pubs in the area had people queuing outside to get in. I plumped for the Pride which was on good form, but I did have to ask for it to be topped up as it was embarrassingly short of a pint. No background music was playing, but the plasma screen was showing muted rolling news.

It’s suppose that it is always handy to have a local Spoons, but there are far better options in this area for those who are prepared to spend a little more money on a pint.

On 12th May 2011 - rating: 6
[User has posted 5179 recommendations about 5148 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Clive Thompson left this review about The Cross Keys (JD Wetherspoon)

Decent location at the top of Holywell Hill where London Rd meets the High Street. You can normally rely on the quality of the real ales in this Wetherspoons and they usually have a good selection. The cheaper JDW prices means it can hold it's own in the real ale mecca of St Albans.

On 19th February 2010 - rating: 7
[User has posted 777 recommendations about 697 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Roger Button left this review about The Cross Keys (JD Wetherspoon)

This formulaic and quite bland Wetherspoons seems even more of a disappointment given the history and character of the City. The interior has all the ‘Spoons hallmarks and furnishings without adding anything to make it stand out but it does at least have a better than average selection of guest Ales (6 although it did include a couple of leftovers from the Festival) across the 12 pumps although a further 3 were annoyingly badged as “available soon” on my visit. The rear section contained a quite a disproportionate amount of space for diners and most of the drinking area seemed to be full of undesirable train robber lookalikes with roll ups behind the ears and limited vocabulary that for a reasonably upmarket town, comes as a bit of a shock, even for Wetherspoons. The staff seemed disinterested and turned a blind eye to their behaviour and that in itself lets the pub down considerably. Maybe it was a bad day but I won’t be too keen to come back especially given the competition.

On 27th April 2009 - rating: 4
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Cross Keys (JD Wetherspoon)

Fairly typical Wetherspoons, but an execellent selection of the Real Ales festival beers on (about 10 to choose from) - a better bet than the nearby Lloyds No. 1 (Waterend Barn), and cheaper too...

On 4th November 2008 - rating: 7
[User has posted 8061 recommendations about 8061 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


john mcgraw left this review about The Cross Keys

Medium sized Wetherspoons which on my visit had no guest beers. Did not see any of the above people

On 14th March 2007 - rating: 2
[User has posted 2044 recommendations about 2025 pubs]