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Disappointment of the week with Tris39
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Detail Pages
Hare & Hounds, St. Albans
St. Albans
AL1 1RL
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Hare & Hounds
Another backstreet pub in this part of town, this is a fairly large, multi-roomed boozer seemingly popular with a relatively younger crowd. You enter into a slightly lower front room with a grand fireplace under a huge dark wood lintel to the right with a couple of sofas in front of it, making it a good spot to grab on a chilly Autumn evening. The greeter’s lectern was just to the left of this space and having completed the unnecessarily complicated sign-in process, I was led through a low doorway to the left, into the main bar area where I was seated at a nice table opposite the bar. The servery runs along the back wall and has a tongue and groove counter front which runs in an unusual ‘bulging’ angular shape. The bar back is remarkably basic and detracts a little from the room’s overall effect although it had been brightened up a little by the addition of some fairy lights, which snake out from here across the ceiling beams. Tub chairs serve a few small tables opposite the bar but the majority of the seating appears past the left-hand end of the servery, where the room opens out into a bare boarded space with basic seating underneath low panelled walls decorated with traditional paintings and an acoustic guitar. One final room can be found to the rear right where some more chair and banquette seating can be found in a compact bare boarded space. A TV screen here was showing muted live football whilst a dreadful 90’s pop soundtrack played away in the background – I’m tempted to give this pub the score of shame just for making me listen to the bloody Macarena in full.
I counted six handpulls on the bar, two of which were unused, leaving a choice of St Austell Tribute, Adnams Ghost Ship, Youngs Special and Rat White Rat. The barmaid who had made the registration process such a chore on my arrival, continued to prove particularly inept in dealing with my complex order of one pint of White Rat, eventually managing to serve up a decent drop of a beer I don’t see down this way very often.
Despite the borderline hopeless service, I rather enjoyed this place which has a nice mix of rooms, mostly very nicely presented and comfortably furnished. Having at least one interesting beer on the bar certainly helped the cause and were there an interesting local brew available and a better choice of music on the stereo, I may well have thought even more highly of this place. Definitely worth a look if you’re crawling the backstreets of this part of town.
On 18th November 2020
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about Hare & Hounds
As others have mentioned the Hare and Hounds gives off all the exterior vibes of being a modern gastro pub, but fortunately inside is still quite a nice traditional pub interior.
Yes the main bar room is mainly laid for dining and is a tad dark, presumably because of the low beamed ceiling combined with smallish windows and a very dark bare wood floor, but this pub surprises with the comfortable Chesterton filled section beyond and the impressive exterior decking space and large garden with children’s play area beyond.
Impressive range of six ales as reported below and the Trumans Lazarus was in good condition. Difficult to truly judge as it was almost empty for our mid afternoon visit , but certainly one I would consider returning to.
On 23rd August 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2110 recommendations about 1992 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Hare & Hounds
The upmarket J-shaped interior has had a lick of paint since my last visit but ostensibly still the same; bare boards, two-tone green colour scheme, sofas. One or two characterful touches though. Good-sized garden replete with table football. Other items of note were a selection of papers, kids colouring stuff and advertised live music. A spawning of ale, from two in 2009 to five over six pumps, Red Squirrel Summer Daze, Otter Bitter, Truman's Lazarus, Long Man American Pale and a house beer brewed Ringwood (though no idea if unique or rebadge). I tried the Truman's which was in decent nick but had an bad sweetcorn taste (which from accumulated wisdom would have it placed at the brewer's rather than the publican's door - though a top-notch landlord would have picked this up). Decent enough though perhaps I was a bit unlucky with the ale. I'd give it another go next time.
July 2009
A nicely-kitted out two-roomed, boho pub/bar thing with four ale pumps (though only two ales actually on - Woodfordes Wherry and Doom Bar, which came out fairly well) as well as Aspells Cyder which is always a good tipple - expensive in here though. Sports TV, daily papers, dominant foreground music and Jenga add to the mix. The TV seems oddly positioned by the bar, if you're queuing to be served it feels like you’re blocking the view of others. Whilst it won't bother some of the big-hitter pubs elsewhere in St Albans I thought it was a decent place and perhaps worth a quick stop if you're in that part of the town. Rated 6
On 1st August 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about Hare & Hounds
This pub I found to have more of a country pub feel about it,family friendly with several drinking areas throughout the pub.The beer selection, already summarised by Blackthorn below was half decent, I went for the Longman American Pale Ale which again was half decent without being stunning . Its worth a pint here but its nothing too exciting.
On 28th July 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1871 recommendations about 1844 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about Hare & Hounds
A traditional pub, which was empty on our mid Friday afternoon arrival. I imagine this is more of a family pub, judging from the large dining room and the child friendly beer garden out the back. I found the interior décor on a day time visit, to be dark and drab. Maybe the atmosphere changes in the evening when the pub is lit up. Six ales on handpump, I went for the Red Squirrel Summer Daze, which was a good choice.
On 26th July 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about Hare & Hounds
A good sized pub in a residential area just a short stroll from the town centre, I thought it had something of a gastro-pub look about it in terms of the exterior décor and signage, but fortunately this was not the case. Internally it consists of a number of different bar areas as well as gardens on two sides.
The main bar to the left is an L-shape room with rough wooden boards on the floor, a couple of black beams on the ceiling and some chunky wood tables. The colour scheme was predominantly green with quite dark paintwork on the lower part of the walls and very pale up above. A number of watercolours brightened it up somewhat and there were also a couple of plasma screens, although fortunately the volume was off so these were not too intrusive. To the right was quite a cosy snug with a very low ceiling and a large brick fire-place with alcoves either side and a couple of sofas in front. To the rear of this was a longer room with a red colour scheme, again two tone dark and pale. This led out on to a large beer garden which I thought let the pub down slightly, being a little tatty and the presence of a climbing frame at the end meant rather too many noisy kids running around for my liking.
Beers on this occasion were Red Squirrel Summer Daze, Otter Ale, Truman’s Lazarus, Longman American Pale and Ale and their own St. Albans Hare & Hounds, which is apparently brewed by Ringwood. Ciders meanwhile were Thatcher’s Heritage and Addlestones.
On 20th July 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1947 recommendations about 1860 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Bucking Fastard left this review about Hare & Hounds
An interesting interior with the L shaped bar room to the left of the low entrance,while to the right there is a section with a series of sofas and seperate bar access, leading to a substantial exterior terrace (with a table football machine) and a low level beer garden.Genuine and cosy with six handpumps offering Red Squirrel Summer Daze (decent),Otter Bitter,Trumans Lazarus,a house beer Hare & Hounds brewed by Ringwood,Long Man APA and Thatchers Heritage Cider.Worth including on any crawl of the area.
On 18th July 2015
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2727 recommendations about 2727 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about Hare & Hounds
traditional low ceilinged busy pub.Ringwood-bitter, Otter -bitter,Bombadier and youngs were the poor selection of beers.All interchangeable bland beers imo.What about a dark beer?
On 28th February 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about Hare & Hounds
Not open at the time of my visit to this part of St Albans - opening time is 17:00 in the early part of the week, not as stated on What Pub. I could see through the window that there were half a dozen hand pumps, with a variety of beers on offer from different breweries. Will have to return another time.
On 26th February 2015
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 3733 recommendations about 3470 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Hare & Hounds
Historic building but thoroughly modernised inside, with the entrance leading into a small lounge with comfortable furniture. The main bar to the left comprises a 'L'-shaped room with bright decor, traditional wooden furniture and an uncluttered layout. Straight ahead, there is a back room with table football, darts and a small (disused) bar counter. Beer garden. Three of the five handpumps were operational; with Hobgoglin, Marstons EPA and Jennings Cumberland (£3.40) on, and Tribute and Abbot off. Overall, worth popping in as a change from some of the better-known pubs in the area.
On 11th February 2012
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8086 recommendations about 8086 pubs]