Krafty J's, St Helier

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Pub SignMan left this review about Krafty J's

This is a small shop converted craft beer bar in the centre of St Helier, located on a small, pleasant square and handy for the town’s retail areas. Set up along the lines of a micro pub minus the cask ale, the pub occupies a small ground floor room with laminate flooring, large shop-style windows to the front and a compact servery in the rear right corner. The bar has a lacquered chipboard counter and matching bar back which all looks considerably more appealing than it sounds. The keg taps are mounted on the back wall beneath a beer board which has been written on the underside of a staircase to the left. There is also a large ‘Godfather’-style painting of the Last Supper behind the bar, which adds some much-needed visual distraction. Seating is limited to one long table with low stools under the front window and two high stools along a drinking ledge to the left, although it did appear that additional seating is available upstairs, but they were preparing for a private function, so I was unable to take a proper look around up there. Décor includes a few art prints and some pub-themed bits including a nice pub mirror. A DJ booth to the front right with a healthy stack of LP’s to one side, suggests the place might get quite lively certain evenings, but it was only moderately busy during my stay. A few tables have been set outside in the aforementioned square and I would imagine these would be in high demand in the summer months.
There were five craft keg beers available on tap, mostly from microbrewers I’d never heard of, plus three fruit ciders. I tried the Mobberley Loco Juice IPA, which was a rather cloudy, but perfectly tasty, pint that went down well after a long day hiking around the island. The pub also has a small shop section selling various items that probably fall more into the ‘impulse purchase’ category, rather than daily essentials.
I liked this place and found a friendly welcome here from staff and customers alike. The beer was priced quite high, but then again, it’s pretty expensive everywhere on Jersey and at least there were some interesting options here. St Helier has only the most rudimentary craft beer scene and I would say this is probably your best bet for a good pint of keg beer on the island.

On 1^st July 2020 - rating: 7
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