Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Random news of the day with Real Ale Ray
on the Pub Forum
Image posted by adam bell
Submitted on Sunday, 15th April 2012
With picture contributions to 2375 other pubs
View all this pub's pictures (3 more images)
Detail Pages
Builders Arms, Barnet
Barnet
EN4 9SH
Served areas
Reviews of Builders Arms (Average Rating: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about Builders Arms
Forty years ago I wrote a letter to Greene King brewery asking them where their nearest pub to London was. They came back to me with this place so I visited it. Younger readers will find this hard to believe, but this WAS the only Greene King pub in Greater London. Greene King beers (especially Abbot) were sought after and along with Ruddles had started to get into the limited free trade.
It struck me at the time that the pub was a conversion of a pair of semi-detached houses and today's visit confirmed that fact.
There is a small saloon bar at the front left and a larger proper public bar to the right with Pool and darts.
Visible from the saloon bar where I sat was a small kitchen producing Thai food lunches which were advertised at £5.00 a go. This seemed to be doing a brisk trade on my Friday lunchtime visit.
On the bar there were six pumps that included three GK beers, Abbot, IPA and London Glory. The three guests were Robinson's Trooper, St Austell Proper Job and Wolf Golden Jackal.
I had heard good reports about the Proper Job beer so went for it at £3.45 a pint. I don't know if my expectations were too high, but this seemed to be a straightforward hoppy pale beer rather than the hop bomb I was hoping for. To be fair to the pub I believe it was in good condition. It's nice to see a London pub with a proper publc bar even if it is converted houses rather than an original pub, but to me the Spoons round the corner had a more interesting beer selection and obviously was cheaper. If you don't like Spoons this is the one to go for. I was more disappointed with the St Austell beer than the pub.
On 9th March 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alesonly . left this review about Builders Arms
I only Nipped in here after walking out the spoons which had no Decent Ale on. Glad I did what a surprise to find a nice traditional old style Pub just around the corner looks nice even from outside. Inside its just as good tried several Ales which were on tap all were in excellent condition. I Found staff welcoming and other customers friendly service was good and quick. Will definitely come back when I've more time to enjoy it for a few pints.
On 13th September 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 132 recommendations about 105 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about Builders Arms
When you walk towards the door of a Greene King pub one's expectations aren't high, but I was wrong about this one. Being GBG listed is perhaps an unusal achievement for a GK pub, but this one had on Hyde's Finest, Everard's Tiger and Hopback Crop Circle, as well as the GK trio of GKIPA, London Glory and Abbot. This is a decent selection and certainly merits GBG inclusion, as the Tiger I had was in excellent condition. I didn't see a menu, but they do Thai food, and the smell of ginger and garlic was very present in the bar.
This is a strange little pub. It looks like a house (or perhaps two houses) conversion. The main door is below street level, with a nicely tended front garden sloping down towards the building. The main room is quite small and is simply furnished with banquettes and standard issue tables and chairs. There’s a back room that I could see across the servery that contains a pool table and dartboard. I could hear music being played in the back room, but thankfully it wasn’t being playing in the front room where I was sitting. The front room has no TV either, although there may have been one in the back room.
I reckon this is a pub of two halves, with the back room for those interested in playing pool or darts, and the front room for those just wanting a quiet drink. I like that idea a lot. This is a rather nice little pub with a decent ale selection, and is definitely worth a visit if you’re anywhere nearby.
On 19th May 2013
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
View more reviews of Builders Arms (6)
Pubs Galore is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
- Randomness Guide to London - Builders Arms entry
- CAMRA WhatPub :: Builders Arms - whatpub.com
Oakleigh Park, 1.16 miles, 22 min walk (show)
Hadley Wood, 1.53 miles, 29 min walk (show)
Pub Details
Pub details supplied by members of this site to the best of their knowledge. Please check with pub directly before making a special trip.
- Accommodation : No last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- Bar Billiards : No last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- Beer Festivals : No last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- Beer Garden : Yes last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- CAMRA Discount : No last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- Car Park : No last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- Child Friendly : Yes last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- Darts : Yes last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- Hot Food : Yes last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- Karaoke : Yes last updated 24 August 2014 by Dave McNally
- Live Music : Yes last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- Pinball : No last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- Pool Table : Yes last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- Real Ale : Yes last updated 29 July 2013 by Dave McNally
- Real Cider : No last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
- Wheelchair Access : No last updated 08 March 2014 by Aqualung .
