Picture of Gunmakers, EC1R 5ET

Historical version 12 of Gunmakers, EC1R 5ET (view current version)

A lovely little pub just off Clerkenwell Road, on a quiet back street, whose publican writes an excellent blog under the name Jeffrey's Beer Blog (formerly Stonch).

A modest and understated black frontage, with a couple of tables sitting outside, opens on to a small bar area near the front. Further seating is up several stairs, where wall-length mirrors are rather strikingly engraved with the pub's name and there are comfortable leather banquettes along the wall on either side. There's a larger, brighter room, seemingly added on at a later date, down some stairs at the back, useful for accommodating lunchtime overflow and also for weekend functions (the pub can be hired at the weekends, when it's not open).

There are four handpulls, generally including Timothy Taylor's Landlord (£3/pint) and Harvey's Sussex Bitter, and regularly rotating guest beers as noted on a chalkboard above the bar (and notified on the pub's Twitter account). All ales have been very well-kept, the Landlord being particularly refreshing. There are also draught taps, covering basic lagers and Guinness, as well as Staropramen and Addlestone's cloudy cider.

Food is served noon-3pm and 6pm-10pm Monday to Friday, and noon-5pm Sunday. The menu covers a good range, interesting without being overly pretentious, and ranges from £8 for a Greek salad and £9 for the burger, through to £16.50 for a steak (see website for details). It's chalked up on boards around the pub, so presumably changes fairly regularly. On a November 2008 visit, Ewan had a gnocchi of the day (stilton and spinach) which was very tasty and flavoursome, while his friend's sausages and mash featured three hefty sausages which were given the thumbs-up. On a May 2009 visit, Kake's steak sandwich was very good, decent meat cooked properly and served in ciabatta. Another of our party had the burger, which came with truly excellent chips; crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and not at all greasy. There are also decent crisps (Salty Dog brand) and pork scratchings. At the london.pm meeting in June, many people enjoyed the food, particularly the steak sandwich and the mixed grill.

It can get very busy in the evenings, though on all Ewan's visits (at off-peak times, afternoons and late evening), it has been an extremely pleasant place to spend some time. A Thursday lunchtime visit was busy at 1:30pm though there were a few tables spare in the back room, getting far quieter after 2pm.

Service is exceptionally friendly, and there is additionally table service during the lunchtimes, with attentive staff passing around the room on a regular basis. Requests for drinks, food and bill were accommodated very promptly, without any long waits.

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Last visited by London Perl Mongers on 4th June 2009. Opening hours and food times taken from website, September 2008.
OS X co-ord: 531172 OS Y co-ord: 182118 (Latitude: 51.522245 Longitude: -0.109081)
This is version 12 (as of 2009-06-15 11:50:07). View current version. List all versions.