Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 32 and Version 31 of Gunmakers, EC1R 5ET

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category='Circle Line Pub Crawl 2012,Featured Article,Function Room,Good Beer Guide,Good Beer Guide 2010,Good Beer Guide 2011,Good Beer Guide 2012,Good Beer Guide 2013,Iterative Pub Crawl 2009,London.PM Favourite Pubs,Pub Food,Pubs,Real Ale'
 category='Circle Line Pub Crawl 2012,Featured Article,Food Served Evenings,Food Served Lunchtimes,Function Room,Good Beer Guide,Good Beer Guide 2010,Good Beer Guide 2011,Good Beer Guide 2012,Good Beer Guide 2013,Iterative Pub Crawl 2009,London.PM Favourite Pubs,Pubs,Real Ale'
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host='46.43.34.31'
 host='81.187.166.218'

A lovely little pub just off Clerkenwell Road, on a quiet back street.

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, large parties, and also for weekend functions (the pub can be hired at the weekends, when it's not open).

There are five handpulls, with regularly rotating beers and ciders noted on a chalkboard above the bar (and notified on the pub's Twitter account), often solid British bitters from brewers like Woodforde's, Purity, Windsor & Eton, Timothy Taylor and the like. All ales have always been very well-kept. There are also draught taps, often with a Meantime beer (London Pale Ale or Helles) and Addlestone's cloudy cider.

Food is served noon-3pm and 6pm-9.30pm Monday to Friday. The menu covers a good range, interesting without being overly pretentious, and ranges from £8 for a tagliatelle pomodoro and £8.50 for the smoked chicken and chorizo salad, through to £14.50 for a steak (see Twitter for details). It's chalked up on boards around the pub and posted to Twitter, and 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. On a 2011 visit, Ewan had a paella which was utterly fantastic, while in August 2012, a BBQ chicken dish was also tender and succulent.

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.

Ewan's verdict: The ale range may not pander to the 'craft beer' drinkers, but it offers some solid British cask ales in immaculate condition, while the food is among the best in any London pub that I've been to. I can heartily recommend it, and I like to pop in whenever I'm in the area.

See also:

Last visited by Ewan, Kerry and others, August 2012. Opening hours and food times taken from the Gunmakers website, September 2011.

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