Historical version 7 of Gunmakers, EC1R 5ET (view current version)
- 020 7278 1022
- 13 Eyre Street Hill, EC1R 5ET (streetmap) (osm) (gmap) (bingmap) (streetview)
- thegunmakers.co.uk
- noon-11pm Mon-Fri; closed Sat; noon-5pm Sun
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 tacked on at a latter date, down some stairs at the back.
There are four handpulls, generally including Timothy Taylor's Landlord (£3/pint), and regularly rotating guest beers as noted on a chalkboard above the bar. In early-September 2008, this was Brakspear's Bitter (£1.50/half), but a mild was on in November (£1.50/half) among others. 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 Hoegaarden, 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. 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. There are also decent crisps (Salty Dog brand) and pork scratchings.
It can get very busy in the evenings, though on both Ewan's visits (at off-peak times), 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 very 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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