Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 21 and Version 20 of Gunmakers, EC1R 5ET

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category='Featured Article,Food Served Evenings,Food Served Lunchtimes,Function Room,Good Beer Guide,Good Beer Guide 2010,Good Beer Guide 2011,Iterative Pub Crawl 2009,Pubs,Real Ale'
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category='Featured Article,Food Served Evenings,Food Served Lunchtimes,Function Room,Good Beer Guide,Good Beer Guide 2010,Iterative Pub Crawl 2009,Pubs,Real Ale'
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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 and also for weekend functions (the pub can be hired at the weekends, when it's not open).

There are four handpulls, generally including Woodforde's Wherry and Purity Mad Goose, and regularly rotating guest beers and ciders noted on a chalkboard above the bar (and notified on the pub's Twitter account). All ales have been very well-kept. There are also draught taps, covering basic lagers and Guinness, as well as Staropramen, Meantime Helles and Addlestone's cloudy cider.

Food is served noon-3pm and 6.30pm-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 website 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.

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.

See also:

Last visited by ilmari, 17 September 2010. Opening hours and food times taken from website, September 2010.

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