Picture of Old Fountain, EC1V 9NU

Historical version 15 of Old Fountain, EC1V 9NU (view current version)

Real ale pub near Old Street Station. It has entrances on both roads either side of the Barclays on City Road.

Inside, the decor is quite traditional. The pub is split-level, with the back section raised slightly above the front, and there are bars on each level with a bank of four handpumps on each.

Kake, Ewan, Laura, and Les visited on a Monday evening in January 2010. It was pretty quiet, though not empty, when we arrived around 5:30pm — unsurprising given it was early in both the week and the year (when bob visited on a Friday night in March 2007 it was rather crowded). Music was playing, not too loud.

Ales available on this visit were Moorhouse Black Cat (£2.90/pint), Twickenham Sundancer, Whitstable East India Pale Ale, Oxfordshire Ales Pride Of Oxford, and London Pride (quite a good number, given the quiet time of year). Those we tried were fresh and tasty. We also noted they have Sam Smith's wheat beer and Sam Smith's cider — unusual to see these outside an actual Sam Smith's pub.

Lunchtime food appears to be hot and cold sandwiches, jacket potatoes, etc. Evening food is served between 5pm and 9pm, and comprises pizzas (£6), wedges, soup, and chips. We had a bowl of chips (£2) which arrived very quickly and were quite good; thin, crispy, and not greasy.

A sign seen in January 2010 warned that there's a minimum spend of £10 on credit/debit cards.

Accessibility: One step up to get in. As mentioned above, the pub is split-level, with two steps between the front and back parts. There are bars and seating on each level. The ladies' toilet is on the lower level and the gents' is on the upper level.

See also:

Last visited by Kake, Ewan, Laura, and Les, 4 January 2010.
OS X co-ord: 532658 OS Y co-ord: 182636 (Latitude: 51.526553 Longitude: -0.087477)
This is version 15 (as of 2010-01-05 13:30:17). View current version. List all versions.