Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

[Uosdwis R Dewoh]

As a native of Dublin, it's very easy to become tired of large, soulless, boring, tourist-targeted pubs in and around the city centre. This wouldn't be so bad if one didn't live in the city centre.

So recently, I have taken it upon myself to go into bars that, from the outside, look like they want to suplex me. Yesterday I happened upon one in Smithfield called 'Museum Res' (presumably the T got fed up with the others and went home early in a huff). It was no bigger than an average city apartment, had two fireplaces and a barman that happily greets you when you walk in the door. No music of any kind, no bad smells, not even a hint of a special offer on any kind of booze (though it was remarkably cheap). It warmed my heart as well as my feet.

What's your favourite teensy tiny little pub?

[Guest]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

The Radegund in Cambridge used to fit that description quite well. For all I know it still might.

[evilC]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

I suppose it would the The Lamb, in Farnham.

The strange thing is, the local pubs with the most 'small pub atmosphere' (and best ales) aren't physically the smallest.

The Lamb isn't what I'd really call small, either. The (actual serving) bar is about 10ft long and there's seating for probably 25-30 people in the L-shaped room, meaning you could *theoretically* get 40 in there, including people standing at the bar. In reality that never happens, though. It's also lost all its 'soul' since they refurbished it, swapping the thick carpet for pine boards and the lush curtains for pine blinds. :-(

The Heart & Hand in Brighton is smaller but is not as snug-feeling, somehow.

My definition of small would be when it feels crowded if there's 6 people in the bar.

[Auntie Beryl]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

I'm a fan of the Mitre on Holborn Circus, which I think just about fits the bill.

[NickSTFU]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

The Nags Head on the Wyle Cop in Shrewsbury.

Some of you may have drunk in there if you ever visited Gay Meadow.

I used to get in the Lamb once in a while back in the last century.

[Nefertiti2]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

The Compton Arms behind Highbury Corner is a trim little pub. and, a little bit larger, the Bank of Friendship on Blackstock Road used to have former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski working behind the bar.

[Cal Alamein]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

The Seven Stars was a nice, teeny tiny place not so far from Holborn tube station.

[E10 Rifle]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

And it still is. Fantastic food too, though mildly irritating landlady trading rather heavily on her reputation as a London 'character'.

I'm a big fan also of The Circus Tavern in Portland Street, Manchester, whose landlady is, to all intents and purposes, Betty off of Coronation Street.

[Eggchaser]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St Albans is not the hugest.

Mind you, harking back to my University days, Highfield Hall bar at Southampton was the size of most people's living rooms.

[ChrisJ]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

There used to be an excellent pub in Shrewsbury called the Hole in the Wall; it was an old debtors prison and run on a friendly basis by a man who loved lock-ins.
It backed onto another small (slightly larger) and also good pub called the Market Vaults, but popularly known as the Blood Tub.
Neither did food, fancy beers, happy hours or soft furnishings. (The Blood Tub had a decent Juke Box IIRC with a lot of classic soul on it.)
I went back to Salop after a couple of years' absence to find some twat had knocked them together and there was a bouncer on the door checking customers' outfits.
Nick/Marc, is the Bottle and Glass at Picklescott still in business, and if so is it still worth a visit? The Nags is/was a great pub, though I've not drunk in Salop for about 20 years.
Re another thread, we should have a jar. Maybe the boxing Day game?

[Eggchaser]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

ChrisJ wrote:

I went back to Salop after a couple of years' absence to find some twat had knocked them together and there was a bouncer on the door checking customers' outfits.

Boo, and indeed hiss.

[King On The Rye]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

Cask and Glass, Victoria.

[Tony C]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

My favourite hidden gem:

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/35/35864/Vale_Cottage/Gorton

[Moonlight Shadow]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

Good call by E10 and the Grey Horse next door ain't much bigger either.

[Tony C]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

Circus Tavern is indeed a good call.

Another favourite little city centre pub is this one in Liverpool that I've been to a few times recently:

http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/26553/

[Jimmy Bignutz]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

I remember stumbling upon a really great pub in Hampstead on a day off a couple of years ago - cosy and well-hidden, and with really nice food, but I didn't remember its name, and I was never able to find it again, leading me to wonder if it was my imagination. But I think it was this place:

http://www.fancyapint.com/pubs/pub1314.php

[Sam]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

I thought of the Circus and was trying to remember the name of the Grey Horse as soon as I opened this thread. One of the two (I can never remember which) has a sign on the door leading into the bar saying (to paraphrase), 'The management politely requests that customers of this establishment please refrain from swearing inside the premises', which I love.

The Temple, about a five minute (if that) walk from those two, is worth a mention too though. It's underground, and used to be a public toilet before it was converted into a bar. Here's a picture of the entrance:

[NHH]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

Good shout on the Circus, and the Seven Stars too, which has the most precipitous staircase I've ever seen, not to mention a bog with a shower in it. I also thought that was for soaked old beaks and briefs who wanted to sober up for the afternoon session of the court over the road.

Anyway, the Circus:



Honourable mention to the Nell Gwyn, just off The Strand.

[NickSTFU]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

ChrisJ wrote:

There used to be an excellent pub in Shrewsbury called the Hole in the Wall; it was an old debtors prison and run on a friendly basis by a man who loved lock-ins.
It backed onto another small (slightly larger) and also good pub called the Market Vaults, but popularly known as the Blood Tub.
Neither did food, fancy beers, happy hours or soft furnishings. (The Blood Tub had a decent Juke Box IIRC with a lot of classic soul on it.)
I went back to Salop after a couple of years' absence to find some twat had knocked them together and there was a bouncer on the door checking customers' outfits.
Nick/Marc, is the Bottle and Glass at Picklescott still in business, and if so is it still worth a visit? The Nags is/was a great pub, though I've not drunk in Salop for about 20 years.
Re another thread, we should have a jar. Maybe the boxing Day game?

http://www.picklescott.org.uk/index.htm

Yep. Have done a lot of walking in the that area and have been passed the Bottle and Glass on several occassions, but never gone in, much to my shame.

The Hole in the Wall is a horrible "pub" and is everything I hate about the modern way we are supposed to enjoy a night out.

The Nags is still a great boozer, but it now does sandwiches and has a coffee machine. I suppose Russ (the landlord of 25 odd years) has to keep up with times.

A special mention to the Wheatsheaf on the High St, another great little pub with some nice real ales and live music most weekends (accoustic sets)in a cosy atmosphere.

Another great little pub was The Plough in the Square. It's become one of those trendy clothes shops that no one seems to shop at, real shame.

Went to the Nutshell in Bury St Edmonds a few years back. I all ways thought it was the smallest pub in the UK, but maybe not.

http://beerblog.genx40.com/archive/2005/april/britains

[Guy Profumo]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

http://www.whitebeertravels.co.uk/signal.html

and if you want a "proper" pub

http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/69/6956/Circus_Tavern/Manchester

So small, you order your beer, go and sit down, and they bring it to you, as there's no room at the bar to serve you.

[E10 Rifle]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

Yes, we've just been discussing that at length, on this very thread.

[Moonlight Shadow]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

The Temple is very hot and sweaty in summer, avoid unless you like saunas...

The Poste House in Liverpool and that tiny one by the seafront in Southport are good, ahem, little places

[Guy Profumo]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

E10 Rifle wrote:

Yes, we've just been discussing that at length, on this very thread.

Then it would only re-inforce the consensus that otf is an oasis of taste and style that is the desert of the interweb.

[Spearmint Rhino]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

The Hand In Hand, Brighton. An unofficial Welsh pub (many Taffs among the staff and clientele) in Kemptown, stumbled across by chance, and now something of a destination for us when we fancy a warming rum after a hard day's shopping/flyering. Proper friendly people, a load of snipped-off ties pinned to an overhead beam (like the notice board in the police office in The Wire), peculiar old newspaper stories used as wallpaper, etc.

[evilC]

Lovely Teensy Tiny Little Pubs

Oh yeah! I'd forgotten that one, SR. That's just round the corner from the Snooze B&B.

I went in there, the first time I came down and yes, it was tiny but nice. The only slight downer was that the girl behind the bar at the time seemed very surly.