I was in London for an overnight stay last week, in between two days’ worth of meetings. Seeing as I was staying on The Strand, it was a pleasantly warm evening and Clerkenwell looked like it was within easy walking distance, I realised this was a great opportunity to visit the legendary Gunmakers.

With the help of Google Maps I found the place quite easily and I fell in love with it pretty much immediately. The Gunmakers is small but perfectly formed, with the décor, atmosphere and – most importantly – beer selection of a proper pub. Being a bit peckish I perused the food menu on the blackboard and was frankly spoilt for choice, deciding on the chicken liver & bacon salad rather than the mixed grill, but only by the narrowest of margins. The food turned up quickly and was, frankly, delicious. The chicken livers were cooked to perfection, the bacon was freshly grilled, the salad leaves fresh and the dressing tangy. Absolutely lovely grub (it knocked ten bells out of the bog-standard re-heated chicken & chorizo salad I’d had at lunchtime) and I’ll report back on the mixed grill next time I get down there.

Even better was the aformentioned beer selection. I’ve been keeping an eye out for fff Alton’s Pride since it won CAMRA Champion beer of Britain at last year’s Great British Beer Festival and there it was. A very fine beer it turned out to be, too: a golden-amber bitter with a fabulously fresh, hoppy flavour and plenty of lingering malt-notes in the after-taste. Throw in a hint of citrus and a biscuity, caramel sweetness and it all added up to a very fine drop indeed. At 3.8% it’s a definite session-candidate and I’ll certainly be trying this one again if I find it out and about in Manchester.

I reckoned I had time for one more before I headed off, so I opted for a pint of Harvey’s Sussex Best bitter, which turned out to be another very fresh-tasting pale ale with a well-balanced hop-malt flavour and was expertly poured by none other than Jeffrey the landlord, widely known in beer-blogging circles as the author of Jeffrey’s Beer Blog.

I said hello and introduced myself, then Jeff in turn introduced me to John, his flatmate, and we ended up chatting for a good half hour or so while Jeff did important landlord-stuff. We covered a range of topics – John’s work at the BBC World Service, my work in publishing, the state of the economy, a few suggestions as to the best pubs in Manchester and York – all sorts of interesting topics. All in all I was made to feel most welcome indeed and it turned out to be an extremely pleasant evening, even if I did have to be anti-social and slope off a bit early to get in an hour or so’s prep for the next day’s meetings. But I’ll be back, dammit. Just try to stop me…

And Jeff, if you happen to end up reading this piece, many thanks indeed for your hospitality and congrats again on your terrific boozer. If you do decide to make that Manchester trip and you think the services of a local guide might be useful, please feel free to drop me a line and I’ll see if I can free up an evening for a bit of a crawl.

Photo Credit: I found this pic of the Gunmakers on Ewan-M’s photostream on Flickr, which features a wealth of London pubs – check it out!