Club Background
There were a number of early football clubs – St Albans, St Albans Amateurs, St Albans Abbey – founded at the end of the 19th and into the early 20th Centuries in the city, but none lasted more than a few years before being disbanded. The club we have today, St Albans City, was formed in 1908. It has always played at Clarence Park, which is an actual Victorian Park laid out in 1894: with gardens, band stand, cricket ground, a croquet club. The football stadium is tucked away in the north-west corner.
The Saints spent decades in various amateur leagues – Spartan, Athenian, Isthmian – doing, if one’s brutally honest, very little. They were Isthmian Champions a few times, got to the First or Second Round Proper of the FA Cup a couple of times and had runs in the FA Amateur Cup, but these were almost all in the 1920s.Thereafter, through the Thirties, Forties, Fifties, Sixties and into the Seventies it was little more than a club that ‘existed’.
The huge shake up of football around 1973 to 1974, with the Football Association’s ending of the distinction between amateur and professional football and beginning the construction of a single pyramid system, didn’t have much immediate impact in St Albans. The club simply stayed in the now semi-pro Isthmian League structure, bobbing about with a few promotions and an equal amount of relegations in the lower reaches, for another decade.
Eventually, in the 1985-86 season, it won the Isthmian Division One title and so the following campaign met Yeovil Town for the first time, the Glovers being in the second season of our first spell in the Isthmian League Premier.
The Saints spent the next 18 seasons in the Isthmian Premier – best finish second, worst finish 19th. In one of those flukes it was the season they finished 19th, 2003-04, that changed the club’s fortunes for the better. The Conference was seeking clubs for the formation of North and South Divisions for 2004-05 and St Albans found itself invited into a play-off system. Beating Heybridge Swifts 4-3 and Bedford Town 5-4 they suddenly found themselves catapulted from 19th in the IPL into Conference South.
Under new (and former Glover) manager Colin Lippiatt the first season at this new level saw a mid-table finish; but in 2005-06 they ended up second, to our Friends By The Sea. Into the play-offs, a bye in the Semis (opponents Lewes were disbarred on ground grading issues) meant the Saints only had to win one match, which they duly did beating Histon 2-0 at the neutral ground of Broadhall Way (home to more ‘Friends’ of ours), to reach the Non-League top flight.
Happiness was short lived, with wrangling in the boardroom seeing the exit of director Ian Ridley (he of the Seaside Scummers) in January, and immediate relegation from Conference National in last place. Colin resigned as manager.
After a couple of mid-table seasons back in Conference South the Saints hit real trouble in 2010-11. Chairman John Gibson‘s building firm had gone into administration in 2009 but he remained publicly bullish, insisting the club would be safe and wasn’t in danger. However the football authorities were now looking at the club more closely and in February 2011 an FA hearing found Gibson and vice-chairman Alasdair McMillan guilty of historical financial irregularities and fined the club £7,500 and imposed a 10 points deduction. As it happened all this turmoil had affected results on the pitch and the Saints would have finished bottom anyway even without the deduction.
Relegated to the Southern League Premier the club was taken over by local businessmen Lawrence Levy and John McGowan. The new regime took three seasons to get back to Conference South with a 4th placed finish in 2013-14 and then play-off victories away at Cambridge City 2-4 and Chesham United 1-3.
Since then the best finish has been a 6th last season which took St Albans to the play-offs. There were wins over Chelmsford City (0-1) away and Dartford (1-1 and 3-5 on penalties) away but a third trip, to Oxford City in the Final, proved a bridge too far and the Saints were crushed 4-0.
Definitely among the (pretty large) group of NLS clubs with aspirations for a play-off spot rather than just survival this season, The Saints started the campaign falteringly – perhaps a hangover from the previous season’s disappointment. They’ve been slowly working their way up the table and at time of writing are amongst a pack of clubs in and around that 7th place line.
We’ve Met Before
Previous Results for Yeovil Town First Team vs St Albans City
| 23/08/1986 | Away | ILP | D | 0-0 | 520 | ||
| 10/01/1987 | Home | ILP | D | 1-1 | 1871 | Pounder | |
| 28/12/1987 | Home | ILP | D | 0-0 | 6079 | ||
| 06/02/1988 | Away | ILP | W | 2-1 | 810 | Randall(2) | |
| 14/10/1995 | Away | ILP | D | 2-2 | 853 | Browne, Patmore | |
| 09/03/1996 | Home | ILP | D | 1-1 | 2758 | Seymour | |
| 19/10/1996 | Away | ILP | W | 3-2 | 851 | Birkby, Gill, Patmore | |
| 22/02/1997 | Home | ILP | W | 3-1 | 2168 | Forinton, Patmore, Gill | |
| 12/08/2023 | Home | NLS | W | 2-1 | 3412 | Hyde 3, Murphy 44 | |
| 27/01/2024 | Away | NLS | D | 1-1 | 2813 | Young 19 | |
Results Summary For Yeovil Town First Team vs St Albans City
| Home | Away | Overall | ||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A |
| 2 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 15 | 10 |
Club Statistics
RECENT RESULTS
| 02/12/2024 | Truro City | Away | NLS | L | 1-3 | 166 | Hoddle 90+4 | |
| 09/12/2023 | Worthing | Away | NLS | D | 4-4 | 809 | Rasulo 5, Jeffers 10, Hoddle 63, Akanbi 89 | |
| 16/12/2023 | Chelmsford City | Home | NLS | W | 2-1 | 1290 | Jeffers 24 (pen), Blackman 84 | |
| 23/12/2023 | Dartford | Away | NLS | W | 3-0 | 907 | Jeffers 70, Clark 74, Faheem Hamid 90+1 | |
| 26/12/2023 | Hemel Hempstead Town | Home | NLS | L | 1-2 | 3589 | Clark 16 | |
| 01/01/2024 | Hemel Hempstead Town | Away | NLS | W | 3-2 | 2253 | Banton 40, Jeffers 60, Brown 90 | |
| 06/01/2024 | Farnborough | Home | NLS | W | 2-1 | 1629 | Hutchinson 45 (pen), Weiss 60 | |
| 13/01/2024 | Eastbourne Borough | Away | NLS | W | 2-1 | 1190 | Hutchinson 46, Jeffers 69 | |
| 20/01/2024 | Weymouth | Away | NLS | POSTPONED | ||||
| 23/01/2024 | Havant & Waterlooville | Home | NLS | W | 4-1 | 1071 | Banton 17, Hoddle 67, Jeffers 89, Weiss 90 | |
| 27/01/2024 | Yeovil Town | Home | NLS | |||||
LEAGUE ATTENDANCE STATISTICS
Highest League Attendance: 3,589
Lowest League Attendance: 942
Average League Attendance: 1,599
CURRENT LEAGUE SEQUENCE STATISTICS
| Games Without A Win: | 0 | Games Without A Home Win: | 0 | |
| Games Without An Away Win: | 0 | Games Without Defeat: | 4 | |
| Games Without A Home Defeat: | 2 | Games Without An Away Defeat: | 4 | |
| Games Without A Draw: | 7 | Games Without A Score Draw: | 7 | |
| Games Without A No-Score Draw: | 22 | Games Without Scoring: | 0 | |
| Games Without Conceding: | 0 | Home Results Sequence: | WLWW | |
| Away Results Sequence: | LDWWW | Overall Results Sequence: | LDWWLWWWW |
Club Information
Address : Clarence Park Stadium, Clarence Park, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 4PL.
(click for map) – someone must have got on to Google Maps as its recently updated to mark the stadium in the right part of the park rather the wrong part as it had previously.
Telephone Number : 01727 848914
Email : info@stalbanscityfc.com
Chairman : Lawrence Levy
Club Secretary : Leigh Page
Team Manager : (interim) Jon Meakes and Harry Wheeler
Capacity : 5,007
Seated : 667
Covered Terrace : the remainder of the stadium is a mixture of covered (1,900) and open terracing
Surface : grass
Record Attendance : 9,757 v Ferryhill Athletic, FA Amateur Cup 4th Round, 27/02/1926
Colours : yellow shirt with blue trim, blue shorts, blue socks
Nickname : The Saints
Programme : digital programmes are produced which can be downloaded FREE HERE
Ticketing
The ground’s current sponsorship name is Mozzarella Fellas Stadium. Doubt anyone has EVER referred to it as that in conversation. For walk-up purchases at the turnstiles there is NO cash payment, card only. In fact be aware, the stadium is cashless throughout including any purchases of food and drink.
The York Road turnstiles open from 12.15 a.m. Be aware the turnstiles inside the park, H & G, which are accessed by entering the park itself through the gates in the South-West or South-East corners off Hatfield Road (A1057), won’t open until 1.45 p.m.
The Main Stand seating (c. 500) and Youth Talk Stand seating (another 100 or so) will be available to both sets of fans on a first-come first-served basis. There is no additional charge on standard ticket prices for a seated option.
On-line purchases in advance can be made HERE.
UPDATE (26/01): all my assumptions that the match would be segregated blown out the water. E-mail from hosts of details concerning matchday arrangements includes: “no segregation will be in place for tomorrow afternoon’s match”.
Prices :
Adult: £16.50
Concession *: £11.00
Next Generation (18-23): £8.00
Youth (Under 18): £6.00
Junior (Under 12): FREE (only if accompanied by over 18 ticket holder otherwise Youth price applies)
Family **: £18 (1 Adult + 1 Youth), £30 (2 Adult + 2 Youth)
(* Concession price covers the following, relevant documentary proof may be requested: 65+; JSA recipients; PIP recipients; NHS & Blue Light services staff; serving members of Armed Forces; Students in full-time education too old for Next Generation; Season Ticket Holders of Arsenal, Brentford, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Luton Town, Watford and West Ham United; Her Game Too initiative – Season Ticket Holders of any Women’s Football Club.)
(** Family Tickets must be pre-purchased on-line, not available as walk-up.)
Disabled Provision
Supporters in wheelchairs, or with mobility issues, should enter the stadium via either the York Road or Clarence Park entrances, where side gates can be opened to assist access to the ground. There is a wheelchair-accessible viewing area at the York Road end of the main stand (in front of the club shop and 1908 Bar).
Fans needing the company of a carer should e-mail ( info@stalbanscityfc.com ) the club no later than three hours before kick-off to request a carer’s ticket and including in the e-mail details of the ticket held by the disabled supporter.
Official Away Travel
The Green & White Supporters’ Club is running away travel to St Albans on 27th January, 3.00 p.m. kick-off.
Details are as follows:
Members: Adult £28; Concession £26
Non-Members: Adult £31; Concession £29
Coach departs Huish Park: 9.00 a.m.
To book, call Paul Hadlow on 07736 044570 (after 6.00 p.m. please) or email him on paulhadlow@outlook.com.
If you are getting in touch by email, please make it clear which match you are booking for and that you give your full name, the names of people that are travelling and a contact telephone number.
You may be asked to pay a £5 deposit to reserve your seat.
Directions To The Ground
General
St Albans is one of the more ancient settlements in England, with some ruins of the old Roman site (called Verulamium) still to be seen. Within the total 147,000 of St Albans City & District the population of the Hertfordshire city itself is around 65,000. It’s well served by the motorway network, with M1, A1M and M25 junctions all within a few miles. It also has two railway stations.
By Road
Huish Park to Clarence Park is 144 miles. A303, M3, M25, exiting the M25 at Junction 22 onto the A1081. After about a mile, at the major London Colney Roundabout where the A1081 intersects with the North Orbital Road (A414), take the second exit, staying on the A1081 (signed for St Albans). Remain on the A1081 (London Road) for just over another mile passing through two smaller roundabouts. At the third roundabout take the third exit onto Alma Road (B6424).
Continue along Alma Road to the set of traffic lights (The Horn pub is to your right on this junction). Turn right at the lights onto Victoria Street. Cross the bridge over the railway line. At the next set of traffic lights if the parking at the railway station is your option turn left into Station Way (see Parking, below).
(If wishing to continue to the stadium, continue straight on for another 50 yards and take the next left onto Stanhope Road (B691). Continue along Stanhope Road going straight on through a double set of traffic lights to get across the A1057 (Hatfield Road) junction. You are now in Clarence Road, which runs all along the the eastern edge of the park. After 500 yards turn left into York Road – the stadium is to the left at the end of this no-through road.
Parking
St Albans (especially its more central parts) is not a place designed for motor vehicles and parking for the football ground is particularly problematic, surrounded as it is by the park on two sides, a railway line on a third and a no-through residential street along the fourth. There is no parking available for supporters at all at the stadium. You could be lucky and find on-street but free spaces are like gold dust and do check carefully whether permit only and for other regulations.
The nearest car parks are at St Albans City Railway Station (see By Rail below for walk to the ground). There are three there, all run by APCOA Parking and open 24 hours, with the nearest to the ground a multi-storey with 667 spaces. Prices are £3.00 all day if a weekend fixture, £2.90 for an evening mid-weeker (providing arrive after 5.00 p.m.). Payment options are card or phone, no cash.
Apart from that all the other car parks are to the West of the stadium scattered through the city centre. Prices for those tend to be £2.00 for the first hour then £1.50 (give or take) for each subsequent hour during the day. Evening charges are usually a flat rate £1.50 that kicks in after 6.30 p.m. These (at time of writing) are still taking cash as well as card and phone payment. They’re very busy much of the time. We go to central St Albans a lot and it’s not unusual to have to try more than one before finding a space.
By Rail
St Albans has two railway stations on different lines. St Albans City Station is much the bigger, much closer to the ground, and served by frequent Thameslink trains. The central London stations for connections are St Pancras, Farringdon, Blackfriars and London Bridge.
Exit St Albans City Station onto Station Way and turn left (northwards) along Station Way. At the end of the road turn left onto Hatfield Road (A1057). Cross the road, and after less than one hundred yards you’ll find an entrance into the Clarence Park gardens. Walking across the park will bring you to the stadium. Total distance is three or four hundred yards, so under five minutes.
Note that post match, depending on the time of year an alternative route back to the station may be required as various park gates are locked after dark. The only exit then guaranteed to be open is the vehicle driveway onto Clarence Road. This would make the walk back to the station more like half a mile, so around ten minutes, something to be aware of if your departing train time is particularly tight.
St Albans Abbey is the terminus of a small branch line running across from Watford Junction and will likely only be of use to those travelling the West Coast Mainline (if one wishes to avoid going into central London and back out again). Services are operated by West Midlands Trains. For most of the day there is only one train an hour. This station is about a mile and a half (c. 30 minutes walk) from the stadium.
By Bus
The ground is easily walkable from St Albans City Railway Station (less so St Albans Abbey Railway Station) and from the city centre. Bus services are provided by a confusing multiplicity of different companies – Arriva, Centrebus, Metroline, Red Eagle, Red Line, Red Rose, Sullivan and probably some others. If you do need one the nearest alighting point to the stadium is the Crown Public House Stop with around a dozen different services calling there, at the southern end of Clarence Road so about 500 yards from the ground.
By Taxi
A selection of St Albans taxi companies can be found here.
Web Resources
Web Sites
St Albans City FC. One city. One club. One community. – Official Site. One of the better NLS official sites, fairly comprehensive, well maintained and kept up to date for this level.
St Albans City YouTube – club’s official YouTube channel.
A Podful of Saints with Jake & Lee – fan podcast, presented by Jake Ellacott and Lee Wood. “Each edition focuses on news, events, match results and everything else that has fans of the club talking” it says.
Saints Chat – Fans’ Forum.
Social Media
@stalbanscityfc – official Twitter account. The club’s also on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok for those interested enough.
Local Press
As mentioned elsewhere, the folks of St Albans in the main show little interest in their football team. The local newspapers know their market so there’s a a bit of coverage but not a lot.
The Herts Advertiser – some.
St Albans & Harpenden Review – almost none.
St Albans Times – an occasional item.
Food & Drink
General
St Albans is a prosperous place, with the fourth highest percentage amongst its residents of professionals in the UK and incomes not far short of 50% above the national average. This, married to the fact it also attracts well-heeled cultural tourists, is reflected in many of the shops, restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs – both in the clientele they are aiming at and the prices charged. Even Spoons (Waterend Barn, below) is not immune, with its beer prices in St Albans being about 20% higher than in say the Hemel Hempstead branch seven miles away.
Club Bar
The stadium is not generally segregated. There are a multitude of bars in the ground. The main club house, called The Saints Bar, is behind the Main (West) Stand on the railway line side of the stadium and usually open to both sets of supporters. It has TNT Sports but will be showing the Ipswich Town v Maidstone United FA Cup tie ahead of this match. Beers and cider are supplied by Mad Squirrel micro-brewery based on the outskirts of Hemel Hempstead: its Native Helles Lager, Hopfest Pale, $umo American Pale and Pulp Fiction Cider are regulars on draught here.
There’s also: The 1908 Bar located in the York Road Fan Zone (range of Mad Squirrel brews on draught include $umo Pale Ale, Zealous Pilsner Lager, Pulp Fiction Cider, and Hopfest); The Satellites** Bar, serving $umo Pale Ale, Zealous Pilsner Lager, Hopfest, Shamrock Nitro (Irish Stout) & Pulp Fiction Cider.; the Parkside Bar serving a wider variety of canned, individually priced, Mad Squirrel brews. The Parkside also has both an alcohol-free Lager and a Pale Ale as well as a range of sodas from club partners, Soda Folk. The new Cross Bar, located next to the Clarence Park turnstiles, serves a range of alternative drinks such as gin & tonics, wine spritzer, and Mad Squirrel canned beers.
There’s a couple of food outlets at the stadium serving a range of beef, lamb, chicken and vegan burgers and wraps and chips. Oh, and a tea bar…
NOTE: (as previously mentioned above) this is a cashless stadium, and that includes purchases of food and drink.
Local Pubs
St Albans takes its beer seriously (CAMRA started up here and one of the pubs, the Farriers Arms, has a plaque outside to commemorate the first ever meeting). There’s a host of good pubs (and a few duff ones) – far more than this guide covers. It also has a good mixture of the traditional (it is a tourist city) and the new wave (there’s plenty of prosperous hipsters… are hipsters still a thing?), with a number of ‘craft’ focused establishments appearing in more recent years. Also worthy of mention – but mostly less convenient for the ground – should you happen to be passing any of them are: Garibaldi (a Fullers, but the landlord keeps the beers immaculately), Lower Red Lion, Six Bells, and Ye Olde Fighting Cocks (not the oldest pub in England, or even in St Albans, whatever the Guinness Book of Records might claim). Along with Bath and Worthing, for beer aficionados/geeks this is going to be one of the depressingly few highlight trips of this season.
Beer Shop: Opened in 2013 on the other side of the road from The Farmer’s Boy (below) initially just as an off-licence, it obtained a licence for on-sales some years later and has gone from strength to strength. As well as several hundred lines of cans and bottles (many in fridges for immediate consumption) there are up to ten draught lines, predominantly of craft keg but it usually has something on cask too. The website carries lists of what’s in stock though sometimes its Untappd page is more immediately up to date. The place is small – a dozen customers inside and it’s getting crowded. There’s some bench seating out at the front. The stairs down to the toilet are very steep – so not disabled friendly. Opening hours (ignore what it says on its own website and Google Maps) are : noon – 8.00 p.m. Tuesday; 11.00 a.m. – 9.00 p.m. Wednesday to Friday; 10.00 a.m. – 9.00 p.m. Saturday; noon – 6.00 p.m. Sunday. About a dozen minutes (0.6 of a mile) walk from the stadium.
Beer Shop, 71 London Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 1LN. Tel: 01727 842598. Map: Beer Shop.
Boot Inn: Right in the centre of St Albans and much loved by film crews and the tourists. Used to use it quite a bit but (IMO) it’s stood still while other alternatives have upped their games, and have not been in for some time. Has five real ales and a cider on hand pump and while most of the keg is multi-national stuff the odd more craft type option does crop up. Food served noon – 3.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. – 9.00 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, noon – 5.00 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon – 4.00 p.m. Sunday. There’s some seating outside on the pavement. Only rugby is shown on the TV. Opening is from noon every day to midnight Monday to Thursday, 12.45 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 11.30 p.m. Sunday. 15 minutes (0.8 of a mile) from the stadium.
As well as this pub a very different kettle of fish 150 yards away, Dylans – The Kings Arms (7 George Street, AL3 4ER), is run by the same landlord. Although a fine dining pub it’s not unwelcoming, as some of those types of places are, to those just dropping in for a drink rather than to eat, and the beer selection (a couple of hand pumps and a keg wall with half a dozen craft lines) tends to be more interesting than the choices at The Boot in my view.
The Boot Inn, 4 Market Place, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 5DG. Tel: 01727 857533. Map: Boot Inn.
Craft & Cleaver: Relatively new (opened 2015) craft beer, cocktails and barbeque/burger joint. When first opened included a few cask lines but rapidly realised those had little appeal to its mostly youthful trendy clientele and soon removed them. Now focuses on a mix of cutting edge craft keg and some lines of better known macro stuff from for example Brooklyn (for those preferring the safety of something they’ve heard of). Has a nice courtyard, including some covered booths, to the rear (that whole area has now been classified non-smoking) and a few decidedly less nice benches out the front along the very busy road where one can smoke. Food service is from opening to around 9.00 p.m. weekdays and 10.00 p.m. Friday/Saturday. The website says it opens from 10.00 a.m. but am pretty certain it no longer does… as far as I known, it’s noon every day (except Monday when not till 5.00 p.m.), closing at 10.00 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 11.00 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday and 12.30 a.m. Friday and Saturday. 0.6 of a mile (about 12 minutes walk) from the stadium.
Craft & Cleaver, 62 Catherine Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 5BU. Tel: 01727 568300. Map: Craft & Cleaver.
Crown: The closest (though not by much) hostelry to the ground at just under a third of mile (five minutes walk). Operated by All Our Bars, a small Pub Co. with around ten outlets scattered across the South-East. One can expect modern décor mid-range dining pubs from them. Sports TV and beer garden. Up to six hand pumps (expect more traditional Family Brewery not micro-brewery type offerings) and around ten keg taps (multinational stuff). Food served lunchtimes (noon – 2.30 p.m.) and evening (5.00 p.m. – 9.00 p.m.) week days, noon – 9.00 p.m. Saturday, noon – 6.00 p.m. Sunday. Opening is noon every day, closing 11.00 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 10.30 p.m. Sunday.
The Crown, 144-146 Hatfield Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 4JA. Tel: 01727 853347. Map: The Crown.
Farmer’s Boy: All-rounder of an independent Freehouse under current ownership for 15 years on opposite side of the road from the Beer Shop (above), so also about a dozen minutes (0.6 of a mile) walk from the stadium. Current beer lists are available on the website and via its Untappd page. Stocks a balanced range of up to four cask beers on hand pump from smaller independent breweries, five or six micro-brewery keg lines (ever changing and expertly curated) and eight macro offerings from the multi-nationals. There’s one keg cider. Does food in the latter part of the week and at weekends from lunchtime generally through to early evening. Big on live music and has TNT Sports. Large outside area mostly covered. Opening hours are somewhat complicated so, as we know when we’ll be playing St Albans (postponements excepted), let’s just leave it at: Saturday noon – 1.00 a.m.
The Farmer’s Boy, 134 London Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 1PQ. Tel: 01727 860535. Map: Farmer’s Boy.
Great Northern: Reopened as a pub in 2015 after substantial period of closure when there were fears it might be lost for good. Has worked hard since (with think one change of ownership in amongst the Covid crisis) to re-establish itself. Has eight hand pumps (one dedicated to cider – plus also usually has some boxed cider options) focusing on independent breweries; and ten keg lines (mostly pretty macro and uninteresting). CAMRA discount offered on cask ales. Large beer garden. Closed on Monday, opens at noon the rest of the week closing 11.30 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, 12.30 a.m. Friday and Saturday, 11.00 p.m. Sunday. 0.6 of a mile, so just under 15 minutes, walk from the ground.
The Great Northern, 172 London Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 1PQ. Tel: 01727 730867. Map: Great Northern.
Horn: Second closest pub to the ground (third of a mile, six minutes walk). Probably most significant music pub in St Albans, and – weirdly, as used to do a lot of live music venues – the only one mentioned in this guide have never been in… so very little useful to say about it. As far as can tell does a bit of cask and mostly keg, with no indication any of it is likely to be particularly interesting. Food offering is basically burgers/hot dogs/nachos, from opening to early evening Monday to Saturday. Has pool table, Sports TV, juke box, outside area, music licence to 2.00 a.m. Friday & Saturday. Opens from noon every day.
The Horn, Victoria Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3TE. Tel: 01727 853143. Map: The Horn.
Mad Squirrel Tap: Mad Squirrel currently operates seven outlets including the one at the brewery itself. This St Albans branch is to be found right in the shadow of the cathedral. Has over 20 lines on keg (with usually at least a dozen beers and a couple of ciders by themselves and the rest made up of guests) and three hand pumps (the latter carrying CAMRA discount). A small selection of around 30 canned beer lines (again the majority their own) are available from the fridge. Up to date lists are maintained across several menu lists on its Untappd page. Spread across two floors (external access to both levels) with the main bar at the lower level and a pizzeria + other bits and pieces like wings and hot dogs with a smaller bar on the higher level. Food served from opening to an hour before closing time. Note: cash not accepted, card only. Not 100% sure the offer is still running but was 5% off MS beers if showed a valid ticket on matchday – worth asking if happen to be in there. Pub garden has cathedral view. Opening (closed Monday) is from noon, shutting 9.00 p.m. Tuesday and Sunday, 10.00 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 11.00 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 0.8 of a mile (15 minutes walk) from the stadium.
Mad Squirrel Tap, 17 Heritage Close, (off High Street), St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 4EW. Tel: 01727 236867. Map: Mad Squirrel Tap.
Mermaid: Another of the closer pubs to the stadium at a third of a mile, so around six minutes walk; and amongst those closest pubs – The Crown, Horn, Robin Hood, and Victoria – is my favourite by some margin. Some seating out the front and a large beer garden to the rear (the reasonably recent expansion of said beer garden has made the already very small car park now tiny) with live music every Thursday and Saturday. Does food all day. It’s much the best cider pub in St Albans and sweeps the South Herts CAMRA branch’s award in that category most years. The cider board is on the wall behind you as enter through the front door so can be easily missed if steaming to the bar – there’s usually around a dozen real ciders/perries listed that are kept down in the cellar. On the bar there’s around eight or nine hand pumps: usually two with another couple of ciders on, Oakham’s Citra as the ‘house’ beer and the rest from smallish independent breweries. The keg lines are mostly macro multinational stuff but recently the odd more ‘crafty’ option has popped up occasionally. There’s also a small range of foreign, mostly Belgian, bottled beers. Opens from noon every day, closing at 11.00 p.m. Monday to Thursday, midnight Friday and Saturday, 10.30 p.m. Sunday.
The Mermaid, 98 Hatfield Road, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3RL. Tel: 01727 845700. Map: Mermaid.
Robin Hood: Single bar traditional wet led pub. The number of real ales is kept low so there’s sufficient throughput to keep the quality high. Harvey’s Sussex Best is almost always on with the other two pumps having changing offerings from other small breweries. Cider is a big (for the area) feature at this pub. Expect to see the likes of Thatcher’s Traditional or Cheddar Valley and Weston’s Old Rosie or Rosie’s Pig on as the still ciders (plus some keg options I don’t care about). Keg beers are mostly from the big industrial producers, with a nod to ‘craft’ producers that can’t really be counted as genuinely craft any more since they took the multinational’s shillings, such as Beavertown and BrewDog. Juke box, table skittles and dart board. Quite large and pleasant beer garden to rear. Opens from noon every day, closing 10.00 p.m. Sunday and Monday and 11.00 p.m. the rest of the week. 0.4 of a mile from the ground so about 8 minutes walk.
Robin Hood, 126 Victoria Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3TG. Tel: 01727 856459. Map: Robin Hood.
Verulam: You may still see this pub being referred to on internet sites as The Verulam Arms as it (slightly) tweaked the name as recently as December 2022. We’re lucky to still have it. When it closed down overnight in 2019 many, including myself, thought that would be it. It’s in an area of St Albans where property values aren’t just expensive but astronomical.
Four pubs I used to use in this part of the city are now residential properties and a fifth remains long-term closed as which ever company owns it tries to get planning permission for conversion. But reopen it did, about a year later – absolutely disastrously. Some idiot (a local businessman apparently) thought the residents of and visitors to just about the poshest most historical area of town would flock to an outlet serving “tapas style pub grub” (whatever that is) and ‘premium’ lagers and supposedly going to be renamed The Rabbit Hole. Surprise, surprise, that was never going to work in this location. Fast forward to the end of 2022 and it has reopened again as The Verulam. This time its focus is beer (eight hand pumps with six ales and a couple of ciders) and a keg wall with twenty taps and a food menu described as “pub classics” (light lunch offerings weekdays noon until 3.00 p.m. in term time and 5.00 p.m. during the holidays, full menu in the evening and all day at weekends). Beer garden to rear. Opening hours are from 11.00 a.m. – 11.00 p.m. every day except Sunday which is noon – 10.30 p.m. It’s the furthest pub from the ground included in this guide at 1.1 miles (20 minutes walk) but the beer range means I’ve stuck it in.
The Verulam, 41 Lower Dagnall Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 4QE. Tel: 01727 866066. Map: The Verulam.
Victoria: This pub, having seen many incarnations and name changes over the years, currently describes itself as a Premium Sports Bar – even the sports bars are up-market in St Albans. Multiple screens indoors and outside covering pretty much every sporting event being televised. Food served throughout the day from opening to 9.00 p.m. (except Sunday when the kitchen closes at 7.00 p.m.). One changing real ale (it actually makes a bit of an effort in that it tends not to be Doom Bar or Greene King IPA) and the usual suspects from the multi-national giants in its keg range. Opens from noon (except Saturday when its an hour earlier at 11.00 a.m.), closing at midnight Monday to Thursday, 1.00 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 11.30 p.m. Sunday. 0.4 of a mile from the ground so about 8 minutes walk.
The Victoria, 82 Victoria Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3TG. Tel: 01727 541460. Map: The Victoria.
Waterend Barn: Surely the posh folks of St Albans wouldn’t allow a Spoons in their midst I hear you ask. Ah, but this isn’t any old Spoons converted from a furniture store, cinema, post office or bank. This is a St Albans Spoons, occupying a couple of 16th and 17th century barns saved from destruction miles away in the Hertfordshire countryside and transported to the centre of St Albans to be reconstructed beam by beam and brick by brick. Disabled access, outside courtyard. Food served all day. Opens from 8.00 a.m., closing at midnight Monday to Thursday, 1.00 a.m. Friday and Saturday, 11.00 p.m. Sunday. 0.6 of a mile (if you know the back streets) or 0.7 of a mile (if you don’t) – so around 12 to 14 minutes walk – from the ground.
Waterend Barn, Civic Close, St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 3LE. Tel: 01727 814100. Map: Waterend Barn.
White Hart Tap: Back-street pub mostly used by locals but welcoming enough if you find it. As you walk in through the front door the four hand pumps to the left stock the pub’s regular beers – always something by Timothy Taylors, generally St Austell’s Tribute, usually something by Tring and a cider – while the three hand pumps to the left generally stock constantly changing beers from modern micro-breweries. The keg lines are mostly from large breweries. The likes of Amstel, Stella, Erdinger and Camden are the lagers to expect. Does real cider: usually something by Westons on the bar, and a wider range written on a blackboard they have to descend to the cellar to serve. Thatcher’s Gold is the keg cider. Food in the traditional ‘pub fare’ style is served lunch times (up to 2.30 p.m.) and early evening (6.00 p.m. – 9.00 p.m.) during the week and all day up to 9.00 p.m. Saturday and 8.00 p.m. Sunday. Disabled access through a side door as the front door has steps. Large beer garden (this is up quite a steep flight of steps). Opening hours couldn’t be simpler: noon to 11.00 p.m. every day. 0.7 of a mile (15 minutes walk) from the ground.
White Hart Tap, 4 Keyfield Terrace, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL1 1QJ. Tel: 01727 860974. Map: White Hart Tap.
Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You: St Albans is a mostly (upper-) middle class place with a lack of interest in football per se and virtually none in its own Non-League team.
Top-Tip: St Albans is an excellent beer location, one of the best we’re going to come across this season. Make the most of it… though you may not enjoy the prices quite so much.
Local Amenities: Under the name of Verulamium St Albans was the second largest settlement in Roman Britain after Londinium. It’s been a thriving cultural centre ever since. Much is very photogenic and film & TV crews pop up regularly using parts of the city as suitable backdrops.
Other Points Of Interest: Enter Shikari (a popular beat combo, M’lud) gave the club some column inches in the tabloids when entering into a home kit sponsorship deal from 2020.
[No responsibility is taken for any inaccuracies. This page is entirely the product of bias and prejudice. ]