Approaching from opposite sides of London, Dan and I managed to "meet" in different pubs, yet again.

I headed to the The Penderels Oak (1) - a Weatherspoons - where I enjoyed a refreshing pint of Inferno. The place was empty at 1pm, but probably not that suprising as it was a Saturday in the City.

After a quick phone call to establish how we were both in pubs but not the same one, I ambled back up past the station to the Princess Louise (2). This was the first Sam Smiths pub of the day, and the interior was dark but traditional (on the CAMRA National Inventory). Old Brewery Bitter was the only beer on tap, which was quite smooth and pleasant.

The previous night I'd used beerintheevening.com to find out which pubs in the area were recommended and we started to plan a route.

The first was hiding down a side street and took a couple of passes to find. The Ship Tavern (3) is a very traditional style pub and felt very cosy. There was a choice of 5 ales (pictured below), and I opted for the cornish St Austall's Tribute, which lived up to expectation. Tempted to stay (especially as they had Sahara hot nuts), we forced ourselves onto the Cittie of York (4), which had received the highest reviewer rating on b.i.t.e.

This was another Sam Smith's pub and, as with the Princess, had been restored to a very high standard. Railway carriage-style booths line one wall, opposite a long bar, with a lots of other tables for sitting or perching next to.

There were a few beers on tap and I opted for the Stout, which wasn't anything special. A visit on a subsequent pub crawl proved that the place gets very busy during weekday lunchtimes, with decent, basic food available from a servery, and the Alpine lager was quite pleasant.

After a bit of a stroll, we ended up in the Seven Stars (5) on Chancery Lane. Another nice, friendly-looking pub with four ales on offer. I chose a Adnam's Broadside which was very pleasant. The menu here looked good, and has been recommended by a few mates that work locally.

Whilst a nice pub, I wouldn't recommend drinking here at the end of a session, as the stairs to the toilets are treachorously steep. And if you taking a wrong turning you'll end up in the kitchen by mistake.

Another long walk later, and we found the Enterprise (6) . This was very spacious and looked quite upmarket. Huge mirrors covered the walls, and jazz music was being played over the speakers.

There were plenty of tables and as it was Saturday we managed to get one by the front window. Beer selection wasn't bad - Old Hooky, London Pride and Deuchars IPA. I went for the latter, and was pleasantly suprised to find it was kept very well and at just the right temperature.

More details can be found on their website

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