This 16th-century pub located in St Michael’s village, a short walk from St Albans city centre, offers a quintessential English pub experience, with all the warmth and traditional decor expected from a free house with so much history.
Being one of the best pubs in St Albans for food and drink, and set in such an old building, you can expect The Six Bells to feel slightly cramped if you’ve come for food on a busy day. But this just adds to the cosiness and atmosphere of the building.
There are few places in St Albans that provide a better pub lunch, so if you’re looking to eat at The Six Bells make sure to phone ahead a book – it can get very busy so it’s worth reserving a table.
Food
Unlike many pubs that serve food, you can be sure the food isn’t prepacked, microwaved, and brought out to you after 5 minutes. Eating in The Six Bells means that you’ll get home-cooked food. While it did take an hour for our lunch to come when we visited this (bearing in mind this was a busy day during the Christmas holidays), it was well worth the wait.
Their pie of the day was chicken, leek, and bacon, which six of our group ordered, and when it arrived it felt like it had been baked just for us. As part of a large tray bake, the shortcrust pastry had collapsed but was delicious, as was the puff pastry on top. The pie itself was filled with large chunks of chicken and tasty bacon – there was no skimping on the meat!
With seasonal veg, a generous amount of gravy, and a choice of fries or mash (we went for mash!), the meal was extremely filling but all plates were scraped clean.
There were unfortunately only 3 desserts left when we went, and a couple of the options on the menu would have been nice to try, but we had the profiteroles which were very good.
Drink
In terms of drinks, The Six Bells offers everything you could want. For beer lovers, they stock 3 regular beers and 3 changing guests. We had a lovely pint of the Tring Brewery Ridgeway, one of the local beers they served.
Summary
With friendly staff eager to help, The Six Bells is not just one of the best pubs to eat at but one of the best restaurants in St Albans full stop. Make sure to give it a go if you’re in the area.
If you’re looking for things to do in St Albans, then The Six Bells is perfectly situated near significant places to visit in the city, with Verulamium park just around the corner and the cathedral a short walk away.
