Where to drink in Hertford

The brewery town

You cannot understand Hertford’s drinking culture without understanding McMullen’s. The brewery on Hartham Lane has been supplying the town’s pubs for almost two hundred years, and the quality of that supply - clean, well-hopped real ales brewed to Victorian recipes that have been continuously refined - sets the baseline for everything else. The McMullen’s Tap on Old Cross is the most direct expression of this: a pub that serves the brewery’s range as well as any venue in the county.

Old Cross and Bull Plain

The best drinking in Hertford concentrates around two areas. Old Cross, adjacent to the castle, holds the oldest pubs and has the most atmosphere - narrow lanes, low ceilings, the smell of old wood and well-kept beer. Bull Plain opens up into something wider and more social, with the White Hart occupying the kind of corner position that only the best pubs manage to claim.

The newer arrivals

Railway Street, running from the station towards the centre, has attracted several newer operators over the past decade. The Warehouse Bar is the most significant of these - a cocktail and spirits bar occupying a converted railway-era building that does serious work with its drinks list. It sits at an odd angle to the rest of the town’s drinking culture but has found its audience.