The Carpenters Arms in St Albans

Great beer, real customers, great atmosphere and a characterful landlord. If you are looking for a ‘local’ in Harpenden, look no further.

The Carpenters arms is one of the few real pubs left in Harpenden. The staff are excellent, regulars are invariably friendly, beer is superb, best pint of Guinness for miles.Food is of a high standard. Patio garden is a pleasure in summer and provides cover with heaters for those wetter cold days. If you have a dog you'll friend it a dog friendly environment to relax in.

Excellent beer, but the landlord was distinctly inhospitable. Maybe the Christmas spirit hadn't got to him, the channel changing misery guts

A real pub, well run with great beer and atmosphere. Will return time after time. Landlord really friendly and a Spurs fan too.

really enjoyed lunch all round great experience Excellent staff, friendly service Pleasant garden Will be back

Great little pub. Lovely atmosphere on a Friday night. Busy but not overwhelming. Good selection of beers and gins. Didn’t try the food but will do so in the future. Sad that one reviewer having heard homophobic slurs by some golfers that the manager didn’t deal with. They need to make sure everyone feels welcome.

My daughter and I visited for lunch for my birthday in August. The fish and chips were OK but expensive and the experience would have been pleasant. However: a gaggle of elderly golfing types were sitting at the bar loudly expressing homophobic opinions. This is unacceptable and something of which the Landlord should be ashamed. For this reason alone we will never return.

Enjoyed a lovely pub lunch with my son and daughter who is an electric wheelchair. Access to the garden was perfect for her. vthe owner was polite, friendly and helpful.

Lovely pub selling well kept beer at a reasonable price. Good variety of draught beers. On a summer's evening the garden is a great place to sit with lots of seats and a couple of gazebos.

Been here a number of times always found the welcome to be warm, the drinks great, the food good tasty and the staff fun

Attended for lunch. Perfect as always would highly recommend the Cajun chicken and bacon salad. Had a perfectly served coke which was out the bottle so nice and fizzy. Bar staff as always were absolutely perfect! Would recommend to anyone wanting a friendly pub lunch

Attended with friends and was served up flat coke. A few of us reported to the barman and requested replacement drinks and was met with sarcasm and rudeness!

First visit here Never knew it existed My loss Small intimate atmospheric local If i lived in Harpenden i would drink here

De todos los pubs en harpenden, este tiene que ser mi favorito.

Have been using the Carpenters over a period of time for Friday lunch. The food and service have always been excellent. Today was no exception, meal was fantastic with a great selection of beers. Would highly recommend this friendly pub.

Tiny tiny pub but great atmos lovely staff & great beer! what more do you want or need? We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves ;-)

Metimos en por primera vez en la noche se han mudado a la zona (sólo se habían visitado dos veces por un sándwich y café a la hora del almuerzo).

Recently visited here with my girlfriend what an amazing pub food spot on and real ales are spot on different class and a wonderful beer garden for those summer days can't wait for my next visit.

Big up robert! Lovely guy, opened door on way in, friendly, all makes a difference, especially impressive when he's been out all night before

Otro almuerzo en los carpinteros los brazos! Pasteles de pescado con una ensalada de patatas, preciosa y recomendar 10 / 10. Precioso fuego abierto perfecto en un día frío como hoy!

Una vez más hemos tenido una noche verdaderamente agradable en el carpinteros. Comida de navidad era tan bueno como siempre. Gracias a Tony y Maria, Tom y Alex. Todos en nuestro grupo no tengo más que alabanzas para el equipo. Gracias.

Servicio amable y acogedor fuego frío y cuando hace buen tiempo en el patio repleto de flores es una adición bienvenida. Como la reforma reciente decoración también!

Really good food,choice of beers,very friendly customers and staff,this pub has everything going for it

Absolutely fantastic as always!!! Excellent staff excellent food, never leave hungry if anything far from it! Excellent portions for a fantastic price!

Very friendly pub, cosy, lovely atmosphere. Great place to spend an evening with friends, would highly recommend.

It seems to me that, increasingly, Southdown has a separate identity from Harpenden as a whole and this lively and friendly little pub plays a big part in that. A frequent rotation of guest ales means there's always something new to try and there's permanent feature Adnam's Bitter to fall back on if you don't fancy them. Courage Best is popular, apparently, which just goes to show there is no accounting for taste. This is an eclectic hangout for everyone from rugger-loving Tories to the leftish musos and poets fast turning SoHa (South Harpenden) into something of an artists' quarter.

We moved to Southdown around four months ago and one of the highlights has been this place. The atmosphere is so relaxed and friendly. Very different from other pubs in the area. There's always a nice selection of real ales on. Great place to meet the locals (and their dogs!) or just for a quiet drink or to catch up with a group of friends

Lovely place to meet up with friends etc. for a couple of drinks, quite a cosy place, the fire is usually lit, lovely little bar it's a favourite pub of ours in the area.

This has been a regular for many years. The current owners have vastly improved the range and quality of food at both lunchtime and in the evenings. There are fortnightly themed evenings ranging from 'Mediterranean' to 'pies and puds' all at very reasonable prices. They also do amazingly good Christmas lunches/dinners just before Christmas -not to be missed. It is advisable to book for dinners as very popular. Good range of beers but not really a 'real ale ' pub but good range all the same. Friendly little house dogs also. Real fire. Wonderful old style/wood décor that feels like a real English pub. Friendly and knowledgeable bar staff and owners. Tv in one corner but no sound so not obtrusive. Gentle music at lunchtimes. Smoking 'hut' outside with heating! Beer garden and own car park. Pub is bedecked with several flowering plants and was a regular winner of best pub in that floral division.

Great little pub, very friendly landlord who made us feel welcome and spent a little bit of time chatting with us. Good selection of beers.

Cosy local pub atmosphere with attentive landlord. Good choice of food and beers at sensible prices. Faithful clientele of local people. Limited space.

This is such a lovely pub, it's friendly warm and fun. When you walk in, it's like you're walking into someone's front room which is great. The only downside is the landlord can be a bit grumpy which can spoil the atmosphere a bit

This is my local pub and you are sure of a warm welcome from the landlord. Good beer, two open fires and none of that loud music or tv blaring. They do special food events that are really good value but don't serve food every day. Well worth finding out when these are on ciz the chef who comes in to cook is very good. They did a special veg lasagne for my partner the other week, superb! You need to book though.The one downside is because it's in harpenden, you may find the odd boorish, Daily Mail reading biggot sounding off. Just turn the other ear and you'll be fine. It can get busy as its a small pub but the garden is nice during good weather.