The Horseshoe, Clerkenwell  

That London term 'village' for often apparently undifferentiated bits of the capital suddenly makes sense when you slip away from the trendies cluttering up Clerkenwell Green and find yourself a hundred yards - and possibly - a hundred years away. The Horseshoe could sit happily in any true village, jostling with the church and duck pond. Externally it's 16th century-quaint and tiny - but inside it runs back further than you would expect to give quite a long bar area and a separate eating section. Decor is pretty basic and it's got no airs and graces - rather you have Greene King IPA or Sharps Cornish Coaster and reasonably priced pie and mash. And the two dartboards are obviously well used; a lunchtime group seemed regularly to get their exit doubles at the first time of asking - and when was the last time you saw a treble top scored in a local boozer? The little beer garden is probably a great sun-trap - well at least for an hour or so either side of noon as the towering buildings around make it feel rather like sitting inside a cooling tower.

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