Things to do in St Albans?

EdwardTeach

EdwardTeach

EdwardTeach

Soldato
Joined
18 Mar 2010
Posts
4,156
I am planning to go to st Albans this afternoon. We are just scouting out the town as we are considering moving there in the future (due to decent location for commuting). Can anyone reccomend something nice to do this afternoon. Is there any where I should try and see whilst I am there? Is there any decent pubs/ cafes in the town centre?

Also need a decent place to park.
 
Be Advised...St Albans is not cheap to commute to London (Around £360 a month a year ago when I lived there so will likely be more now) and is rather expensive to live in (I Was paying around £1000 for a 2 bed flat)

Snug is a nice little bar and does pretty nice food. Its down by the crossroads by the Cathedral, The Merchant tea and coffee room next to/attached to the Town hall is nice as well.

Little Marakesh (sp?) Is incredibly nice Moroccan food and Veer Dhara (Indian) at the top of the Street is a fairly nice and so is Devdas(Indian) up by Avenue road.

Blacksmiths Arms at the top of the highstreet is a nice pub as is the **** Inn just over the road.
 
Last edited:
Ye old fighting cocks down by the lake is a nice pub, nice walk through the cathedral grounds to get to it. Blacksmith arms is also pretty good. The cathedral itself isn't a bad place to have a look at.

Realistically though it has a Greggs.
 
Waffle house is a must!

Veer Dhara is a dive (aka very over priced), place over the road is much more friendly and sensibly priced, Alban tandoor I think

There's a lot of pubs here, there's one that has a hungarian restaurant that was an interesting event (can't remember the name though), blacksmith arms is good but there are plenty more.

No idea why anyone would holiday here but its really nice (and expensive) to live in, really lacks much crime or many homeless people most bigger places tend to attract.

One thing parking is a real pain, there's a car park round the back of highstreet tesco's that's probably the most sensible to use as most the residential area's near town have permits, we do up by the hospital now!
 
Isn't Ye Olde fighting cocks the oldest recorded pub in England.

I went to St Albans as a boy and saw Inspector Morse being filmed. John Thaw was a lovely man. Found time to talk to everybody. That Jag was even more stunning in real life.
 
look at Hitchin as well ;) might be a slightly cheaper place to live and travel costs for a year are around £3500 (its on the eastcoast mainline and first capital connect).
 
robfosters said:
I went to St Albans as a boy and saw Inspector Morse being filmed. John Thaw was a lovely man. Found time to talk to everybody. That Jag was even more stunning in real life.
Click to expand...

They also filmed an episode of the Inbetweeners there, the one where they 'go to the seaside'. Had to laugh with the fake seagull sound effects when it was clearly the Highstreet!

As others have said, the waffle house is excellent just for the building it's in (an old watermill). Go there for lunch and while you're at it have a look at the Roman Walls in the park, Hypocaust, amphitheatre (which is unique in Britain, see below) and Roman museum.

The Roman Theatre of Verulamium is unique. Built in about 140AD it is the only example of its kind in Britain, being a theatre with a stage rather than an Amphitheatre.
Click to expand...

I've lived in Harpenden (right next door) all my life so any questions, fire away!
 
robfosters said:
Isn't Ye Olde fighting cocks the oldest recorded pub in England.
Click to expand...

Its supposed to be, though some others try and dispute it.
Its certainly got the feeling of being the oldest though if you go inside, as its not your typical pub layout!
Its a nice place to sit outside in the summer for a drink as you are basically in the park.

I'd also vote for the Waffle House, an X took me there for breakfast and it was very nice.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. We ended up doing a very quick visit, weans just had time to walk past the shops, visit the cathedral and speak to an estate agent.

The cathedral is really impressive, it is absoloutely vast and I liked the fact that I had the impression that it was still being used for worship. Better than the rip off st Paul's and Westminster abbey in London!

It has a decent range of shops, certainly a lot more than berkhamsted where we currently live. However from speaking to the estate agent, I have the impression that spacious 3+ bed properties in central st Albans will be slightly out of our price bracket.
 
I lived in St Albans when I worked for the DSG and all I can remember is that it was quite fun, a little bit posh (small 'p') and the M&S was incredibly small. I felt like a giant. I remember it had an escalator and one day I bought a leather wallet which was on special which was a mistake because I didn't really need it and it wasn't very good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom