Luton
Top pub: The Bricklayer's Arms, Hightown
Road (listed in 2000 CAMRA Good Beer Guide)
I only know one pub in this dull dormitory town,
but fortunately, it's a belter. The Bricklayers Arms on Hightown road is a fine
drinking house. For once, you can’t miss it; it’s right next to the station.
Come out of the side exit, turn left and it’s on the next corner. And, although we
all know that most pubs near stations are crap, this is the exception to that rule. Beers
are by Everard’s, and on recent visits Bateman’s Dark Mild has also been
available, although it has to be said, not for long once we’ve got started. Staff are
very friendly, and sport an extravagant array of jewellery and body piercings, including
one woman last season who wore both a navel chain and toe rings. It was a bit early in the
morning for that kind of thing, I thought, but there you go. Quite a few Luton fans drink
here, their fanzine Mad as a Hatter is on sale behind the bar, and a bit of
banter before or after the match, when it gets quite busy, is all part of the fun. Decor
has beer barrels featuring heavily, and there is Sky tv and a jukebox that yielded some
extraordinarily bad selections on our last visit. Cheap and rudimentary rolls are to be
had from behind the bar, which should fortify you for the twenty to twenty five minute
walk over the tops of the roads to Luton’s quite bizarre ground, nestling
unobtrusively amidst terraced houses. The pub doesn’t open until twelve, as I have
found out to my cost before.
The surrounding towns of St Albans and Harpenden
are possibilities for a day out, particularly St Albans, which does not seem to have a bad
pub.
Firmo
Last updated 3 November 1999
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