London – City of London – Monument Pub

We popped to this pub after Des’s rather lovely Great Fire of London walk and it’s located right by the Monument memorial. It’s Greene King, so expectations have to be lowered accordingly.

The real ale selection on the pump clips was limited to Greene King IPA, so I had Camden Pale Ale. It tasted as it should and all that, perfectly refreshing. But, for a pub in this location, the beer choice is in my view completely inadequate and mostly just generic lagers.

What the pub did do rather well was customer service, as the staff were fully engaged and keen to help. Welcoming, conversational and polite, the staff had delivered a laid-back and comfortable atmosphere. I’m not entirely sure that the large group crowded around one table were entirely compliant with the current rules, but there we go, that’s Greene King’s problem. They were otherwise dealing with track and trace competently, something which the chain are doing really quite well at the moment. Perhaps they could move the Head Office person responsible for track and trace over to beer selection when this is all over.

The reviews for the pub on TripAdvisor are pretty dire, to the point that I wonder why Greene King actually link to them on their web-site. Much of the problem appears to be about their food, with the reviews on Google being a little more positive. A few customers complained about children not being allowed in after 18:00, with one customer noting that the pub didn’t understand the law and that the 2003 licensing act removed that limitation. As the pub noted, it did no such thing….

For those popping in for a drink, this is a clean and organised pub, but I’m not sure that it offers anything particularly exciting beyond that. Decent location though, although I doubt it will be troubling the Good Beer Guide any time soon.