Pub review: The Paternoster

Pater Noster, as good Latin students will tell you, means Our Father and comes from the Lord’s Prayer. It’s also the name of a type of lift, now rarely used in this country for health and safety reasons, which probably obtained it’s name from the occupants being driven to prayer in the hope of a safe transit. Most recently it’s the name of a very good pub near St Pauls, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Paternoster is tucked round behind Paternoster square and is only a few yards from both St Pauls station and the cathedral itself and as I was in the area checking out the City of London Festival events I popped in for a drink in between times. It’s a nice, airy place with traditional dark wooden panelling much in evidence but with two sides of the building being open to the light it’s far from gloomy. It was a late Friday lunchtime so I’d managed to miss most of the usual Friday rush and although there were plenty of folks still in there it didn’t feel crowded so I, and mate Paul, propped ourselves up against the bar and chatted with Rach.

It has a much better selection of wines than a number of the other local pubs I’ve been in and an equally wide selection of spirits, though you’ll have to forgive me the schoolboy chuckle when I spooted Knob Creek peeping out at me from the shelves (left). On the beer side they have the usual Youngs beers and a selection of bottled beers with the more interesting ones being the draft “Waggle Dance”, which has honey in it, and bottles of Wells & Youngs double-chocolate stout in the fridge next to the Banana Bread beer. We weren’t around for long enough to sample the food and they do have the standard pub fair of Fish and Chips, Sausage and Mash, hot and cold sandwiches, burgers and pies plus a range of more interesting dishes such as Welsh Rarebit, a couple of Goat’s Cheese dishes, BBQ baby porks ribs and potted shrimps.

Manager Rachel previously spent some time in Bristol before she was tempted back home to Oz for a while but then she returned to the UK and took over the reins at the Paternoster for pub chain Youngs late last year. She recently put on their first, and very successful, quiz night a couple of weeks ago with over 60 people participating and on the back of that she’s planning to book another one in mid-July, in addition to the live bands that they host peridodically in the evening.

As I said to Rachel I could quite happily turn up there at opening time one day and spend the whole day working my way through the selection of interesting wines and beers that are on offer, though my liver may not thank me for it. It’s a very nice spot with a buzzing, but gentle, ambience about it that makes it good for taking parties of people or just a lunchtime drink. Check their website (below) for updates on events and their special offers.

The Paternoster
http://www.thepaternoster.com/
http://twitter.com/PaternosterSq
2/4 Queen’s Head Passage
Paternoster Square
London, EC4M 7DZ