The Plough — Restaurant in St Albans

A grand pub well worth the trip out of St Albans. Let's be sure we keep it out of the hands of Mitchell's & Butler or it will become a blooming 'vintage inn' or something else awful.

2021 December update (actually it's not quite December, it is in four days though) still as lively as ever. Grand, friendly bunch of folk and cheerful, quick and helpful staff. Absolutely a favourite.

It's like a pub Morse and Lewis used to go to at the end of that programme they were in. I can't quite remember the name of it though, 'The Professionals*' or something similar, I think.

*Note for people also of an age: the theme tune of 'The Professionals' was by Laurie Johnson, who also wrote (among many other things) the theme for The Avengers and - more importantly - Animal Magic.

I am not 100 per cent sure who the the drummer on The Professionals theme was, but he worked with Phil Seaman a lot. Any updates / amends welcome.

Amazingly, Laurie Johnson is - at time of writing - (December-ish 2021) still with us! 94 years old. I might seek him out and ask who the drummer on The Professionals theme tune...

Visited this pub based on the trip advisor recommendation. I can only think it was either the wrong pub or a long tine ago as it was appalling. The welcome on arrival was curmudgeon. No one smiled the whole time we were there. We ordered 2 ploughmans lunches. They arrived. The bread was out of processed packet. I had ordered Stilton and i had the 2 thinest pieces of stilton you can imagine. The crust was 2cm long. The Ham ploughmans consisted of 2 small pieces of reconstituted ham. It was not as promised online cooked on the premises. The rest was not a ploughmans but a measly garnish. I attach a photo of the ploughmans 'salad' the menu boasted salad dressings. The reality was a weird bottle of what i guess was french dressing although i cannot be sure. In these days of cost of living crisies we all hope for value but understand times are tough. This however was nothing short of a rip off. Do NOT listen to TripAdvisor, or the Ploughs website. Avoid this place at all costs....

Another pub I hadn't been to for some time and had first used in 1977, like so many pubs from then had changed and perhaps had been altered thirty years ago from a two bar pub to one large, the pub still is very cosy especially with the coal fire. My mum used to talk to me when I was a kid in the 60s about Tyttenhanger and the treacle mine that used to be in the village, she said when she was a school girl they would tell the American soldiers billeted around St. Albans during WWII about it. Can imagine this pub would have been busy with the miners each evening in those days having a pint after a day's work chipping away at that sticky gold. Alas I've never seen any evidence of the mine works or its whereabouts? If you go to the Plough for a meal with the family the children could always ask the staff about the treacle mine, perhaps they know? Lovely...