The Gunmakers

Ring-​a-​ding-​ding. That’s the quality hamburger bell donging away.
Working in Clerkenwell at the moment and there are a zillion great places to eat.
We were so spoilt for choice this lunchtime we were paralysed. Damn all these great places.
So we wondered aimlessly until our bellies screamed STOPPPPPP!
And when they did, we were standing outside this small, unremarkable pub in Eyre St.
In we went. Small inside too, and lacking those charming Victorian odds and sods of other pubs in the area.
But the barman was friendly so we ordered from the simple menu.
Guacamole and Nachos that arrived first were a taste of things to come. Delicious and all home made. Meaty nachos and a lovely guacamole full of interesting flavours and great textures.
Burgers arrived soon after. Absolutely top notch. Sweet brioche bun lightly toasted, oodles of home made mayo-​like sauce, great melted cheese in abundance topped with pickled strands of beautiful purple onion (I think the colour may have been because the onions were steeped in wine). All this on a lovely fistful of meat which hadn’t been ground down too much. Great texture again. And cooked medium rare, but on the medium side which is perfect for me.
It was a real treat. Except it only cost £8.50. £2 extra for the thin, stiff, crisp, beefy tasting fries. I call that a bargain.
A quick read of the menu tells me everything here is made in house except the buns which they get from a local bakery. It certainly tastes like it. This place knocks all those ‘gourmet’ burger chain efforts into a cocked hat. A proper burger at a fair price. All served by chatty staff who enjoy what they are doing.
Paralysed by choice no longer. I will be making a beeline for this gaff on a regular basis for my burger fix.

The place to be if you aren’t a fan of queuing.
Whist there are pubs a plenty along the high street, Gunmakers’s bar is never inaccessible (I’m looking at you Artisan).
Mellow crowd, cozy joint.

Absolutely loved this place. There is a nice selection of beer on tap, but the food is what makes it worth coming back to. Nothing groundbreaking here, just traditional recipes and flavors executed incredibly well. The day’s menu is put up on a chalkboard and items are crossed out as they sell out. If you have a favorite you should get there early as the best sounding ones do tend to sell out. Still, there are no misses here so even if your first choice is gone there’s no reason to panic. Given that I knew I could trust the kitchen, I had my first scotch egg here. The thing is gigantic, easily shared, and tastes delicious. If I ever make it back to London, I know where my first meal will be.

Cute little pub, but very limited seating space. Only five or six tables. I came in here at 1.05pm, and I was first in line for the next table to open up. Unfortunately their «5 minute wait» ended up being a 20 minute wait, which is a third of my lunch break. And then I had to share a table with strangers!
The Chili Con Carne with rice was not bad. Rice could have been a little less like overcooked minute rice, and the chili was suspiciously similar to a Bolognese. As if they’d added chilli pepper and a few kidney beans to last night’s Bolognese. Flavor was not bad but not very chilli like. Texture could use work, and the avocado would have been much better if it wasn’t a mushy paste but fresh chunks. Some chunks of fresh tomato or onion would have helped too. Overall a ²⁄₅ dish.
Their perry is flat, not sparkling, which, combined with the sweetness, was a little much for me. Try an apple cider instead if you’re a fan of ciders. Service was friendly, and my food came out quickly fortunately.

Outstanding food, outstanding drink, outstanding staff, and fascinating clientele: the Gunmakers Arms in Clerkenwell takes a bit of effort to get to – it’s tucked away nearly hidden in tiny Eyre Street Hill off Clerkenwell Road — but once you arrive you’re in a fine spot with fine friends. Cozy and traditional — but with vastly better dining fare than most London pubs — the Gunmakers Arms is a can’t-miss whenever I’m in London. I’ve sent several American friends there over the years as well, and they universally report back that they were made to feel welcome, and sincerely regretted having to leave.
To top it all off, the owner, Jeff, is a font of knowledge on brewing and gastronomy — and a keen observer of politics local and global. It’s a place where you can sit for hours learning about the best beers from Texas to Tyrol — and exchange informed views on the next elections on both sides of the Atlantic.
Recommended without reservation. Go, go, go to the Gunmakers.

This pub is bang in the middle of everything and brilliant.
It’s an odd location — Smithfield Market meets Clerkenwell north of Leather Lane, but if you’re in the area, it’s really worth a stop in. For the location, it’s got decent prices, 5 casks (usually one or more is a scrumpy). They’ll hire the whole venue out for free at the weekend, as it’s all offices around there.
Yes, it’s small — but they’ve loads of seats. It seems to get just busy enough — loud, as it’s all hard surfaces — but not with a giant pile of people climbing over each other to get a drink or to the loo. b

I can’t believe I haven’t been to The Gunmakers before today! Then again, I don’t live or work in the area and rely heavily on friends dragging me to their secret haunts. Having skimmed some of the earlier reviews, it seems to be a good idea to be introduced by a regular. Everyone seemed to know one another and I wish I could make this my local, too. I experienced the most pleasant lunch, delicious food, excellent wine (sorry, can’t comment on the ale) and friendly service. Just waiting for another excuse to drag myself to Clerkenwell.

I picked The Gunmakers on the recommendation and previous reviews of Unilocalers, and was unfortunately disappointed by my experience there, as were friends who removed me of pub-​picking duties for the next week (though it may well have been that there was no banoffee pie the day we went that explains the whole sense of dissatisfaction).
The pub is nice, a building of twisting rooms to tuck into and order a meal. The food is good – pub fare but updated and made more gourmet (I think I read a review that the chef is quite renowned?). My fish and chips were good, and some other food at the table looked nice as well, though it was a bit overpriced.
All in all, I would like to try the Gunmakers again, especially to get some of this magical dessert everyone’s talking about. We’ll see if I can convince the crew to give it another go.

We have experienced samo thing as described in the last review. It is as if the staff are angy at you for coming.

Decent pub. Five casks I think. Nothing too exciting on my visit, but they did have two Redemption beers, which is good to see. Prices seemed a bit high (A half of Hook Norton bitter ran me almost £2). Nice ambiance, although this is a fairly small pub that feels even smaller due to low ceilings. The clientele struck me as quite ‘hip’. A nice pub to check out but it probably wouldn’t make my top 20 in London.

He de reconocer que en mi círculo más cercano digamos que la comida inglesa no goza de muy buena er… fama. No digamos la idea de comer en un pub. Pues The Gunmakers ha hecho que estos dos prejuicios tan feos — ¡come on! es que nosotros tenemos el jamón, la paella, los arroces… en fin — hayan desaparecido de un plumazo… o más bien, a base de platazos.
El sitio desde la entrada no sorprende, ya se sabe: típico pub inglés. Hasta aquí bien. Lo bueno vino cuando atravesamos la zona cervecera para llegar a un pequeño comedor que solo con mi grupo –éramos unas quince personas — ya casi se llenó. Nos instalamos en una mesa larga y ahí estuvimos jugando a chorradas cual universitarios mientras acabábamos con nuestras bebidas y esperamos la comida.
Dos cosas grandes tiene el Gunmakers:
1. No tienen Früli –cerveza belga que probé en mi anterior visita a Londres con sabor a fresa…¡ñññaaaamm! — pero resultó que tenían Liefmans Fruitesse, cerveza también belga y también hecha con fresas que parece ser que en su país de origen es toda una institución. Sabe un poco más a sirope que la Früli, pero está de vicio.
2. El menú. Completo, intenso y lo que es más importante: bueno. Me pedí unas tostadas con paté casero y de segundo una quische de espinacas con cebolla roja, queso y piñones. Delicious!!! y por mi mesa circulaban platos con una pinta estupenda.
Pero la locura vino cuando llegaron los postres. Dos dulces a elegir: una tarta de plátano de un palmo de altura y un crumble de arándanos caliente que provocó histeria colectiva de lo bueno que estaba.
Así que sí, a cualquiera que como yo piense que los ingleses solo comen pudding y ternera, les recomiendo que se pasen por el Gunmakers y prueben su carta. Fliparéis.

I, too, have fallen in love with the banoffee pie. Oh, it’s a sick, bastardardized absurdity of a dessert that must have sprung from the back of a Jell-​O box from the 1950s: bananas, toffee, and graham cracker crust. But go ahead and give it a try. It’s good. Surprisingly good.
The rest of the food on the menu is standard pub fare — don’t miss out on the savory meat pies (but go ahead and push those strangely seasoned root vegetables to the side).
The space itself is pub-​perfect, too. Great spot!

Wow. What a meal!
I can only assume they were having a bad day when I last went because the meal I had at The Gunmakers Arms last night was lip-​smacking, belly-​filling, much-​needed comfort food.
The staff are ever so friendly and happy to help, always on hand to suggest beers and ales you might enjoy. Despite the fact we were sat on a table right at the very back of a crowded pub we were taken good care of.
I had the beef and porter pie which came with broccoli, honeyed carrots and some kind of swede and celeriac mash. Oh it was so good. The pastry was flaky, the pie had big chunks of beef in it and don’t even get me started on the mash.
And to finish? Well I just had to have a big old slice of their infamous banoffee pie. It was, in all honesty, too big and I shouldn’t have eaten the lot. I regretted it as soon as I’d finished and was still full hours later when I went to bed. Ahh well, it was worth it! One more star to you The Gunmakers!

Hmmm, as much as I really do want to like this little pub, it really is just not my cup of tea.
There are several reasons why I don’t like it and I think that I am being fair and not unreasonable.
1) It’s small! Not just a little small but very small, which is cute if you’re a local just stopping off for a quick drink, but for a big group it just dosent work. I’ll give it, that the area at the back is bigger and opens out to house quite a few people, but toward the front it’s very narrow and because it’s so ‘cosy’ it gets über loud so not the best place to take a date, not if you want to be able to hear each other that is.
2) The food is not bad. I had the steak and porter pie, which was not ok but I don’t think it was seasoned properly, and generally I don’t add seasoning to pies. Why? If it is seasoned well then all that flavour should be locked into the meat and gravy, sealed in by the pastry.
3) The Guinness was watery.

How much better a pub do you need?:
* Down a side street — a certain sense of achievement just for finding it
* Small, comfortable, welcoming and dare I say ‘inviting’
* Greeeeat food and a menu that changes regularly
* Cold, proper tasting Guinness — a staff member served me a Guinness once and I obviously whisked it away to my table a little too early because he came to find me in the pub and handed me a half pint glass, half filled with Guinness and muttered the words: ‘you got a little short-​changed with the head there so have this to make up for it’, marvellous
Now I would gladly give the place 5 stars just for that (‘just’, he says, even though that ticks most if not all of his favourite criteria… hang on, how did I just jump to talking about myself in the third person…), but this place does actually have that little extra that is not requested, not expected and is 100% down to the staff and how great they are:
* Fabulous staff that even come to the table and take orders when it gets less busy
Now how nice is that eh? Who wouldn’t love that?
Am off tonight actually, few pints of Guinness, meal and rounded off with the banoffee pie, a house specialty I have yet to try.

Nice pub! Friendly staff and a great range of drinks (including soft drinks). Food looked good too. I’d recommend this as a cosy place to chat with friends and relax.
Also, they have those hooks on the bar to hang your stuff on — I love those!

Great little pub (albeit a little hard to find!) with incredible food and a small but very good selection of beers. Has a great feel to it that caters to locals, with a small bar in the front and a larger dining area in the back. It can definitely get a little cozy inside if it fills up, but it’s well worth it! Definitely get something to eat while you’re there, it’s better than most gastropubs I’ve been to!

Un vrai petit pub anglais ! Un vrai avec les business man en costume devant, dedans, assis, debout… Je trouve ça assez marrant. Caché dans une petite rue à 10m d’un boulevard.
Un vrai petit pub avec toutes sortes de bières. Un vrai petit pub où l’on peut dîner anglais ! Des produits frais et des plats «homemade» (= faits maison).
Alors bien sûr ici à partir de 18h on peut passer à table. Ca né choque personne à part moi peut-​être. Nous sommes une dizaine assis dans la salle du fond, sous la véranda (dehors… il pleut bien sûr) alors l’ambiance est assez bruyante. Qu’importe, je peux parler fort moi aussi !
Le service est très sympa, et pas besoin de se retourner pour sentir qu’on est en Angleterre… quel accent !
Sur le mur une grande ardoise propose les plats du soir… alors allons-​y dans le typique: a large sledge of Pork Pie with Picalilly sauce. Et bien je né m’attendais pas à ce plat de rugbyman ! C’était pour le moins consistant. Le pork pie devait atteindre les 12 cm de hauteur, et la viande était très tassée à l’intérieur ce qui le rendait assez dure, mais au final ce n’était pas mauvais du tout. La sauce Picalilly, avec une sorte moutarde Savora et des gros pickles (cornichons) coupés en morceaux… bon j’ai essayé mais c’est pas dit que j’en reprenne un jour, mais celle-​ci semblait bien exécutée. J’ai arrosé le tout d’un petit vin rosé… qu’on aurait pu éviter, comme tous les vins rosés en Angleterre je crois. Un conseil, restez au blanc !
En dessert, on n’a pas pu échapper au Banoffee la spécialité du lieu, dont une des convives était fan absolue. Et bien ça se laisse manger. Allé encore un peu. Dernière cuillère. Attend je prends juste le bout qui dépassé là… Bam ! 3 kg dans le *** mais mmmmmmmmmmm !
Du caramel, de la banane et tout plein de choses grasses et sucrées qui rendent ce dessert irrésistible !
Bref, quand on est touriste et qu’on veut se la jouer local, c’est une très bonne adresse !

Two words: Banoffee pie. It’s housemade and absolutely gorgeous. And pairs perfectly with a half pint of Guinness!

If you want to eat chips, go to the chip shop. If you want an excellent range of immaculately kept beer served by knowledgable staff go to the Gunmakers.
In my experience, patrons get the service they deserve. I drink regularly in the Gunmakers and find all the staff to be very friendly and highly engaged with their clientele.

Three guest ales (Pale Goose, Summer Lightening and Woodforde Wherry last Friday) plus a Meantime regular. All well kept (Yes I did try them all) and served with a smile. The Gunmaker’s is a gem, and newly promoted to the highest accolade of five pints by
. The only shocker here is that I just discovered it having worked in the area for two years.
I almost didn’t write this review because I want to keep it all to myself but now you are privileged, give this pub the honour of your company and try one of the finest ales in EC1. Happy days.

Update
Keen to pay the Gunmakers a further visit, I dragged a friend there (as indicated in my original review).
Jeff was apparently having a bad night; he was much less friendly and only grudgingly let me taste an ale before ordering. And when, shock and horror, I wanted to order two portions of chips he refused, saying that chips were only served as a side dish to a meal and held his ground even when I explained that my friend and I did not want a full meal.
Well, serving portions of chips was most certainly not a problem during the Qype ale-​tasting event, where we were told how happy Jeff is to let his customers taste an ale before ordering. If both were tactics to get return visits it worked for me, if only once. Why the hell should I put up with unfriendly service just because the landlord happens to be in a foul mood and the excellent Coach and Horses is a hop skip and a jump away?
The service makes or breaks a pub, innit, and I was really disappointed; my original review reveals how favourable my initial impression of this pub was. Needless to say, my friend and I beelined to the Coach and Horses for some more ale and the chips we were craving.
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Up to now, I’ve failed to really appreciate pubs. I usually find them to be too noisy, too full of drunk people spluttering nonsense at you, and just generally lacking atmosphere.
Well, I’m pleased to announce that I’m now a pub fan. To clarify, I have not become a fan of pubs, I am a fan of a pub The Gunmakers in Farringdon.
Tucked away in a side street off Clerkenwell Road, The Gunmakers is a small pub nicely divided into two front rooms and a back room. There is enough seating to probably find a table, which is a very good thing since The Gunmakers’ food is several notches above your regular pub grub without trying (or wanting) to be a gastropub.
Having said that, this lovely pub is of course not just about food. Jeff, The Gunmakers’ landlord, is committed to the art of proper keg storage and offers a carefully selected range of real ales. He always has two guest ales on tap, thus allowing his discerning customers to sample ales from small native breweries, such as the London-​based Redemption Brewery.
But what really sets this place apart from the rest is the genuinely friendly staff and a landlord who loves his job and really wants his customers to feel at home. Jeff will probably not only remember your name, he will be able to recommend ales based on which ales you liked during your last visit.
Given that we are talking about a pub in central London, this place is a rare find and a real gem that will appeal to not only to regular pubgoers, so even if you aren’t a pub person you really should give this place a try. The Gunmakers is all about what a pub should be and the chances are high that you will be dragging your friends there on your next visit.

Like a little devil on my shoulder ‘qype recommends’ has been tempting me to pay a visit to this pub for a few months now, so as it was on my way somewhere else I used this as an excuse to drop in for a pint.
What a charming little pub. I swear this pub combines some of the best qualities of old fashioned pubs and of modern pubs. They had 3 real ales on. I knew through their innovative use of twitter that they sometimes have ‘Proper Job’ on. Unfortunately it wasn’t being served when I called, but a pint of Purity Mad Goose is a pretty darn fine consolation.
The pub is quite small so it can get a bit busy, but it wasn’t too bad on my visit and in fact that bar tender pointed out a small table becoming free as I lurked in the corner. They had newspapers in so I could sit and have a read with my pint. Food is served too.