THE King Harry at the top of St Stephen's Hill, St Albans, despite an excellent range of drinks and some tasty food, would not be my choice for a convivial evening out.

The prices and the decoration after its recent refit suggest the owners of the free house have the trendier and wealthier end of the market clearly in their sights.

No doubt there is a place for this, and the pub would be ideal for someone driving into the city from Watford or Hemel Hempstead for, say, a theatre trip, who wanted a quick bite first, but I prefer somewhere more straightforward.

I rarely feel strongly about interior decoration, but I found the colour scheme and the choice of furniture rather disconcerting.

Beige sofas squat incongruously next to traditional wooden tables and chairs, with a few modern steel and fabric modern pieces thrown in for good measure, and the way the wood wall panels and ceiling are painted either red, white, black or green appears haphazard.

I could have sought refuge in the garden, but the ceaseless traffic at this busy road junction hardly makes that an attractive option.

The wine list is as long as your arm, the bottled beer choice includes some Belgian gems, and the draught beer includes Hoegaarden and the superb Czech lager Staropramen, but of the eight hand pumps, only three were working during my visit, one serving cider.

The Bunce's Pigswill had a pleasant nutty taste but seemed rather thin, and I felt the Exmoor Gold didn't do justice to its brewers.

The pub deserves credit, however, for variety only last week it was stocking from the peerless Cumbria brewery Jennings.

At £2.70 a pint for bitter, The King Harry is making a strong bid to be the most expensive pub in St Albans, and while my crayfish penne was very good, at £8.40 for a bowl of pasta, it ought to be.

Overall, if planning a night out, I would go somewhere else.