The Miller, London Bridge

London Bridge isn't my favourite area in London. It has always been a grotty little corner of the capital, dominated by the railway station which is surrounded by office buildings full of depressed workers who look longingly across the river at the City, thinking about the money they could be making if they were only a bit more smarter and/or cutthroat. The restaurants and bars in the area have always tended to be soulless food and drink dispensary's catering to people who don't really care what they're eating and drinking, just as long as they are consuming something. Things got even worse a couple of years ago when The Shard opened, a building devoid of any joy which dominates the skyline and looks like it's waiting for the Eye of Sauron to be installed. Some people say the £25 admission to see the view from the top of the Shard is expensive, but I'd happily pay that much to have a view of London without the bloody Shard in it.

However no matter how bad an area is I usually find there's a slight glimmer of hope somewhere. For London Bridge the shining gem used to be Borough Market, but sadly it is now a pale shadow of its former self, and is now mainly for tourists and monied office workers who want to spaff their money on artisan brownies. But inbetween Borough High Street and London Bridge sits The Miller, providing a much needed pub with a laid back atmosphere and plenty of decent ales - both traditional and craft. From the outside this place looks nothing special, a bog standard council estate pub sitting in the shadow of Guys hospital. Inside things are relaxed with shabby chic furniture and decoration.

On the handpumps is an ample selection of ales and ciders. The ales tend to be on the more traditional side, with Titanic, Skinners and Castle Rock seen in the past. In the fridges behind the bar is a decent selection of craft beers, including craft darlings Weird Beard, Siren and Beavertown. The ales are good value but the craft is expensive, especially considering it's usually in 330ml bottles - or cans. I struck lucky on my latest visit though as they had Weird Bear K*ntish Town beer in adult sized 500ml bottles! Even better it was an exceptional wheat beer, never sickly and going down very easily.

Titanic They Think It's Ale Over was a solid bitter from the ever reliable Titanic boys. Castle Rock Harvest Pale, which I've only had in bottle before and wasn't particularly impressed with, was better on cask but still not a knock-out considering the many awards it has won. I enjoyed the beers in a small, concrete beer garden to the side of the building. I tried the food as well, a meat and cheese plate plus deep fried risotto balls which I've completely forgotten the name of. The food was splendid, if again a bit expensive.

The Miller is a much needed respite from the humdrum pubs in the London Bridge area and well worth a visit if in the area. There's usually plenty of comedy and drama on in the large room upstairs as well. In fact I performed myself there a couple of times - I think I managed to make a couple of people laugh although it might just have been the sound of my own nervous laughter. Considering my best joke was "I found some chocolate in my belly button - ironically it was Lindt" I was lucky to make it off the stage alive. See you next week!

Lady Ottoline and The Shakespeares Head, London

As unbelievable as it sounds, my life doesn't only consist of complaining about pubs and being disappointed by the condition of beer. In my life away from the adrenaline rush of beer blogging, I am a IT manager at a law firm, which is about as exciting as it sounds. One downside of being a manager is that I feel obliged to take my team out for a Christmas dinner. This is a problem because although my team do work hard and they more than deserve a delicious dinner in lovely surroundings, I don't really like spending money. This is not good when living in London as nearly everything is twice as expensive as you'd expect it to be. Even the Evening Standard newspaper at the low price of free is too expensive, as they should be paying me to read that toss. So finding places to eat that serves really good food, has a lovely atmosphere but is also reasonable is a bit of a nightmare.

After much indecision searching through the SquareMeal website trying to find a restaurant where the prices didn't make me fall off my chair in shock and awe, and convincing myself that I probably wouldn't get away with treating the team to a KFC family bucket, I took my team to a gastropub in Farringdon called The Lady Ottoline. I'd been here previously with a vendor who treated me to a pretty decent lunch. I remembered the food being very good, but I wasn't paying and everything tastes better when it's free. Would I enjoy it as much when at the end of the meal I would have to pry apart my dusty wallet and hand over my Visa debit card while desperately resisting the urge to weep?

The short answer is yes. We had a lovely meal at the Ottoline. I'm going to avoid going into much detail about the food because I can barely talk about beer coherently let alone pretend I can string together sentences describing dinner. But all the dishes, in particular my pork belly main, were well prepared, looked great and tasted delicious. Best of all the bill didn't cause me to have a heart attack, just maybe a bit of mild angina.

"Gastro" wise the Ottoline is a success. But for the "pub" side, I think outside of the Christmas season this would be a nice place to pop in for just a drink, which is unusual for a gastro. Although food is the focus there is a area set for drinkers in the atmospheric ground floor room and it doesn't make you feel isolated. But during December, with all the Christmas parties piling in, this place is pretty much just a restaurant. It's a shame it's not really possible to stop in for just a drink at the moment as  they do have a nice selection of ales, and my Dark Star Winter Meltdown and Purity Mad Goose were both in good condition. I did find the Winter Meltdown to be a little bland, but it seemed to be kept OK. Maybe it's just the way the beer is.

One place that is definitely catering to drinkers this Christmas season is The Shakespeares Head in Holborn. I came in here for the first time in a long time on Friday. This massive Wetherspoons outlet was absolutely heaving. I was fearing the worse as past experience has proved that 'Spoons staff in their Central London pubs seem to have trouble coping with pressure (e.g more than three customers waiting at the bar.) However I have to give credit to the team here, they were absolutely spot on. Despite a busy bar they were keeping things going smoothly. They even managed to smile and be polite, I had to pinch myself that I was actually in a London 'Spoons on a busy Friday night.

The beer was also in very good form. Apache IPA from Portobello was a hoppy, boozy treat and it sold out deservedly quickly. A half of India Pale Ale by Devils Backbone, a US brewer, sadly wasn't as good with a watery, limp flavour. Greene King's Abbot Reserve was on, and as I'd never tried this I gave it a go. I found it quite good, and I enjoyed its warming, fruity richness. Santa's Darkside from Naylor's Brewery was a standard dark ale but pretty tasty, and JHB from Oakham Brewery was a solid brown bitter to finish with. It's a credit to the staff that I was able to enjoy these beers served quickly. Food wise this is light years away from the classy Ottoline but my Wethernachos were edible.

Sadly the general atmosphere was the usual 'Spoons, bland, joyless and overlit. The crowd seemed to be even louder and annoying than the usual Friday night 'Spoons punter, probably because the Christmas season is in full swing. It wasn't really a place I'd want to spend a long time in. But if you're nearby and looking for a place to kill time with a pint or two, you could do worse than pop in.