Old Fountain
Address: 3 Baldwin Street, London EC1V 9NU
Telephone: 020 7253 2970
The Old Fountain near Old St tube station
The Old Fountain is easy to find, situated in a side street at the eastern end of City Road and close to Old Street tube station.
There are actually two entrances to the Old Fountain – one each on different streets. And this has given rise to a story about a drunk who was thrown out of one door reappearing through the other one 2 minutes later thinking he was in a different pub.
Now I don’t know whether that story is true, but I do know that there is much to interest real ale fans in this pub.
There are handpumps on both bars and between them they must serve 10 or so different beers. The choice varies but I have seen Dark Star Hophead here more than once, and Brodies and Marble beers are also often seen. The beers all seem to be well-kept and the pub has been in the Good Beer Guide since 2005.
The atmosphere used to be a bit lacking, but the Old Fountain is getting busier these days and so hums quite nicely. There is now an upstairs terrace which gets very popular on fine days, but watch out it can get quite smokey up there. There is a dartboard available too.
Food is available at lunchtimes and early evening. It’s a simple selection – sandwiches, rolls, chips, pizza, but the food tastes good and is reasonably priced. Especially recommended is the pulled pork – think slightly spiced hog roast in reseeded roll.
My impressions of the Old Fountain were previously clouded by the fact that it always seems to be the last stop on an evening out. But after starting an evening there recently (in daylight too) I could see that it’s a great pub, and now a regular venuw for my visits to the Old Street area.
Free wi-fi is available too but unfortunately it often seems to be very flaky and can’t be relied on. You might have more luck with the wi-fi from the adjacent Moorfields eye hospital which often seems strong enough to penetrate the pub.
Last visited: July 2013
Good Beer, Good Pubs rating: 
Other Pubs in the Old Street Area
Share this page (Links open new windows/tabs)
Like to Subscribe?
If you'd like to receive email updates from Good Beer, Good Pubs whenever a new post or review is published then head over to the Subscribe page. Just enter your email address and it'll all be taken care of. We will not use your email address for anything else without your permission.