Cross Keys, Harpenden

This two-bar town pub dates back to at least 1731 (when it was The White Hart). It had a make-over in the fifties and a visit is a must to see a virtually intact design scheme which is a splendid survivor considering its town centre location. Various “olde worlde” features were incorporated such as a brick fireplaces with medieval overtones, leaded windows and bench seats. The bar on the right has a fine stone-flagged floor and oak beams which are much older. The counter itself has old studded timber dividers infilled with (modern) brown tiles. The semi-circular bar has a pewter top and pewter handpump base - one of only half a dozen in the whole country. The brass inlaid cross keys on the lino floor as you enter date from the early 1960s.

The left hand lounge has a quarter circle bar counter of wood with brick infill and with a red Formica top. Note the two glass fronted display cases possibly originally used to store bottles of spirits. One of the diamond shaped leaded panels in the front left window has the initials 'RHJ + BB' and refer to previous licensees Reg & Brenda Johnson who ran the pub from 1961 to the 1980s - a local repaired the window 'for a drink'!

Hanging from the beams are numerous pewter mugs etc. on numbered hooks and there are lists of who owns them in frames on the wall.