Windmill, Old Street  

The relatively recent renovation of The Windmill might be described as not so much imitating the changes in the surrounding neighbourhood as tracking them, intelligently and relatively sensitively. Above all, it retains a sufficient degree of its own character and is now a smart bar - rather than a theme bar, City post-office-overspill, or intimidatingly trendy venue, unlike many other ex-pubs around this way. It has proper chairs and tables, for one thing, and the place's overall appearance is smart and contemporary rather than preposterous. True, the only nod towards no less proper ales comes in the form of bottled London Pride - Amstel and some other decent lagers are more the order of the day, really. The people it attracts are a wide range, but might be categorised as those who don't seek out the much more pretentious venues nearby or, for that matter, the unreconstructed and vaguely scary boozers not very much further away. So, all in all, we like the Windmill. Probably not a pub you'd go out of your way to visit, but it does the job.