The once painfully trendy Bricklayers Arms appears to have undergone something of a turnaround and is now much closer to the good old boozer it once was.

Garish neon signage aside, the Bricklayers has a friendlier, seedy, unkempt air about it nowadays.

There are no longer the strident, trying-too-hard, in-your-face crowds that put us off from coming here in the past - we suspect they've moved on to pastures new.

There's still a good selection of ales on the eight hand pumps and plenty of other decent stuff to try if bitter is not your tipple of choice - which was always one of the reasons for visiting this pub. And, whilst the bar staff didn't go out of their way to charm us, at least we got our drink quickly, which is also another improvement.

Admittedly, we haven't been to the Bricklayers recently towards the end of the week so we can't vouch for the complete absence of irksome Hoxtonistas, but on the basis of our most recent visit, it looks like the Bricklayers Arms is once more a pub we can recommend.

NEAREST STATION: Shoreditch High Street (opens 2010) station

FEATURES: Function room available