Sound gastropub with good atmosphere

Takes its name from the well that served the clerken hereabouts, so leading to the name of the area.

The Well is a buzzy bar-cum-gastropub where the diners and staff all appear to be friends having a good time.

Scrubbed tables and old church chairs give a fresh, accessible feel to this corner venue, which is open as a bar throughout the day and as a restaurant during kitchen hours.

A couple of daily specials on a blackboard complement the modern mixed menu.

The menu changes regularly, but starters may include bread, garlic and sage soup; 'pint o' prawns' with mayonnaise; or seared chicken livers with a balsamic reduction and mixed leaves.

Main courses are equally eclectic.

Sausages come with herb mash and gravy; or there may be saddle of rabbit cooked in grain mustard with borlotti beans and Savoy cabbage; or chargrilled rib-eye steak, which comes with grilled tomatoes, flat mushrooms and French fries.

Fish dishes get good representation: pan-fried skate wing with potato and leek compôte and brown butter, or fillet of salmon with risotto cake and seafood saffron sauce.

The desserts range from the classic - chocolate brownies with vanilla cream, or whisky bread-and-butter pudding with custard, to the more adventurous - cranberry and cinnamon crème brélée.

British cheeses are from the admirable Neal's Yard Dairy.

The wine list scoots from a respectable house red or white to Dom Pérignon - for the Clerkenwell-heeled.

The Well
St. John Street, London, EC1V 4JY