SO two of us go up to the bar. My assistant orders a pint of Old Speckled Hen and I go for the Greene King IPA, neither of us fancying the Abbot on this particular occasion.

The barmaid of the Silver Fox gives us a welcoming smile and delivers up the pint of Hen. Before my pint is half pumped, a third of the Hen has disappeared, my assistant passing the back of his hand across his mouth and muttering some sound of appreciation I will have to try to modify this behaviour but now is not the time.

A guy sitting at the bar near the pumps leans along the bar, picks up the remaining Speckled Hen and asks: "Is this yours?"

At this my assistant visibly bristles and I was getting ready to hide under a table, but I needn't have worried, the chap holding the glass was raising it to the light. "It looks cloudy to me," he said.

My assistant, probably feeling guilty about what, just a few moments before, he had thought of doing to the chap said: "It tastes fine."

Our new acquaintance turned out to be the part-time cellar man who was just enjoying the fruits of his labours over a few pints.

He was quite willing to arrange for a new pint, but my assistant politely (on this occasion) refused the offer I really must give him some training.

So we got to talking and found out that the cellar man is a retired pub landlord. No wonder the IPA tasted so good.

The Silver Fox is a mile and a half outside Hertford on the B1197 at Hertford Heath.

The name comes only indirectly from an animal, the sign depicting one of those fantastic streamlined engines that used to speed across the countryside.

There is a picture of the locomotive in question on the mantelpiece inside, dating back to August 27, 1936.

The pub itself is one of those low ceiling affairs with plastic beams and a few brasses and prints. It is comfortable, with a tiled and a carpeted area off from a central bar.

Outside there is a pleasant walled garden which would be a real suntrap on a bright day.

Besides well-kept beer there is a nice little menu of home-cooked food and, if you buy coffee, you can keep coming back for refills.

It's a pity they don't have the same offer for ales. Oh well, it's worth a visit if you are out that way.