Gingerbread Pubs of St Albans Part 2 (2023)

I'm continuing my project recreating the iconic pubs of St Albans, England, in gingerbread this year! Last year was the first installment of this project, but since there are so many pubs in St Albans, this is going to be a multi-year project. This year I only had enough time to make two gingerbread pubs, because I was invited to the Herodion Hotel in Athens to make a gingerbread showpiece for their lobby and attend their Christmas event.

Collage of gingerbread replicas of two pubs in St Albans, England.

This year I built The Robin Hood and The Goat, two long-time favorite pubs in town, out of gingerbread.

The Robin Hood Pub (Gingerbread Edition)

Gingerbread version of The Robin Hood pub in St Albans, England.

The Robin Hood was first licenced in 1867, which makes it one of the newer pubs in St Albans! It's known for its excellent ciders and we feel so lucky that this pub is just down the street from where we live.

Closeup of the hand-painted Robin Hood sign on the gingerbread Robin Hood pub. It is painted with food coloring and is entirely edible.

The iconic sign was also fun to paint with food coloring!

Gingerbread replica of The Robin Hood pub in St Albans, England, in front of the actual pub in the background.

My greens turned out a little more vibrant than the real pub, but I'm ok with that for a whimsical, Christmastime version of our local.

Owner of The Robin Hood pub with the gingerbread replica of the pub.

The Robin Hood hosted an Eat The Robin Hood party after Christmas and invited everyone to come and help deconstruct the cookie pub!

The Goat Pub (Gingerbread Edition)

The Goat was built in the late 1400s, and was running as a pub by 1587 at the latest. It's an absolutely charming place very close to city center, and we were lucky enough to live just down the road from it for two years.

Photo of a gingerbread replica of The Goat Inn, an historic pub in St Albans, England.

Sopwell lane (where this pub is) used to be part of the main route from London to the St Albans cathedral, and right along a major course for commerce and pilgrimage. If you're visiting the area, they still have a few rooms you can rent upstairs! But for the most part, it's just an amazing local pub drenched in history.

Gingerbread replica of The Goat pub in St Albans in front of the actual pub on Sopwell Lane.

It got dark before I could deliver this gingerbread house to the pub, but here's the gingerbread version in front of the actual pub in the background.

The gingerbread house replica of The Goat pub in St albans sitting on the bar inside the pub.

I don't give the pubs advance warning, I just show up with a gingerbread replica of the pub as a gift. The pubs in St Albans are such an integral, important part of the community, and I love being able to give back to this city we love in a small way.

Collage of photos of a gingerbread house decorating party inside The Goat pub in St Albans, England. Photos feature the pub set up with blank gingerbread houses on the tables waiting for guests, a table full of jars of candy, and photos of kids and adults decorating gingerbread houses.

This year, we also hosted our annual friends and family gingerbread house decorating party at The Goat! They have tons of space inside, and we had a crowd of about 60 people come to decorate gingerbread houses and celebrate with us. We wouldn't be able to host an event this large in our tiny house. Pubs really are where the community can come together in our town. I absolutely love that we have such charming, welcoming, wonderful third spaces in our community.