Seine again, barman - a pub crawl in Paris

The English speciality of loafing in pubs is catching on in Paris. According to Cadogan's guide book, "Drinking beer is trendy in this city ... One gets the impression that what the French want are English pubs, except for the fact that they are English."

There are fewer than 20 English pubs in Paris, but they're all doing nicely, as I discovered during a day-long pub crawl.

I began at the Pub St Germain at 17 rue de l'Ancienne Comedie in the sixth arrondissement, which has been open 24 hours a day for the last 30 years and looks it. This is partly an English pub and partly nothing in particular, and as a young visitor to Paris, magnetised by the familiarity of the word "pub", I would go there and drink approximately a pint of approximately English beer at a hefty price. (Beware: a pint in any English-style Parisian pub costs the equivalent of three quid.)

"It's meant to look like an English pub is meant to look," a barman cautiously explained, as we surveyed the off-the-shelf Victoriana. "If you look at our menu there's classical food - a lot of meat." The menu is actually one of the most international, and weird, in Paris, offering, for example, "fish soup and the rust" or "coq in beer".

Reaching The Bowler, at 13 Rue d'Artois in the eighth arrondissement, you are met with the bracing sign: "Are you sick of French food?" - a strange question to be posed in a pub where the menu begins with salade de pâté aux fruits de mer. Delicious looking fish and chips is available, however. The draught Newcastle Brown is quite boring but the house red is excellent. The Bowler is one of seven clean and airy English pubs in Paris owned by Jeremy Bown. "The French are ever more keen on pubs," he says, "and our intention is to expand apace."

My third stop was the Big Ben Pub, at 207 av Charles de Gaulle in Neuilly. This opened in 2000, and advertises itself as "the most modern English pub in Paris", thus missing the point in a big way. A framed review from Le Figaro describes the Big Ben as Londres á Paris but I was sceptical. It's a slick place with a low-lit New York feel and while the barman was very friendly he was also very French. The Underground roundel is everywhere and there are a few outbreaks of Englishness in an otherwise French menu, eg hot pot de boeuf at €11.6 (£7.20).

On to the Frog and Rosbif at 116 rue St Denis, in the second arrondissement - "handy", as my guide book coarsely has it, "for the knocking shops of Saint Denis." Here well-heeled Frenchies eat "saucisses de Lincoln, haricots blancs, et purÈe" for a fiver a go, unaware that the Anglophone bar staff are calling the same thing "bangers, beans and mash". The fine real ale is brewed in the basement, close enough to the gents to inspire jokes.

Lastly I visited The Bombardier at 2 place du Pantheon in the fifth arrondissement - "the most British pub in Paris" - which draws a young crowd with Charles Wells ales brought across from Blighty in kegs, and good - although frankly rather French - two-course meals for around seven quid. The manager told me: "The Parisian stereotype of a barman in black-andwhite is going. It's more chilled now." But there could be drawbacks here.

An English friend recently returned from Paris with depressing news. "I've just see my first Frenchman having a wee against a wall," he said.

? Andrew Martin flew to Paris with bmi british midland (0870 607 0555; www.flybmi.com), Heathrow returns from £69.

It's all French to me...