Westbourne Grove pubs

Most pubs in the Westbourne Grove area are either a bit rubbish or full of people so financially elevated that I feel rather out of place. Finding somewhere relatively normal comes as something of a relief. Beaming out attractively though the darkness, the outside led me to believe I had found somewhere full-on traditional. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and the pub has suffered through several misjudged refits over the years. The bar has had all but one tiny section of its snob windows ripped out, and the usual overhead bar frontage has also been demolished to make way for that nasty late-nineties obsession with light and space. The drinking area consists of three rooms ordered around the bar, but the connecting doors between this room have been removed and rather distressingly replaced with swinging wooden flaps, Wild West style. Having thus wreaked some needless architectural vandalism, the owners quite plainly changed heart (or the pub changed hands) and it was decided to redecorate the pub victorian style: gruesome striped wallpaper, terracotta browns, earthen oranges and all the usual carpets and red seat covers. It all seems very hotchpotch and neither-nor, with various discordant elements leaping out to gripe about their ill-matched fellows. My gripe is, however, purely architectural. Cheerful, chatty barstaff and a relaxed clientele led to a thoroughly pleasant atmosphere, with the unhurried air of a place it would be easy to pass lots of time in. The front bar has a TV perched above the lintel, while the other two rooms are TV-free areas where people were getting on with the serious businesses of reading papers, doing crosswords and drinking beer.

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