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Pubs

Existing pubs

BARLEY MOW

Barley Mow Passage, W4 1TE (020 8995 7668)
This pub with its rear entrance in Barley Mow Passage was licensed by at least 1761. A painted sign on the side wall (now practically illegible) shows that it once belonged to Chiswick’s Lamb Brewery. It now belongs to the Spirit Group. An article in the Brentford & Chiswick Times in 1976 describes the pub as ‘off the beaten track’, but this was no longer the case once the entrance from the High Road and the garden were constructed in 1983.

BELL & CROWN

11-13 Thames Road, Strand-on-the-Green, W4 3PL (020 8994 4164)
A riverside pub which was licensed as the Bell & Crown by 1787, although it probably had an earlier name. It was acquired by Fuller, Smith & Turner in 1814 and rebuilt in 1907. The pub expanded into two adjoining shops in the 1980s and the large conservatory extension was added in 1984.

BOLLO

13 Bollo Lane W4 5LR (020 8994 6037)
Now a gastro pub it was originally The Railway Hotel, opened in the early 1900s. There was once a picture of a locomotive on the wall above an entrance but this has been painted over. The pub’s name changed to the Railway Tavern, then the Orange Kipper in 1988 followed by the Bollo House before becoming the Bollo. The pub is now leased from Greene King.

THE BULLS HEAD

15 Strand-on-the-Green, W4 3PQ (020 8994 6037)
This riverside pub was licensed by at least 1722. It belonged to Sich’s Lamb Brewery later to Watneys and is now part of the Spirit Group. Two cottages on the pub’s right hand side were incorporated into the pub in 1972. A notice on the Thames Road frontage of the pub tells us that Oliver Cromwell was a frequent visitor to the pub as his sister, the Countess of Fauconberg, lived nearby and that he escaped through a tunnel to an island in the river, which is now known as Oliver’s Eyot. However, the Countess of Fauconberg was Cromwell’s daughter, not his sister, and she didn’t move to Chiswick until long after Cromwell’s death. No evidence of the tunnel has ever been found.

CITY BARGE

27 Strand-on-the –Green, W4 3PH (020 8994 21460)
This riverside pub claims to have been in existence since 1484 when it was called The Navigator’s Arms. However, it first appears in the licensing lists as the City Navigation Barge in 1787. It is named in honour of the City of London Navigation Committee’s state barge which was often moored nearby. In 1940 much of the pub was destroyed by a parachute mine and threatened with demolition, but luckily it was reprieved. The old bar is all that remains of the original building and the conservatory extension was added in 1984. It is now part of the Spirit Group.

CONNOLLY’S BAR AND DINER

450 Chiswick High Road, W4 5TT (020 8994 3980)
Formerly a pub called the Robin Hood and Little John which opened in 1862 on the site of an old beerhouse. It displayed this slogan above the door: ‘Charrington’s ale, you will find it good/Step in and drink with Robin Hood/If Robin Hood be not at home/Come in and drink with Little John.’ The pub moved to the present building in 1897 (the words ‘Robin Hood’ can be seen in the stonework). It became Tommy Flynn’s Bar in about 2003 and Connollys in December 2006.

CROWN & ANCHOR

374 Chiswick High Road, W4 5TA (020 8994 2607)
This large pub was built sometime before 1839. It was altered and given a ground floor extension in 1882 and has been reconstructed since. It was the only pub in Chiswick belonging to Wandsworth brewer Youngs, but, in 2005, Youngs sold it. In 1992 Andy Bennett, manager of the pub, escaped serious injury when he opened a packet which exploded in his hands. This had been sent by the Mardi Gras bomber, Edward Pearce, who made bombs in his Chiswick garden shed in an attempt to extort money from large corporations.

DEVONSHIRE ARMS

126 Devonshire Road, W4 2JJ (020 7592 7962)
Now a gastro pub this was originally the Manor Tavern. It first appears in a street directory of 1888 and a new building was put up in 1924. In the early 20th century it was famous for its boxing matches. It is now privately owned.

THE DUKE OF SUSSEX

15 South Parade, W4 5LF (020 8742 8801)
This pub on the corner of South Parade and Acton Lane was a beerhouse by at least 1842. It was rebuilt in 1898 by its new owners the Cannon Brewery of Clerkenwell. Latterly it was a Firkins pub but in 2006 was sold to Realpubs.

DUKE OF YORK

Devonshire Road, W4 2HU (020 8994 2118)
This pub was built to serve the population of Chiswick New Town, a development to house the influx of Chiswick workers. It was acquired by Fuller, Smith and Turner in 1834 and rebuilt in 1927.

GEORGE IV

185 Chiswick High Road, W4 2DR (020 8994 4624)
Licensed by at least 1771 as Lord Boston’s Arms but called the Boston Arms in 1790. It was acquired by Fuller, Smith & Turner in 1826, probably the year the name was changed to the George IV. It was rebuilt in 1931/2. It was one of the places where tickets for stage coaches could be purchased and in 1838 a George Cloud was running an omnibus service to the City from the pub. In 2002 a storeroom was converted into a function room and is now the headliners comedy club with live comedy shows at weekends and other events during the week.

GEORGE AND DEVONSHIRE

8 Burlington Lane, W4 2QE (020 8994 1839)
The present 18th-century listed building by Hogarth Roundabout replaced an earlier pub known as the George which was acquired in 1791 by John Thompson of what was later to become Fuller’s Griffin Brewery. By 1826 ‘Devonshire’ had been added to the pub name and the arms of the Duke of Devonshire, who owned most of the land in Chiswick, to the inn sign.

THE GUNNERSBURY

590 Chiswick High Road, W4 5RP (07973 600 963)
This is a new name for the John Bull pub, for many years a venue for live music where groups such as The Who performed. The pub was built in 1853 with a saloon next door, put up a few years later, with tables for billiards, pool and ‘pyramids’ (snooker).

HOLE IN THE WALL

Sutton Lane, W4 4LD (020 8742 7185)
Now a gastro pub, this was originally a pub called The Queen’s Head which was licensed by at least 1722. It was rebuilt in 1925. It is now leased from Enterprise Inns.

MAWSON ARMS/FOX AND HOUNDS

110 Chiswick Lane South, W4 2QA (020 8994 2936)
This pub, backing onto Fuller, Smith & Turner’s Griffin Brewery has two names because Fuller, Smith & Turner amalgamated two separate licenses on the site in 1899 when the brewery premises were extended. The Fox and Hounds was licensed by at least 1759 as the Fox and Dogs when it was further down Chiswick Lane. The building containing the Mawson Arms was the home of poet and essayist Alexander Pope between 1716 and 1719. It became a pub in 1899.

OLD PACK HORSE

434 Chiswick High Road, W4 5TF (020 8995 0647)
On the corner of Acton Lane and Chiswick High Road, this pub was licensed by 1759 as the West Country Packhorse, the name changing to the Lower Pack Horse in 1790 and to just the Pack Horse by 1811. It has been owned by Fuller, Smith & Turner since 1808 and was rebuilt in 1910.

OLD STATION HOUSE

2 Grove Park Road, W4 3SG (020 8742 2555)
Built as the Grove Park Hotel in 1867, it was the first building on the new Grove Park estate of houses for the professional middle class. Being right by Chiswick Railway station the hotel was designed to attract visitors who wished to take part in Chiswick’s riverside activities. The pub was sold in 2007 when the name was changed.

PACKHORSE AND TALBOT

145 Chiswick High Road, W4 2DT (020 8994 0360)
This is a venerable old Chiswick pub which was called simply The Pack Horse from 1698 until 1811 and has frequently been confused with the Old Pack Horse (formerly the West Country Packhorse). A trader’s token (these were used instead of coins) dating to 1669 has been found which mentions ‘Ye Pack Hors in Turnam Greene’. In 1698 some of the people who were plotting to assassinate King William III in Wellesley Road met in this pub. In 1725 when the highwayman, Jonathan Wild was on trial he called, as a witness, Hays of the Pack Horse, Turnham Green and it was the meeting place of the Brentford Turnpike Trust between 1764 and 1776. It was rebuilt in the 1920s and now belongs to the Spirit Group.

PARAGON

80-82 Chiswick High Road W4 1SY (020 8742 7263)
This pub is now a Smith & Jones pub belonging to the Barracuda Group. It was JJ Moons from 1992 and prior to that the premises were shops.

THE PILOT

56 Wellesley Road, W4 4BZ (020 8994 0828)
Now a gastro pub, the Pilot was built sometime before 1869 as a local for the residents of the large houses built in the area by Adam Askew during the 1860s. The pub was acquired by Fuller, Smith & Turner in 2005.

ROEBUCK

122 Chiswick High Road, W4 IPU (020 8995 4392)
The Roebuck, licensed from at least 1732, was one of the main coaching inns in Chiswick High Road and was where the Manorial Court usually held their meetings. The pub was known for its fine bowling green and its extensive stabling. The original building was demolished in 1890 and replaced by the present building with statues of Roebucks adorning the pediments. The pub’s name has been changed many times in recent years. It was re-christened the Chiswick Eyot in 1983, reverted back to the Roebuck in 1989, renamed the Rat and Parrot in 1996 (despite protests from local residents) and the Bird Cage in 2002. It became the Roebuck again in 2006 when it was bought by Food and Fuel which turned it into a gastro pub.

TABARD

2 Bath Road, W4 ILN (020 8994 3492)
Designed by R Norman Shaw and built in 1880, the Tabard Inn was one of the public buildings put up on Jonathan Carr’s new Bedford Park estate. It served as Bedford Park’s pub, restaurant and hotel. The Tabard is important in the history of pub architecture as it was one of the first of a new breed of pubs intended to invoke village inns of earlier years as a reaction against the grandiose Victorian pub architecture of the time. The pub’s original inn sign was painted by the pre-Raphaelite artist T M Rooke and tiles inside the pub are by William de Morgan and Walter Crane. It now belongs to Punch Taverns.

Pubs which have now closed

BOHEMIA HEAD

Sometimes known as ‘The King of Bohemia’ or the ‘Sign of the Bohemia’ this old pub at the top of Chiswick Lane is recorded in 1632. It was probably called after the Elector Palatine and king of Bohemia who married the daughter of James I in 1613. The pub’s large cellars are said to have been the hiding place of some of the conspirators who plotted to assassinate King William III in Chiswick in 1698 (the plot failed). It ceased to be a pub towards the end of the 18th century and was converted into three houses in one of which Italian writer and patriot, Ugo Foscolo ended his days. The building was demolished in 1901.

BOLTON

The large building at 81 Duke Road was once the Bolton pub, built sometime before 1882 to serve the newly-built Glebe Estate, and was called the Bolton Hotel and Music Hall in the Kelly’s directory of 1893. The pub closed in 1995 and the building is now residential.

THE BURLINGTON ARMS

The black and white half-timbered building in Church Street, known as the Old Burlington, is probably the oldest building in Chiswick, apart from the tower of St Nicholas Church, and dates from at least the 16th century (an Elizabethan sixpence was found under the floorboards). By at least 1732 it had become a pub called the Burlington Arms. The licence was surrendered in 1924. Outside the pub is a cupboard which is said to have been where drunks were locked in until they sobered up. The building is reputedly haunted by a tall man with a large wide-brimmed hat who disarranges the pictures and is nicknamed Percy.

COACH AND HORSES

The large building on the corner of Chiswick High Road and Netheravon Road, which is now empty and the subject of a planning application, was once the Coach and Horses pub. It was licensed by 1761 and described as a ‘humble roadside inn’ frequented by market carts on their way to London. The ‘humble’ inn was demolished in 1900 and replaced by a ‘palatial building’ which, in 1972 when it had become a Schooner Inn, had a stream running around the main bar. The pub’s ‘inn sign’ was a full scale model of a coach on the first floor balcony. In 1992 the pub was converted into Jo Smo’s Bar and Diner, then Nacho’s Mexican restaurant, then, until 2007, Est, Est, Est.

CROWN INN

A large pub at the Gunnersbury end of Chiswick High Road, licensed by at least 1751 and rebuilt in the 1920s. It was demolished in 1957 to make way for the enlargement of Chiswick Roundabout.

THE EMPEROR

Originally at 232 Chiswick High Road, the Emperor first appears in a street directory of 1888. In c.1961 Marks and Spencer acquired the premises for an extension and the pub moved to Nos 304-6. It closed in the 1990s.

THE FEATHERS

This pub in Hogarth Lane was licensed by at least 1722 and belonged to Sich & Co of the Lamb Brewery in Church Street. Rebuilt during the Victorian era, the pub was demolished in the late 1950s to make way for the A4 and the Hogarth Roundabout. It was replaced with a pub of the same name on the north side of the roundabout in 1960. This, in turn, has been demolished.

THE GARDENERS ARMS

It stood on what is now the south-west corner of Chiswick Roundabout and first appears in a directory of 1888 when it belonged to Brentford’s Royal Brewery. It was demolished in 1957 when Chiswick Roundabout was enlarged.

THE INDIAN QUEEN

The office building called the Pier House (formerly the Pier House Laundry) in Thames Road is on the site of a little pub called the Indian Queen which stood in a large square near Spring Grove. Licensed by at least 1759, it might have been named in honour of Pocohantas who lived for a short time in Brentford.

LAMB TAP

The building known as Lamb Cottage in Church Street was a pub initially called the Lamb from at least 1732 to 1909. It was owned by Sich’s Lamb Brewery which was right behind the pub. It was in the Lamb that an inquest was held in 1889 on Montague Druitt, who had drowned in the Thames. Druitt is one of many suspects for the Jack the Ripper murders.

PRINCE OF WALES

The premises currently occupied by bookmakers Ladbrokes was formerly the Prince of Wales public house (plumes of ostrich feathers – the emblem of the Prince of Wales can be seen on the front of the building). Licensed by at least 1792 but rebuilt in the 1930s it closed as a pub in 1961 and was converted into business premises with flats above.

RED LION

Licensed by at least 1722 this pub stood opposite the Draw Dock on Chiswick Mall where produce such as hops, timber, ships ropes etc for Chiswick industries was unloaded. Fuller, Smith & Turner surrendered the licence in 1913 and it became a private residence, now called Red Lion House.

THE SHIP INN

Ship House on Strand on the Green was the Ship Inn, licensed by 1722 and closed in 1910 when it was converted into a private house.

THE STEAM PACKET

Cafe Rouge at Strand on the Green now occupies the premises of the Steam Packet pub which was licensed by 1870. The pub’s name comes from the steam launches which used to dock at Kew Pier opposite the pub as part of the regular steam packet service up the river. The pub closed in the early 1980s when it became the Dome Cafe.

THE WHITE SWAN

The building that used to be the White Swan pub in Bennett Street can be seen from the A4 (opposite the gate to Hogarth’s House). An old beerhouse was probably on this site from at least 1847. In the 1920s the White Swan was famous for its linnet-singing competitions. When the black cloth on top of the caged birds was removed the linnets began to sing and customers placed bets on which bird would sing the longest. In the early 1980s Charringtons sold the pub and it was converted into offices in 1983.

THE WINDMILL

Balan’s Restaurant in Chiswick High Road marks the site of a pub called the Windmill – so named because it stood near the windmill north of the High Road shown on a road map of 1675. Licensed as the Windmill and Wheatsheaf by 1722, the Windmill and Swan in 1765 but just the Windmill in 1839, it was acquired by Fuller, Smith & Turner in 1802. A grandiose Victorian edifice replaced the previous pub in 1900. This in turn was demolished in 1964 to make way for an office block with the pub incorporated into the ground floor. For many years this was the headquarters of fast-food chain Wimpys but is now flats. The Windmill was renamed Jack Stamps Beerhouse in the mid 1990s but closed in 2005.

These are the names of some other Chiswick pubs, now gone, which we know little about:
Belmont Arms in Belmont Terrace; Bricklayers Arms, Chiswick High Road; The Chanceller, Bennett Street; Coopers Arms in Devonshire Street; Harrow; Hog and Dog; Life Guardsman, 43 Hogarth Lane; Nags Head; Prince of Wales, 171 Devonshire Road; Raindeer; Rose and Crown; Ship at Anchor, Chiswick High Road; Thistle and Crown; Three Horseshoes; White Bear; White Lion; Whetstone and Bear; Yew Tree.

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