The Duchess, Stamford Brook, W6

Official site of The Duchess - www.theduchesshammersmith.co.uk

Official site of The Duchess - www.theduchesshammersmith.co.uk

Nicely presented pub but is rarely busy.Badly situated between Shepherds bush and Chiswick.Friendly staff and a big selection of beers but quality is very variable.Doubtfull that the proposed brewery will be commissioned unless trade picks up.Nice outside area with plenty of seating.location, location, location is still what makes a lot of pubs busy.

Just a short walk up the road from Stamford Brook District line station, the Duchess of Cambridge is the sister pub to one of the capital’s best known ale houses – the Bree Louise in Euston. My visit also coincided with the Scottish beer festival mentioned below, but also with some sort of craft market which had taken over the entire left hand side of the pub, leaving only the bar area for punters to enjoy their Sunday lunches. The servery is on the rear wall and there was a mix of standard seating and sofas around tables of various sizes. The floors are bare boards whilst the walls are painted white, with a few red pillars breaking things up a bit, but on the whole it’s a bit bland – a matter not helped by the large open-plan layout. A few pump clips are starting to creep around the walls, so maybe given more time there will be more to distract the eye. There are some fairly large windows along the front wall and a skylight above the servery, but somehow the pub managed to remain gloomy throughout my stay and the mood wasn’t improved by an impossibly annoying world music soundtrack. A TV screen was showing a muted domestic rugby fixture, although no-one seemed to be paying it any attention. Menus on the tables showed that main meals clock in at around the £9 mark, with Sunday roasts closer to £11. Bar snacks included haggis fritter and battered black pudding. Given the beer festival, the ale options were all from North of the border, with four on hand pull and six more on stilage behind the bar. Having had a few dodgy pints straight from the barrel in the Bree Louise, I opted for a hand pulled pint of Orkney Northern Lights (£3.50), which I have to say was a bit below par. Keg options included further Scottish beers from the likes of Brewdog and Black Isle. A vast list of German and Belgian bottles is detailed in the menus and I noted one hand pulled cider, a spiced cider (next to the mulled wine and DIY Bloody Mary kit) and about ten ‘bag in a box’ ciders at the end of the bar counter. There is also a long wine list and a mind blowing selection of spirits, so the place certainly can’t be faulted for not trying to cater for everyone’s tastes. I had high hopes for this place, but left a little disappointed at the beer quality and general ambiance. Like its sister pub, I left with the impression that inconsistency is a major problem and that a repeat visit might provide entirely different results. I doubt I’ll make the trek out here again just to visit this place, but I would still give it another go if I happened to be in the area.