The Prince of Wales Townhouse, W6

Just a short walk from Ravenscourt Park station, this is another pub taken over by the Big Smoke Brewery, albeit with a considerably more limited cask range than the other pubs of theirs that I have visited. It’s a decent sized pub with an open plan layout across two notionally separate rooms, with a brick archway dividing the front and rear areas. The front part is a split level space, with a raised area to the left where you can find two shuffleboards, whilst the right side is a bare boarded seating area with comfy banquettes along the front wall and some armchairs and sofas along the right-hand wall. The floor boasts a couple of unusual circular mosaic tile inserts, which were presumably a feature from one the the pub’s previous incarnations. The walls are painted in dark shades or just exposed brickwork, and have been decorated with an eclectic set of paintings and various blackboards. The servery runs in an L-shape on the back wall and has a dark painted counter and mirrored bar back with two TV screens showing live football above. The blander rear room felt a bit brighter and perhaps more suited to diners, with an open kitchen to one side, potted plants dotted around and plenty of plain mirrors on the walls. Many more TV screens at various points throughout the pub, were showing the same football match with the sound on, which clashed with a music soundtrack that was also audible. To the right, a door leads out to a heated patio garden, which I didn’t properly explore. Just the two ales on the bar, rather than the long row of handpulls you tend to associate with Big Smoke pubs, so I was hopeful of better, more consistent beer quality. Sadly, this wasn’t the case, as my pint of Big Smoke Cosmic Dawn (£4.70), was pretty ropey, although the other ale - Harveys Sussex Best - was taken by a large group of Brummies who turned up shortly after me, and they were all singing its praises, so maybe I just got unlucky. The barmaid here was very friendly, but did struggle to pull a few pints on occasion. This felt like a decent enough pub in a similar format to the brewery’s other houses, and unfortunately also exhibiting similar problems in terms of ale quality. It’s a decent option to have if you’re jumping on or off the tube here, but is far from the destination pub that I suspect the brewery would’ve hoped it could become.

This place dates from the 1850s, but was rebuilt in the brewers’ Tudor style, probably in the early 20th century, with the original name recently reinstated along with the adjective ‘Townhouse’, presumably in an attempt to lend an air of cool sophistication. I was expecting this to be something of a ladz pub, but it’s hipsterfied, very opened out, with modern interior and pale floor, which seems to exhibit what look like tiled Roman mosaics, but are company motifs remaindered from this pub’s time as one of the unappealing chain pubs called [Tommy] Flynn’s, the name still visible in Gaelic script, to be sure. The colour scheme is smoky blue down low, then pale grey to a white ceiling. Furniture is modern and zoned according to where it’s located, with fawn coloured studded banquette booths to the rear (see photo). Lighting is modern, semi-industrial and fairly bright. Décor comprises some trendy framed prints, then framed flyers advertising meal deals and selective sport showings; they aren’t attractive. Mood music played, but it had to compete with tinny music emanating from the semi open kitchen. Customers were unsustainably few in number on a Saturday evening, me being just one of two customers in the rear dining area. Despite being a Big Smoke pub, there were just two unused pumps, one reversed, then just Sussex Best, Big Smoke Underworld and Solaris at a reasonable £4.40 a pint, but quite a boring beer, though in good condition, served by a friendly barmaid. This is a bit of a dull soulless place, with a disappointing selection of real ales; I find it odd when tied houses pass on their own beers in favour of others. That said, I don’t envisage a repeat visit; the Anglesea is the main contender in this locale.

This is yet another Big Smoke pub, not too far from Ravenscourt Park tube station. Whilst nicely laid out, the cask ale range was poor and I didn't manage to locate any real cider. Just 4 ales were on. Big Smoke Solaris is the regular beer. Guests on this visit were Harvey's Sussex Best Bitter, Portobello Stiff Lip & Laine's Doubloon. A stout and a porter were both clipped, but had both run out. The management of the Big Smoke pubs appeared to be sitting in one corner. Hopefully they were plotting how to improve this one, as it is not a scratch on some of their earlier ventures. They seem to be expanding far too quickly.

After a smart refurb the Prince of Wales Townhouse opened in April 2021 and is now owned by the the Big Smoke Brew Company and offers accomodation. The pub has 2 outdoor areas,one at the front and another covered one to the right of the building.There was a great choice of beer with there being 10 cask pumps (8 functioning) and 20 keg taps which all mainly seemed to be craft ales. Worth a visit if in the area.

Official site of the Prince of Wales - www.princeofwales-townhouse.co.uk

Official site of the Prince of Wales - www.princeofwales-townhouse.co.uk