The Swan, Hammersmith, W6

Visited in June 2010 Prominently situated at the junction of King Street and Hammersmith Broadway opposite Hammersmith Tube Station, The Swan is an imposing Victorian pub that has, pleasingly, now come into the Nicholsons stable. Previously a typical town centre "Edwards" pub appealing to the less discerning and more youthful pub goers, it has now reverted to its original name of The Swan. Do take the time to look high up on the outside of the building and note the splendid swan depiction on the decorative brickwork. Note also the date shown in the plasterwork - 1901. Inside the pub, the usual Nicholsons framed information print tells us that an earlier pub - a coaching inn known as The Old Swan , functioning as the first stop for horse drawn coaches from the City of London in the 18th Century - had to be demolished when the railway arrived, and that this pub, close by, is its direct replacement. In true Nicholsons style, their restoration has brought out the best of the pub's Victorian heritage - high ceilings, several solid looking arches, impressive pillars, chandeliers and some frosted stained glass mini-windows up above the main tall plain glass windows. There's polished wood in abundance, which enhances the traditional feel of the interior, although I suspect that much of it is not original. There's a number of different seating areas, including an attractive carpeted room around the back of the main bar area. Upstairs is a "Bar and Dining Room" , although the downstairs bar is obviously used for dining and condiments were on most of the tables. On the real ale front, there's 10 handpumps downstairs, of which 9 were in use on my recent Sunday lunchtime visit. Beers on were Wadworths 6X, Brakspears Bitter, London Pride, 2 Timmy Taylors beers ( Landlord and Best ), Adnams Broadside, Sharps Doom Bar, Cropton Dutch Wink and Castle Rock Harvest Pale Ale. The Brakspears was not particularly good, but the Castle Rock HPA was in excellent form. Both beers were priced at £ 3.10p. There's a certain similarity here with The Falcon at Clapham Junction - both externally impressive Victorian pubs occupying prime street corner positions at busy road junctions, yet, until "rescued" by Nicholsons, neither being particularly good pubs at all, if the truth were known. The Swan is a very welcome addition to the West London pub scene

Official pages of the Swan, contains menu and cask ale details - www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk

Official pages of the Swan, contains menu and cask ale details - www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk

As the previous reviewer said, this is now a Nicholson’s pub, with ten real ales on in the maindownstairs bar, and I too saw three handpumps in the smaller upstairs bar. Of the ten ales in the downstairs bar, only four were usual suspects of Pride, Landlord, Doom Bar and Abbot. The other six were more rarely seen offerings. I went for the Thwaite’s Wainwright (at £3.10 a pint) which tasted fine. This is another large imposing corner site pub from Victorian times that has thankfully evaded the clutches of the developers. I didn’t know it as “Edwards”, and I doubt whether I missed anything, but I wholeheartedly approve of its reversion to its original name of “The Swan”. This is in keeping with the excellent depiction of the swan on the gables. Inside it has the typical high ceilings of a Victorian town centre pub, with a couple of heavy duty arches in the main room that must surely be original – I can’t imagine anyone since the Victorians bothering to build their like into a pub. There’s also plenty of rich coloured wood around the place, some of which might well be original. There are some leaded lights above the main windows that certainly look original. The main room is very large – not as large as a Wetherspoons drinking barn though – but broken up by some judiciously placed glazed partitions that are about half the height of the room, thus creating separate drinking areas. The whole works quite well in my opinion, making this an attractive room. There’s another room around the back of the bar counter, with some more seating and an attractive fireplace. The stairs leading upstairs are open to the main room, and lead to another “Bar and Dining Room”, with a small bar counter, yet with room for three handpumps. The clientele seemed to be mainly transient, some bringing their suitcases in next to their tables while having a meal before heading off somewhere. I would expect it to get a lot of passing trade as a result of its prominent position next to Hammersmith station. I’m not sure that I would go out of my way to visit again, but ten ales at Nicholson’s reasonable prices is a big plus, and I would be happy to drop in again for another pint if passing this way.

This place has no signage on the front except for a piece of paper advertising the Edwards karaoke night. The two barmaids that served me seemed nice enough and my Guinness was fine. There is no real ale, only standard and premium lager, but this is the first place other than O'Neill's that I have spotted Guinness Red. It hasn't really changed much since I was last in about ten years ago and I think I may leave it another ten before I try again.