The Churchill Arms, W8

Imagine you were taking guests to a pub in London and wanted to go somewhere special. It would have to be here, wouldn't it. Somehow, a tourist destination for the flora and fauna - and lit Xmas trees - manages to feel like a decent locals bar. Fullers pub, so you would expect expensive ESB but in great condition. In contrast, the Thai food - run unobtrusively in a rear dining area - seemed quite reasonable with mains at around £13.

First time in here for many years and virtually nothing has changed apart from the Thai food offering and prices of course. A couple of Fullers beers and a couple of guests were on including a very nice Park Saw Pit. The chat and general ambiance were good at 11.30 on a Saturday Morning. Top pub.

I suspect I was in a day or two after Blackthorn, as the only change to the beer list was Fuller's Wild River on for Butcombe Haka. The Wild River had just come on and was in good condition. The Churchill Arms is a pub I hadn't visited for at least 15 years until Thursday this week. It doesn't appear to have changed much since our last visit. The exterior still has a wonderful array of greenery, whilst the interior is still just as cluttered with knick knacks as before. We sat on the left-hand side of the pub close to the gents toilets, where there are pictures of Irish football and rugby teams, along with pictures of every US president until around 1970, amongst soda bottles and plenty of other ephemera. We did wander around to the far right-hand side of the room to place an order for some Thai food. In this corner, is the kitchen itself and a desk with the restaurant staff. Beyond there is a separate restaurant for diners. I believe this is in a conservatory. Although you can choose to eat the food you have ordered in the pub itself, as we did. This is still a classic London pub and attracts both locals and tourists searching for that quintessential pub experience. Whilst the beer and cider range lacks a little, due to the tie with Fuller's, there's still plenty here to admire. It still rates as one of my favourite pubs in the capital.

A prominent street corner pub that regular pops up in guide books due to it’s striking exterior covered in foliage, this changes to hanging baskets later in the year and Christmas trees in December. It really is quite a spectacle, and fortunately the inside doesn’t disappoint either. The pub is arranged in to a U shape internally with the bar counter in the middle. The right hand leg of the U seems to extend further back, possibly in to a restaurant and/or conservatory, although I did not fully investigate this. The remainder of the pub is very traditional, attractive, and crammed full of bric-à-brac. There is red patterned carpet on the floor with dark wood panelling on much of the walls, leaded windows on two sides and a surprising amount of standing area at the front of the pub as well as a selection of tables. It makes a pleasant change to find up a pub not cramming in as many tables as possible for diners. The main feature though is undoubdetebly all the knick-knacks that fill every square inch of space on the walls and the ceiling. These include a large selection of chamber pots, buckets, watering cans and wicker baskets hanging from the ceiling, strings of flags as well as larger flags on the walls, plenty of pictures of Churchill, a model post box, a toucan Guinness advert, a cricket club notice board and trophy cabinet, all manner of pictures and newspaper cutting, many WWII related, lanterns, further foliage on the window sills… I could go on all day. There was also a small fire blazing away to one side which was a nice touch, and this added to what was already a very cosy ambience. Beers on tap were ESB and London Pride from Fullers, along with Twickenham American Nut Brown, Butcombe haka and Siren Yu Lu. The only negative about the whole place was the cider selection, which was just a disappointing Cornish Orchards. Other than that though, a cracking pub and well worth a visit.