The Bridge Hotel, Greenford

This is another classic inter-war pub in this part of the world that's on CAMRA's London Inventory of pubs with historic interiors. Although the interior's changed somewhat since it was included, it still has its original bar counter and bar back, plus some very unusal wood panelled pillars stretching along the front of the room. These would once have framed some alcoves, but alas no longer do so. This is still a functioning hotel, but although the hotel can be accessed from the bar, it's still largely separate as it has its own entrance from the outside. The chunky tall tables/tall stools that used to be in the centre of the room have now gone, which thankfully seems to be bucking the trend, and apart from a sofa or two the furnishings are mainly normal tables and chairs. It's actually quite an attractive room. The frontage comprises nice leaded windows, with coloured motifs in the upper sections, and a large stone fireplace is in its centre. There are a few picnic benches outside, but I can't imagine that sitting out there would be terribly enjoyable with the incessant traffic on the A40 thundering past your table. It's still a Young's pub, with Bitter and Special on. Food seems to be available at the usual times. The tuna and cucumber sandwich I had, with a bit a bit of salad and chips, was £4.45. I didn't look at the evening menu, but if lunchtime sarny prices are anything to go by the prices won't be unreasonable. This is a nice enough pub even if it's got a bit of the Young's "hotel lounge" look (of course it is a hotel lounge), but it's a bit out of the way for me to make a return visit likely.

Randomness Guide to London - Bridge Hotel entry

Randomness Guide to London - Bridge Hotel entry

Official site of the Bridge Hotel, contains menu - www.thebridgehotel.com

This 68 room hotel is located by the Greenford Roundabout where the A40 flyover crosses the Greenford Road. There is some pleasant looking outside seating in a paved area by the pub entrance, but the wooden garden fencing surround does nothing to mask the noise from the heavy traffic passing by. The building is enormous, but to incorporate the rooms, restaurant and meeting suites the pub area looks like it has been reduced to the size of the old saloon bar and the ‘saloon bar’ sign by the entrance would also suggest this. The interior looks original with some nice wooden features and panelling and there is some very nice seating in alcoves by the windows. There is a second room to the right hand side of the bar which has some tables and chairs and is decked out in much the same way as the bar. To the left of the bar is the foyer which is in plain sight to remind all that this is in fact a hotel bar. I had a bit of a wait at the bar during my visit this lunchtime as it was busy with suits wearing name tags and drinking orange juice whilst they waited for their conference/meeting to start. When the barmaid finally did get to me she was very polite and served a decent pint of Guinness which was on the expensive side at £3.70. Staropramen and Peroni were also available along with a limited standard draught selection and I counted four hand pumps on the bar which were drawing London Gold, Ordinary and Special. Also on the bar was a chalk board emblazoned with the food menu which was a little pricey, but looked and smelt excellent. I wouldn’t go out of my way to drink here again as it is a little sterile, but I would be chuffed to bits if I found out that the hotel I was staying at had such a quiet pleasant looking bar with decent beer.

Official site of the Bridge Hotel, contains menu - www.thebridgehotel.com