Latymers, Hammersmith, W6

As mentioned, this was the Red Cow, dating from the early 18th century and rebuilt in the late 1980s, run by Fuller’s. The interior is one room, but essentially three areas, with the dining room to the rear. The bar is to the right, with white tiles and tubular steel shelving. Indeed, the interior is very modern with an untreated wood floor, high and low conventional furniture with some studded banquette booths. The walls and ceiling are white, with a strange metal framed circular mirror attached to it (see photo). Lighting was at a reasonable level, provided by filament sconce lights with metal shaded lamps over the bar. Décor was predictable, with ugly Six Nations bunting, pot plants, framed prints and an inflatable diplodocus (see photo). Customers were youngish office workers, perhaps having a party and with the loud sound of conversation, loud music and poor acoustics, the levels were too much for me. The ale front amounted to ESB, Pride and Hophead at £2.55 a half and on the turn, served by a very enthusiastic Thai barman; the food’s Thai and genders are applied to lav doors in Thai writing. This isn’t really my sort of thing; one night in Bangkok is enough for me.

This decent sized Fuller's pub on the busy Hammersmith Road, was built in the late 1980's on the site of a former pub called the Red Cow. The pub is a pretty pleasant, slightly upmarket affair with a few interesting features to make it stand out from the crowd. You enter into a bare boarded room with large windows to the front and left and a pewter(?) topped bar counter running down the right hand side of the room. The servery has a tongue and groove bar back with a massive centrepiece mirror, although this pales in significance when compared to the amazing circular mirror on the ceiling which was apparently rescued from a former cinema. A fair bit of standard seating can be found to the front and left sides of the room, whilst copper topped high tables face the bar and banquettes run around the rear corners. Some nice decorative lamps around the bar counter provide some pleasing visual distraction and the walls have been decorated with various mirrors and old photos. A couple of TV screens were showing muted Sky Sports News and music played quietly throughout my visit. To the rear there is a second room accessed through what looks to be a revolving door that has since lost the revolving part, leaving a circular vestibule behind. This room serves as the pub's restaurant, offering a Thai food menu, formal tables and chairs plus a single banquette down one wall, serving counter to rear and lots of Oriental art on the walls. The full Fullers range was hardly being showcased here, with just London Pride (triple clipped) and ESB (double clipped) across the five handpulls. My pint of Pride (£3.80) was in pretty decent shape to be fair and the extremely large post-work, Friday evening crowd generated a lively atmosphere, but made it really hard going to move around the room. I got the impression that this is a pretty well run pub that serves the local community well and provides a good option for decent food and drink to those passing by. It is by no means going to excite on the beer front alone, but it's the sort of dependable pub that you're unlikely to complain about should you find yourself drinking there.

Official site of Latymers - www.latymershammersmith.co.uk

Official site of Latymers - www.latymershammersmith.co.uk

The Original pub on this site used to be called the Red Cow which consisted of two cottages. It served as a coaching Inn and was built in the 1650s. It was knocked down in 1897 and replaced by a three storey pub. The pub in this guise became a well-known music venue that hosted the likes of AC/DC, Stranglers, Tom Robinson, the Police and so on. In the late seventies this pub became a seedy strip joint and featured in many episodes of the Sweeney as the crew were based across the way in Colet Court. It was demolished in the late seventies/early eighties and the building that Latymers now resides in was built. In the early nineties I used to work up the road from Latymers and until Friday afternoon last week I hadn’t visited this pub for over fifteen years. I’m happy to report that it is exactly as I remember it with a large bar area at the front and a partitioned off Thai restaurant at the rear. My work colleagues and I used to eat lunch here every Friday without fail and my claim to fame is that over the years I had every meal off the extensive menu. I didn’t eat on my recent visit, but the food looked and smelt just as good as it was then. It was also as busy as I remember and the restaurant area at the back was completely full. The kitchen is open from midday until 15:00 and 17:30 until 22:00 during the week, from midday until 22:00 on Saturdays and from midday until 21:00 on Sundays. The front bar area consists of a bar along the right hand wall and various types of wooden furniture. There are a couple of plasma screens and one of these was showing muted Sky Sports News so live football must be shown. On the ceiling is a huge round mirror that I vaguely remember from back in the day. This is a Fullers house so the five hand pumps were drawing London Pride (x3), ESB and Summer Ale. The usual draught suspects are also available alongside Peroni. Out the front are a few tables and down the left hand side of the pub are some café tables under a couple of awnings. There is a late license until 23:30 on Fridays and midnight on Saturdays. I think that this is a great pub and the barman was extremely polite and friendly. I can’t remember the last time a member of bar staff actually asked me how my day was going… Good man! The ale selection will put some people off visiting this pub, but I thought that the boring brown Pride was top draw and I would heartily recommend this pub to anyone.