The Owl & The Pussycat, W13

Set in a converted bookshop, hence the Edward Lear inspired name, this is a simple micropub with its own in-house brewery. The pub side of the operation is much as you'd expect from a suburban micropub, with a compact, bare boarded room sporting large shop-style windows to the front and a tiny servery in the rear right corner. Walls have been painted blue and white, although seemingly not in honour of local team Queens Park Rangers, as the pub instead appeared to be the haunt of Harlequins rugby fans returning from a Saturday fixture. Despite the compact space, they've managed to squeeze in three rows of tables and chairs with some armchairs to the rear right, in front of the bar. The servery has a basic counter and rather ugly, plastic flap bar back which screens the kegs and casks in a presumably temperature controlled manner, whilst tonnes of CAMRA certificates have been displayed above and all the keg taps are mounted to one side. Shelving units to the left, seemingly retained from the old bookstore, are lined with books including plenty of old Good Beer Guides and a few board games. There's a great 'Owl and Pussycat' boat painting to one side, which feels like a real iconic feature of the pub. The single, unisex toilet is reached via the knockabout looking brewing room out the back. There were four home brewed beers on cask - Hamber Inn, Porter, W13 and Blondie - plus five more on keg and an impressive seven cider options. The barman explained that their Brentford brewing operation was fully shut down last year and all their beer is now brewed on site out in the back room. I gave the Porter a try and thought it was in great shape, as it should be having travelled all of 10 metres to the bar, whilst the barman was a very amiable chap who seemed happy to chat beer and pubs with all comers and made me feel very welcome here. This is a pretty good micropub with a lot to recommend, whether that be the high quality home brewed ale, the well put together pub environment or the super-friendly service. There's a very good mini-crawl to be had throug the backstreets between Ealing and Hanwell and this might well be the best if the bunch, making it a must-do if you're in this part of town.

West london,s first and therefore best micropub.One room shop conversion with bar and micro brewery at the rear.Bland interior with mismatched tables and chairs.Only beers from the in house Marko Paulo brewery but they were very good.Friendly chatty owners gave me a warm welcome so hope this succeeds.The hand basin in the toilet is quirky and a great use of space.Check it out.Limited opening hours as is the micropub norm.

Official site of Owl & Pussycat - www.markopaulo.co.uk

Official site of Owl & Pussycat - www.markopaulo.co.uk