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Submitted on Sunday, 20^th October 2024
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The Steam Packet, Kew Bridge, W4

Pub added by Just a quick pint, then I'm off

85 Strand On The Green
W4
W4 3PH

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Served areas

Kew Bridge

Reviews of The Steam Packet (Average Rating: 5½ of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Old Boots left this review about The Steam Packet

A square elegant room with, I thought, nicely tiled walls and pillars, stylish ceiling roses and neat deco lighting. There’s a second room beyond the main bar. The main room is furnished in a mix of high tables with stools, banquette seating and lower level tables and chairs. Very much a dining pub although I wasn’t the only non-diner. Behind the bar is a large array of wines and spirits on a very impressive shelving system. Three pulls with London Pride, Fullers offices are next door, a beer marked as a Best Bitter and something from a Sussex brewer called Hepworth & Co which was on the turn, and at £6.50 a pint that’s taking the p155.

On 20^th October 2024 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 3599 recommendations about 3279 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Tris C left this review about The Steam Packet

This pub dates from the mid-19th century but spent many years from the 1980s until recently as part of the Dôme/Café Rouge chain, the original name reinstated in 2019, taken from mail ships (delivering packets), powered – unsurprisingly – by steam.
It’s well described below, with a very blue colour scheme and an abundance of rather vulgar near lapis lazuli tilework, which would probably have given even Tutankhamun a headache. The floor is dark bare boarded, traditional furniture some tall, framed prints so beloved of Chiswick pubs and white opaque hanging lanterns. Customers were few in number, a more traditional local bunch being quite earthy and at variance with the locals in the other riverside pubs.
A cask selection amounted to Pride, Brunning & Price Traditional Bitter, then Ghost Ship at an utterly jaw dropping £3.30 a half and fine.
This is the least desirable of this riverside’s quartet, but the considerably higher-than-central-London pricing hits the score even further; I certainly wouldn’t have stayed to pay these prices and consider this: the legendary Express Tavern is about 150 yards to the north-west of here, where there are 10 pumps, a half of Titanic Plum Porter costing £2.50.

On 21^st May 2023 - rating: 3
[User has posted 2207 recommendations about 2164 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Pub SignMan left this review about The Steam Packet

Just down the road from Kew Bridge station, this is a smart Brunning & Price pub with a prime riverside location, albeit, the pub is on the opposite side of the road to the river. You enter into a smart ground floor room with a good mix of seating throughout the roughly square space. The room is bare boarded and has a mix of painted and tiled walls with some etched glass panes in an attractive corner door. Most of the seating looked comfy, including plush banquettes along the back wall, with a few functional tables and chairs here and there as well. The servery is along the left-hand wall and has a traditional counter and bar back, with an unusual brass handrail along the counter, with naked ladies in the style of ship’s mastheads along its length. To the rear is a wood panelled room with booth-like seating, set up more for diners than drinkers, and stairs lead up to a first floor dining room, which has access to a colonial style balcony with great river views. The pub was packed when I visited ahead of a match at the nearby Brentford Community Stadium, so I took my pint across the road, where a number of customers were enjoying drinks leant against the riverbank wall. There’s also a small pavement-side decked area out the front of the pub, but the riverbank wall means the view of the river is obscured from here.
Upon entering the pub, I was faced with a long queue, snaking almost to the far corner of the room, and with no space to push through to the bar, I reluctantly had to join it. However, as I neared the front of the queue, some bloke barged past and started having a go at me for queuing, pointing out that we’re supposed to queue along the length of the bar. I’m not sure if he worked here or not, but he got a mouthful from me, as I’m not taking the blame for this stupid queuing phenomenon that seems to be common in pubs post-lockdown. Anyway, I eventually reached the bar and found three cask ales on the go - Brunning & Price Bitter, Fullers London Pride and Adnams Mosaic (£5.40). I’m not a huge fan of the latter, but gave it a go anyway and was surprised with how much I enjoyed it.
This is a lot smaller than other Brunning and Price pubs I’ve been to, which made it feel cramped and chaotic when visited at a peak time. It seems quite nicely madeover and had plenty of spots that looked like they’d be nice to settle down in, but I preferred the more drink-led Bell and Crown just down the road and would probably head there for pre-match pints next time.

On 6^th November 2022 - rating: 6
[User has posted 3350 recommendations about 3350 pubs]

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