North Star, Ealing Broadway, W5

This is a mid-19th century pub which I suspect was rebuilt, located right on the Broadway/Mall junction’s entertainment hub, orientated towards attracting the town centre’s youth, a place not for the faint-hearted on a Friday night. Essentially this is a three-roomed pub knocked into one and completely modernised with not a trace of the original remaining. It’s dark inside – apart from the disco lighting – with a white or grey colour scheme and modern furniture. What you can’t fail to notice is the large array of autographed photos, dedicated to the pub, of actors from Sci-Fi/space fantasy films: Picard, Kirk, Skywalker, Superman, Doctor Who (Matt Smith)…are these real or spoof autographs? There was a Doom clip then one clip reversed, me going for the emergency thirst aid treatment of Neck Oil, £3.55 a half served by a friendly barmaid. This isn’t the sort of place for me, but I knew that prior to visiting. It does get a point or two extra for having a cask option – someone’s got to drink it – the live music offering something different.

A basic opened out three area pub with a mix of normal and high seating options.Various signed and framed photos of sports stars and actors adourn one wall. Four handpumps with two cask beers available, Doom Bar and Titanic Plum Porter, not a fan of the latter but less so of the former, so the purple stuff it was. Cant say I was overly impressed.

Just down the road from Ealing Broadway station, this is a multiple-roomed pub with a bit of a ripped-out interior. Despite this, the p-lace still retains something of a three room feel to it, thanks to the retention of some sections of partitioning wall here and there. All three spaces have nice dark wood floorboards, scruffy wall panelling and a mix of exposed brick walls or sections painted in dark shades. The front room has a small raised space to the left of the entrance, presumably used for live music judging by the large board next to the bar listing various upcoming acts due to play in the pub. High button backed banquettes to the right of the door and a mixture of chair and high stool seating elsewhere provide the main seating options and the centre of the room has been left relatively bare, allowing for plenty of standing room, should it be required. The walls have been decorated with some stylised stars and a W7 photo montage which hangs above an old fireplace set into the partitioning wall. The servery is in the middle room, where it runs down the right-hand wall. The bar has a panelled counter painted in a fashionable colour scheme plus a bare brick and mirrored bar back. There are more tables and chairs along the opposite wall, plus an upturned barrel and some long, high tables, all served by bar stools, through the centre. A lot of interesting celebrity photographs, many of which are signed, can be found around this room, presumably from those who popped into the pub after filming at the nearby studios. There’s another fireplace in the rear wall, which screens the final part of the pub, which is mostly filled with padded banquettes. Some nice framed retro advertisements fill the wall space and windows look out to a modest beer garden area which sees picnic benches, potted plants and a covering made from a canvas tube that looks like something from a greenhouse, all cramped into a strip down the left side of the building. There was a reggae soundtrack playing through much of my stay and I noticed quite a few people were eating from a menu that seemed a little on the pricey side to me. There were four handpulls in operation on the bar, dispensing Sharps Doom Bar, Brew York Turtle Peach, St Austell Proper Job and Oakham Dragon in Bavaria, whilst a reasonable keg selection provides a few interesting alternatives. The Oakham was in good nick and my only real gripe was the slow service, although it did seem I might have walked in at a bad time, as queues at the bar were minimal for the rest of my visit. I like the fact that, despite having been knocked through and therefore undoubtedly having lost much of its character, this place still feels a bit like an old multiple roomed pub with comfy seating areas and a few well-kept beers. I’m not sure that this is my favourite pub in Ealing, but its proximity to the station means repeat visits are almost certainly on the cards.

Its worth going to this pub just for the beer selection.Good selection of keg beers and a couple of cask beers.Service is a bit slow as its usually busy with people paying by credit card slowing thinks down. Have these young,uns not heard of cash.Scuffy sort of pub really and am not sure if i would want this as a local.