North Star, Ealing Broadway, W5

Pretty decent pub with a good selection of beers. Go to the bar furthest from the front door and service is ok. The bar in the front is rarely staffed.

Official site of the North Star, contains menus - www.thenorthstarealing.co.uk

Quite an interesting facade, looking rather out of place in the otherwise anonymous jumble of architectural blandness that is the Broadway. Inside, it has been heavily refurbished with too much black paint giving a gloomy appearance despite the large front windows. The bar is divided into two parts, with the disadvantage being that the staff always seem to be at the other end when you want to get served. Outside, the 'beer garden' is little more than an alley with a few tables. There are five handpumps, offering a reasonable (if unexciting) selection of four real ales (e.g. Tribute, Marston's Burton Bitter) plus a draught cider. Not too bad, but you feel it could be rather better than it is.

Official site of the North Star, contains menus - www.thenorthstarealing.co.uk

The service in here is very slow and I had bar staff peering straight through me so as not to have to serve. It's the sort of treatment that you'd expect to be given to a drunk to try and hint that he's not being served without actually telling him, I hadn't had a drink for 2 days. Disregarding the service this is actually a very pleasant pub with a wide selection of drinks, although there were a lot of hand pumps only two were on. I ended up having a pint of 6X which I didn't really like, but I'd not had it before so it may have been my taste buds disagreeing with it rather than inferior care. If I was in the area I'd pop in and give the service another chance, but if it was the same I would find elsewhere to drink.