The Express Tavern, Brentford

I managed to get up early enough to get to this pub before it closed for the afternoon. And it was worth the effort. When I was in the other day they had the regular ales of Bass and Young’s Bitter on, plus Brain’s SA. I had the Brain’s which was on excellent form, and at a relatively wallet friendly price of £2.85 a pint. This is a clean, comfortable pub that has probably not changed much in the past 50 years. It’s rightly on the CAMRA inventory of historic pub interiors, because of the numerous original features still in place. I’m not going to describe them in detail – go and have a look for yourself. The menu features some pretty standard pub grub at pretty standard prices (e.g steak & ale pie at £6.95). I didn’t eat there so can’t comment on the quality. There are only normal tables and chairs in evidence I’m glad to say. The walls are adorned with all manner of artefacts – duelling pistols, hunting horns, bison’s horns(!), various prints as well what looks like an original Royal Warrant for something or other. The service was friendly enough and they even had London Drinker available (a very good sign in my book). This is an excellent pub that is definitely worth seeking out (it’s not hard to find!) if you’re ever in this neck of the woods.