The Princess Royal, Brentford

Another of the four street corner pubs surrounding Brentford FC, The Princess Royal is a largish long single room with something of a social club feel and atmosphere to it. Outside, a blackboard tells us that the pub offers a “different real ale each week – this week, London Pride”, which I presume is an attempt at humour given that it’s badged as a Fullers pub. The tiled exterior has 2 entrances, reflecting the fact that it was probably a two bar pub in earlier days. There’s several unusual looking etched windows depicting fishes and country scenes. On the roof of the pub, a large board shows forthcoming Brentford fixtures and I gather that Brentford have a financial stake in the pub. It’s a reasonably comfortable, carpeted, if rather featureless and spartan room. At one end is a snooker table. The walls here are decorated with a number of photos and framed football shirts of Brentford F C, although, somewhat oddly, right in the middle of these is a photograph featuring the former QPR player, Stan Bowles. At the other end of the room, on a slightly raised area, are a couple of sofas by the window. Here there’s a number of old photos of Brentford, including one showing the former Royal Brewery in the 1920’s, close to what is now the Watermans Centre. In the middle of the room is the wooden bar counter, retaining its gantry and some glazed leaded glass. What was really noticeable about my recent Sunday lunchtime visit was the customer mix – ranging from silver haired grannies enjoying the cheap OAP Sunday roast lunches to dodgy looking geezers in Chelsea shirts and a couple of Vicky Pollard types with babes in arms. Notably, all seemed to be co-existing side by side in what is clearly a community focused local. The only real ale on was London Pride - £ 3.10p ( noticeably cheaper than at The Griffin ) – and it tasted pretty good. There’s only 2 handpumps, so don’t expect a lot of choice. I didn’t really find much to dislike about this pub, but it’s not one of Brentford’s better pubs and there’s better alternatives close by.

I got a bit of a social club feel from the Princess Royal this lunchtime. There is a stage at the front of the pub with the bar in the middle and a seating area at the back. The staff were friendly and the only other people in were 2 old boys who seemed very happy chatting away about how hard life is. I paid £3 for a pint of lager and the only sign of any ale I could see was 2 pride pumps on the bar. This isn’t the worst pub in the area, but there are better.