Fuss over Princess Victoria

10 April 2012

There's been enough hoo-haa about the new-look Princess Victoria in the 'papers recently that it almost seemed as if this were the first gastropub to open in West London. However, the imposing nature of the property makes some of the fuss understandable. Stranded up in the three-digit realm of the Uxbridge Road, the pub's juxtaposition to the surrounding council blocks means you can't fail to be impressed by it's grandeur. Although once a splendid gin palace, it's actually been a fairly rough Irish pub for as long as memory serves. Of course, what's rarely acknowledged is that this helped the Princess Victoria retain at least some original features. The punters didn't care about the decor, so no-one bothered to rip out the old bar or strip the Victorian mouldings: a salutary lesson to anyone thinking of butchering interesting fittings in the name of progress.

Happily, the canny new owners let the building speak for itself; there's an imposing circular bar, leather bench seating, a nice parquet floor, wood panelling and some lovely skylights, in both the bar and restaurant. Speaking of which, the dining room was considerably more busy than the drinking bit during our Monday visit, but we resisted the interesting bar menu (Butchers brawn terrine - £7.50) and stuck to the well kept ales. There's also an unnecessarily long wine list which would keep any budding vintner happy for months. Overall, it stills feel like a pub here and we thoroughly enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, so have awarded an appropriately handsome four pint rating.

CLIENTELE: locals
NEAREST STATION: Goldhawk Road station
FEATURES: four real ales, outdoor seating, separate restaurant

The Princess Victoria
217 Uxbridge Road, W12 9DH

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in