Picture of Goldsmiths Arms, W3 7ER

Historical version 4 of Goldsmiths Arms, W3 7ER (view current version)

Locals' pub in East Acton, part of the John Barras chain (Spirit Group).

Kake visited early on a Thursday evening in February 2009. Although the bar has three handpumps, only one was on, offering London Pride at £2.82/pint. The Pride was served quite warm and came out of the pump quite frothy, but didn't appear to actually be off.

The pub is quite large inside, with plenty of space for both standing and sitting. There seemed to be some kind of lively party, possibly a wedding reception or something, going on in the main area, so I retreated to the raised seating area by the side windows, which had a (fake) open fire and a flatscreen showing cricket with the sound off. Music was playing (Frank Sinatra etc) but not annoyingly loudly.

The interweb says there's also a large garden, but I didn't explore that far on my visit. I did see a quaint little smoking shelter thing, though, with a clear roof and shelves around the sides to put your drink on (no seating). A sign advertised a cash prize quiz every Monday at 8pm.

Food is served all day, and is pretty standard pub food at reasonably low prices; a banner outside proclaimed an offer of two meals for £8 all day every day. I had the mixed starter combo for one (£4). This turned out to be identical to the one I had a couple of months ago at the Southern Cross in Watford — exactly the same components, and obviously from the same supplier — though a little less competently cooked; the potato wedges were a little undercooked, the garlic bread was slightly burnt, and the chicken wings were rather overcooked. Certainly a decent quantity of food for the price, though.

Kake's verdict: I wouldn't come here on purpose, but I'd pop in if I was passing and needed a sit-down.

Accessibility: Level access to get in, to get to the bar, and to some of the seating; but I didn't check the toilets.

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Last visited by Kake, 5 February 2009.
OS X co-ord: 521095 OS Y co-ord: 180693 (Latitude: 51.511688 Longitude: -0.254761)
This is version 4 (as of 2013-05-10 07:15:49). View current version. List all versions.