Going west, part one

The most westerly London pubs in the Good Beer Guide: visited!

I live in south London, which if a popular football chant is to be believed, is wonderful. I certainly think so. It does, however, make my aim of visiting every Greater London pub in the 2026 Good Beer Guide slightly complicated.

There’s 293 pubs to get stuck into, and while I’ve pretty much done everything in the middle and the south, the west of London remains very much unvisited. I have no reason to go there, apart from this, so it was time to remedy that and see away some of the furthest fringes.

My Dad (we’ll call him Alan, because that’s his name) offered to use some of his retirement to provide taxi service for some pubs I’d otherwise be unable to hit up without a lot of silly bother. So on a rainy winter afternoon, we made our way to the far reaches of Hayes and Harlington, and first on the agenda was the most westerly pub in the 2026 guide - The White Hart, Harlington (195/293).

It’s a Fullers pub, barn-esque, brick and old wood everywhere. It was lunchtime and busier than I was expecting - more than a few family meals, a mess of builders, I believe a party broke out at one point - and had a nice atmosphere.

I had a half of Pride and it wasn’t very nice. Despite this beer being the absolute apogee of my cask drinking career - the pint of Pride I had at The Dove in Hammersmith remains the best thing I’ve ever drunk - it can sometimes be a bit rough, even in Fullers pubs where you think they’d know better.

Grade II listed, is this place - you wouldn’t guess from the huge amounts of brick inside, I think it’s been altered substantially over the years. I wouldn’t dwell too long here but it’s serving a purpose and somewhere has to be the most westerly tick. May as well be here.

Things were only going to get more easterly from here, and that has to be seen as progress.

Next we bravely headed to The Plough Inn, Norwood Green (196/293). Well, I did at any rate. Al stayed in the car. There’s only so many Peroni 0’s a man can drink.

It felt a world away from Harlington - we passed the titular green on the way and instantly you got a village-y sense of the place.

Lads, this place was absolutely low beam o’clock. Did I hit my head more than once during the brief time I was in the pub? It’s not for me to say.

I liked that they had a fire going, and that there was a niche filled with records and a record player. I did not like hitting my head.

Next on the agenda was The Red Lion in Isleworth, which I had a weird sixth sense about as we approached that something wasn’t right.

And so it proved to be.

Shut pub alert! A shame - it’s in the backstreets of Isleworth with not much else around, which was why I’d included it on the day’s plan. Alas, you don’t always get what you want when you’re daytime pub ticking, and so it proved to be here.

I particularly enjoyed Alan trying to see if any other houses on the street were suffering from this so-called power cut, though what he was suggesting I do with that information I’m still not sure.

The fourth pub, and third tick of the day, was at the first of two Spoons on the plan. Good luck everybody, we’re going to The Moon Under Water, Hounslow (197/293).

This is a proper, old school Spoons. I believe it is also in the top ten least pleasant pubs I’ve ever been in.

A very tired and very busy interior. Quite mucky. A lot of people and a lot of mess. The ale, such as it was, was fine, but the energy was aggy and I didn’t care for the place at all. This isn’t a general sneer at all Wetherspoons - I think some of them are fantastic, and the fact that they’re accessible to so many levels of society is a good thing. This one just didn’t feel great.

Toilets easy to access, carpet mediocre and grubby. Would not recommend.

Still, a tick is a tick. Three down in the west and three more to go when we come back for part two.