please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
We were looking for a pub in West London which wasn't a Green King or Fullers. We spotted this one in The Good Beer Guide and thought we'd give it a go. We weren't disappointed. It's a lovely old building with an onsite brewery. There's lots of nooks and crannies to hideaway in. The guys running it were really friendly and knowledgeable. The beers were full of character and fresh. The music was good too. It's a new venture so I hope that it takes off. So thanks guys for a very pleasant afternoon. See again soon.
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Easily the best pub in Acton. Fantastic beer, friendly staff and an open fire.
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Two of theirs on yesterday which I didn't find that exciting but we were told that two others came from the same brewer under the Clouded Minds Brewery of Warwickshire name. The Golden was really good . Superb coal fire in the middle of the pub gives this pub a wonderful atmosphere.
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Really interesting pub with an enormous brewery in the back room. Only one of their own brews on handpull but 3 others from other breweries along with trad ciders. I'd like to see more of their own on real but another great place to visit in Acton.
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A historic pub with a shiny new 9 barrel brewery in the back room. The ales were on top form, real cider on hand pump. Also a good range of craft beers for those who like bubbles. There is a list of the landlords going back 250 years in the front bar. The night I visited there was a band on if you sat in the wood panelled middle bar you could hear the music without needing ear defenders. A great place for a pint, you even have to cross the courtyard (now roofed over) to get to the gents what could be more traditional than that?
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Since I last visited almost 5 years ago, the George & Dragon has become a brewpub and home to the Dragonfly brewery. We were more impressed with this place than the Aeronaut down the road. The bar has been moved to a room at the back, where the brewery is housed. The front room is still a dull place, but far quieter than the bar itself. Ales were Dragonfly Early Doors & 2 O'clock Ordinary. Ciders were Millwhites Strawberry Cider & Hedge Layer. In addition, there is a good craft beer selection on keg. A small outdoor area to the side appeared to be popular. A good addition to Acton.
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When I was there it was winter, but the pub was rather warm.
The nice lighting made it very cosy, and the beers were good too. We thought it was about the best in the area.
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Freehouse, it says but they must have taken the Fuller's shilling as their beers predominate (including guests as seen in Fuller's own houses). Not a bad thing in itself though. My Pride was good. Friendly service in an interesting old pub. One of the best in the area.
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For a free house, the choice of ales is poor as, I'm afraid is the quality. Went through the card on a recent visit but sadly all the beers were well below par
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I live just up the road from the George so pop in now and again after a stressful day in the city. Could do with more ales but what they have is usually ok. Certainly better than other establishments around here.
tomas - 18 Feb 2012 17:07 |
Visited this pub when staying with friends, found the staff really friendly, with a good number of locals drinking in there. Didn't eat, but the menu looked tasty. As others have noted, it is quite a cold pub they could maybe get the fires going a bit earlier in the day, but it is a very old historic (listed?) pub so there might be limits to how toasty they can make the pub.
Free wifi works really well - and there are a few power points about to charge up your tech toys - always a plus!
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I take it back - I checked the Fullers website - the George is not a Fullers pub. Apologies.
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Cold inside even with a fire burning. No real atmosphere or vibe.
Thankfully its a Fuller's pub so the beer is good. They turned the lights out (not classy at all) at 11:30pm to 'push' people out. The new management seem to have lost the plot a little.
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Heard they have a new chef in the kitchen so went to try it out. To start I had the chicken livers on granary toast which were spot on and to follow I had the chicken wrapped in smoked bacon with mash and kale which was equally good. I found the menu well balanced and look forward to trying more and I have heard they serve a good roast on a sunday. They could however have done with the fires burning on such a cold day.
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Old wood panelled Fullers pub on Acton High Street. Three beers were on during my visit - Chiswick, London Pride and Gale's HSB. Aspalls is the cider. The dark bar area gives way to a more spacious and elaborate room at the rear with leather sofas. The bar area contains various portraits. Music was playing. Although on arrival, there was only one other customer, who was asleep! The pub dog was extremely friendly. A pub with plenty of character, but a little lacking in atmosphere. It was still the best I tried in the Acton area, and I would return to give it another go.
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Excelent pub, great atmosphere, good beer & food and wonderful staff
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The George and Dragon - situated slap bang in the centre of Acton - brands itself as a Pub and Kitchen and is run by the Remarkable Restaurants Group. On my recent early Sunday evening visit, it felt however, first and foremost, to be a fine traditional pub.
The front bar area has a very traditional feel with low ceilings, wood pannelling and a fine old fire place giving it the feel of an old unspoilt City square mile watering hole. Behind the bar, note the list of former landlords of the pub dating back as far as 1759.
A further cosy drinking area at the side leads to a much larger and brighter back bar which is dominated by 2 splendid huge Art Nouveau statues bearing lights. This part of the pub appears to act principally as the dining area. At the side of this room is a smallish courtyard for outdoor drinking.
Food seems rather ambitiously priced for a not particularly nice area of West London. Mains were generally priced between � 9 and � 11 - presumably a conscious decision to discourage the hoi polloi.
Real ales on were Chiswick and London Pride at � 3 and � 3.20p respectively. The Chiswick was in reasonable form.
I like characterful pubs with a bit of an olde worlde feel like this and I'll try and get here again sometime soon
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is this pub open for lunch on Mondays?
Will report back later if it was!
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Hi,
The previous Shebeen was iconic! Al was young for a landlord and played bass & was also a stunt rider. They made it work. Local authority pushed him out with concocted and dubious reasons! A GREAT LOSS. A London asset as a pub ROCK venue without parallel. Great bands, especially for rock covers. I loved Vice, Dragon Electric Experience, fuZed. etc. Now, just another pub - MORE gastro and NO live music - typical.
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The best pub in Acton by far (ok, that might not be saying much!). Excellent beers - especially the HSB - and seems to avoid the lunatic clientele that its local competitors attract. There's a great quiz on a Monday night too, with revised prizes of �40 and �20 bar tabs to the top two teams, plus cash prizes between rounds. Recommended.
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The attitude of the barmaid that I was served by was far from satisfactory, but I still think that this is a decent pub and the �dining room� at the back is well worth a look.
The Pride was off during my visit, but the HSB and Chiswick were well delivered. I didn�t spot any TVs which wasn�t surprising as this is a sit down and drink whilst talking to your mates pub.
It is a little dark for my liking, but I would return if passing.
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An amazing pub lurks behind this fairly ordinary exterior. The back bar is cavernous with huge black statues holding lights. Had a great pint of HSB and played Scrabble by the fire on a cold March day. The welcome could've been warmer as it costs nothing to smile. But where else are you likely to find Hungarian Dancing in Acton on a Sunday night?
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Good pub - the listing is out of the date as there is no live music anymore (long live the shebeen!). However, food is good, especially the sharing plates. Good selection of beer and, a rarity for acton, a low nutter count amongst the clientele. Excellent pub quiz on monday night. If only there were more pubs like this in the area.
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Dear all,
The pub is under new management (since miaW5's post). The new landlord is very friendly and has revamped the menu and prices have gone down.
This pub is an absolute gem, a rarity in London where spoons and generic bars are taking over. The pub has a very traditional feel (it dates back a long time, with a long list of landlords behind the bar!). There is an interesting selection of beers, these include a variety of european lagers and wheat beers including paulaner, litovel, hoegarden; and local ales including discovery, london pride and honey dew). Guinness and cider is also available. I have not eaten at the pub (since the new management and chef), but am assured by friends that the food is as good as ever. Staff are very friendly, including the landlord who enjoys a chat with the punters.
As for the atmosphere, there is something for everyone. The front bar offers a very traditional feel with dark woods, little coves to hide in, candlelight at night and an open fire in the winter (where else in acton/ealing can you find this!?). The pub has a variety of boardgames available (you can just pick them up, they are not behind the bar) including scrabble, connect 4, monopoly etc. The back bar is more open (very high ceiling), with a large painted mural on the wall and large fireplaces and statues. There is also a pleasant yard area when it is warm and for the smokers.
Finally, a few extras, the pub quiz on a Monday is top class, with good prizes (�60 first, �30 second and bar tabs for special rounds). The duke box has an 'interesting' selection including Bob Dylan, Arcade Fire, Miles Davies).
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I think that this has changed hands again in the last couple of months, and in my view it's gone slightly downhill. The menu is now a lot closer to average pub grub than it was when I reviewed it in February - I had a particularly average burger recently. Service has also gone downhill slightly. Still a nice pub, but definitely less good than it was.
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My boyfriend used to frequent this pub regularly - at least once a week for food and drinks. We LOVED it - it was cosy, friendly staff, and very homely - just the type of place Acton needs.
However, around October 2007, the pub was taken over by new landlords - the first thing they did was hike up the prices of food and introduce a menu featuring no chicken and main courses averaging between �11-18 - a bit much for the local pub if you ask me! Before, the food was wonderful - with an average price of �8-10 for a main (still a lot for the area) but well worth it. Needless to say, we stopped going there.
I recently returned to the George for a late Sunday lunch and was prepared to give the place a second chance. However, it wasn't good. The menu was �11.50 for a main course - by the time we arrived, there were only two dishes out of four left, and the only menu available was for Sunday roast (the normal menu I was told did not operate on Sundays) - a bit limited for choice. Two courses was �16 and three �21! Quite steep considering you can eat in a good west end restaurant for less.
The food was pretty good - although my beef was cold in the middle. Lovely selection of veg though and a good sized portions. The apple crumble was nothing special and I thought that fruit salad was a bit of a bland menu choice for a pub trying to emulate a high end eatery.
The staff were accomodating and waited until the rest of our party arrived - however, I did notice that both waitresses who served us stank of fags quite strongly.
The most bizarre thing I found about our trip there was the fact that the kitchen closed at 6pm - on a Sunday. Very strange I thought.
miaW5 - 14 Apr 2008 22:42 |
I've eaten here a few times, it's not your average pub food though, it's more of a gastro pub but with excellent food. Last night I ate at the Gordon Ramsey bistro pub in chiswick (the Devonshire) and the food there wasn't as good as the food I've had in the George and Dragon. The portions are good and well presented. The dining area at the back is beautiful as this pub was recently renovated with money from the English Heritage foundation.
I'd recommend this pub to anyone from Ealing/Acton that wants a top rated dining experience. Don't be put off that the pub is in Acton since this really is one excellent place to eat. It's best to book though since I turned up very hungry once and couldn't even get a bowl of chips since they were so busy.
Also they have Pixies and Arcade fire on the duke box! :D
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Reading e.g. voddy_voddy's review, there's clearly no pleasing some people. I was very impressed with this pub on my recent visit and wish there were pubs like it in my neck of the woods. A very characterful interior befitting a place which has obviously been open in some shape or form since the 1750s. The back room, with Rousseau-style artwork covering an entire wall, is well worth seeing. Drinks-wise, it had the full Fullers range on the hand-pumps (but unless I'm mistaken isn't a Fuller's pub); the Discovery was very drinkable. I thought the food was really pretty good - a good mixture of meals and sharing plates and my calves' liver and bacon was very nice. The only cavils I would make are the poor acoustics in the back room making the Monday night quiz rather difficult to follow, and the somewhat surly service from the barmaid in the back room. But other than that, top notch - residents of W3 are lucky to have a place like this nearby.
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There aren't many pubs around these days blessed with an infrastructure like this, and even fewer that haven't then gone and kitted such a brilliant space out in pale paint and Ikea furniture. Yet this isn't merely some old man's boozer; there's room enough for all. The space out back offers respite from the wooden panelling should one need, and offers top notch sound and vision by way of a quality duke box and a rather eccentric mural.
Good for: Right now - get yourself down there before the clocks go back and the weather warms up - 8/10.
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I went to the G&D last Sunday and was soooooo disappointed. The staff were unfriendly and seemed put out if you asked them to do anything. The food was disgusting. Clearly reheated rubbish. You couldn't even cut the potatoes they were so hard.
The pub itself is nice so if you fancied a pint whilst doing your shopping I would say this could be a place to go but if you are thinking of eating just don't even consider it. Yuck yuck yuck!
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Was looking for somewhere to kill an hour or two on Saturday afternoon and couldn't face the rugby crowd in the Puzzle so bimbled in here. A good move. Well kept beers and lagers and although I didn't eat, the food looked and smelled fantastic. If your normal tipple is cooking lager (Fosters/Carling etc) you're probably best off trying the Litvoel Classic. Don't start in on the premium like I did if you're planning a session - it's strong old gear! Friendly staff and a relaxed atmosphere. Deffo be back.
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Is this the bar that had all the great bands down the back on sunday evenings ? If so does it still happen ?
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great pub, great beer, great staff, lovely place and great if your local
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The pub has had a great refurb. The back bar is large and airy plus it's non-smoking. Nice selection of beers and overall nicely kitted out. Haven't tried the food yet but this is probably the best High Street pub in W3.
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A wonderful pub, my new favourite. I've enjoyed every outing there. Ando now that they have a speed dating night on tuesdays I'm thrilled! I just wish they'd buy some wood for the fire.
paley - 19 Nov 2006 23:38 |
Yep - now open again. Great pub and theres not a lot of them in Acton. Brilliant beer and food
anonymous - 31 Oct 2006 20:26 |
Well, after a year of living in Acton, I've finally found a second decent pub to drink in. Never had a chance to go in before the re-furb, but since it reopened, this place is great!!
Reasonably priced beers, excellent food (a top notch sunday roast is highly recommended), friendly staff, great service and a good selection on the jukebox. All in all, the St George & the Dragon is becoming one of my favourite places for a tipple, and the atmosphere is really good. Looking forward to the forthcoming quiz and cocktail nights.
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Ealing Council should hang their heads in shame. For all their hyperbole about building communities, they allowed new residents of executive flats to shut down a real centrepiece of the community.
The guy who owned the G&D was a real gent - he'd let members of the emergency services into the club for free, always looked after his customers in the front bar, and as a result you had a pub with a really peaceful pub atmosphere. Any trouble and the regulars would let you know that it was time to go.
I hope the new version maintains that sense of community, and hosts a massive fireworks party for Acton residents to annoy the whining residents of whatever that miserable development is called.
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Can this pub now be marked as "open" again as it has been for some months? They do a very unusual range of beers and lagers and a good selection of wines. Staff are friendly and the food is a cut above the usual pub grub. A welcome return to the Acton pub scene, and a very different take on what constitutes a pub to the local competition.
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Just reopened after an superb refurbishing job...loads of character in the traditional bar area as well as a large comfortable back room for non-smokers and diners. Great selection of ales and lagers (perhaps a little too pricey though - this is Acton after all). Nearly the perfect pub, and without doubt the best (and at the same time the least pretentious) pub in Acton. I hope it does well..it's my new local.
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As promised, here is the latest news regarding the re-opening of this pub...
According to local sources, the pub is due to reopen on July 27th this year!
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I'm not sure what's happened regarding this pub, but according to reports on a local residents forum, nothing seems to have been done regarding the refurbishment of this pub for a while... I'll let you know if anything more happens!
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This pub is indeed being refurbed by the Remarkable restaurants group. What happened here was a disgrace. The council shut it down due to the noise from the live music venue out the back. Complaints were received from the residents of a new development of faceless ugly flats that sit atop - get this - a Puzzle pub next door but one! The Puzzle is awful - white walls, pine everywhere - worst of the worst chain bar type place. The guy who owned the George fitted the venue out with soundproofing at great expense to himself but the council recieved a further complaint and shut him down. The pub has been here since the 1600s or something. Remarkable are restoring the building and promise to serve top quality ales and lagers as well as your gastro pub fayre. Better this than more bloody flats and chain bars. They have a good reputation.
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It appears this pub is currently in the process of being refurbished and reopened.
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thank you God for shutting down this shit hole.
anonymous - 20 Dec 2004 18:55 |
There is a void in the High Street now. Only the colonial bars remain...which is fine, but Shebeens was a welcome change.
It was a dump, but an earthy dump with character. Still bemused by the ladder leading upstairs...
anonymous - 26 Nov 2004 13:51 |
the pub is closed due to the corrupt london politics. first the club is there, then yuppies build apartments and start complaining. it's a shame it had to close.
Bas - 14 Oct 2004 14:46 |
I agree with Jo, he is a really nice guy. I can't imaghine who Cathy spoke to, because they are all nice there. Like you I really miss the place, Acton's not the same anymore
Helena - 7 Jul 2004 16:29 |
Okay Jo, maybe it's not the owner, my mistake. However, there was a pig there taking money in the Shebeen, who I have more than once, who has on more than one occasion shouted and been plain rude to people. Not seeing past the money he was grasping onto. He is an an ignorant arse, no mistake. And yes I am local from West London not an Aussie or Saffa, have worked in pubs before and never seen a more ignorant person. And in London, that's really saying something. But as I said the bands are fantastic, and the reason you go there...
anonymous - 21 Jun 2004 10:24 |
as a local from acton i feel we are all missing out on exellent live bands at the moment and i can't wait for the place to reopen as for the owner being described as a pig with no manners i think is totally unfair i know the owner and he is infact a lovely well mannered person are you sure you were talking to the owner or did you just presume he was the owner, i don't think he deserves comments like that made about him he works very hard to made sure all the locals enjoy a good night out when they come to the shebeen.
jo - 3 Jun 2004 13:50 |
We went to the Shebeen on Saturday night; the owner is a pig with no manners, the place is a barn with a licence with a few electrics added for lighting and power, oh, and the bouncer threw a drink over me (by accident) trying to get someone out BUT the band were excellent (ska!) and the people in there are quite cool. So the rating is for the atmos and band not the charm of the place, so go with an open mind and not-so-new clothes and you will enjoy.
anonymous - 2 Mar 2004 10:06 |
Fantastic live music venue, The Shebeen, out the back of this pub, great quality live bands like Juice, and The Hoggz play regularly. WELL worth a look for a night out.
Stuart - 28 Jan 2004 17:29 |
good function room at the back for live music whether it be dj's or bands.good friendly atmosphere and the music selection in the front bar top notch (as in anything vaguely alternative).
cynthia - 20 Jan 2004 00:05 |
