Grand Junction Arms — Restaurant in London

I made a booking for Friday night 17.06 on a Thursday morning. In the evening on Thursday I received this e mail response’ Thank you for your booking enquiry. We know that bookings are important for certain occasions and so take bookings for any sized group. However, during the weekends we leave our pub largely free for walk-ins and do take bookings for mainly large groups.’-is it booking confirmed? Is it not? Booking was for 5 people. Myself and my friends decided to try our luck and show up at 7 pm on Friday and see if the booking went through. As we enter the pub it is packed so we decide to try n find reserved tables to see if our reservation went through-no free tables in sight. My fiancé went to get us some drinks and ask the staff member about our reservation. The staff member wearing bunny t shirt tells my fiancé that we need to speak to events manager. I come to the bar with the booking reference received on the e mail and we overhear staff members saying that members of public removed reservation cards and sat at the tables as they please-the lady in bunny t shirt makes us drinks takes payment and walks away at which point my fiancé once again asks her about our reservation. She once again says that we need to speak to events manager and he will come n find us outside-we sat outside-luckily we found the table by the street-we spent 3 h at the pub and nobody came to speak to us. We decided to order our meals-6.90 for a beer 20£ for a jug of pimms 20£ for a steak and 15.90 for a burger-if you are charging restaurant prices the restaurant service should be provided-that did not happen. We waited 30 mins for mac n cheese and 25 mins for burger-our meals were dumped on our tables and before I could ask for ketchup or Mayo the waiter runned back to the restaurant without looking back-this pub is in Acton not in West End therefore the prices for meals n service provided are absolutely disgusting. Yes u can charge this prices if there is care put into food and service-it is definitely lacking in this place. Myself and my fiancé used to be regulars here for dinners and lunches pre takeover by new management. Since it has been taken over by the chain there is no care in service or customers-this is money making machine purely by its location. I am deeply deeply disappointed by...

I love this pub, the oldest in the area! Although I don't go there that often, which is true of any other pub I like, I can definitely recommend it for its friendly athmosphere, good food and drinks, great service and the 'nothing is too much' approach! I usually go there while preparing my Talking and Exploring guided walks of the OPDC area and/or as part of the tour. Sometimes we start or finish there, other times, like yesterday, we are encouraged to just walk through and look around. Why would we do so? Because this pub is like a time capsule! It is dearly treasured in the memories of the long dispersed community of Lower Place, a small residential estate, that, in accordance with the then policies separated the industrial from the residential. Thus, those who had lived there for generations and were like a big family, looking after one another, were moved out the area, their terraced houses, a school, mission halls and other amenities demolished and replaced with industrial premises. Luckily, the pub is still standing, once a simple beer house by the canal since the early 1860s, now having evolved into a proper pub and a hotel conveniently nestling by the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, a bus stop and a few minutes' walk from Harlesden Station. Who knows, maybe that's the pub that the likes of the Peaky Blinders would stay at on the way to or from London? Anyway, you must be curious why we would lead the group through the pub, from a side to the main entrance. Well, there is a very good reason! In the side entrance, there is a board made by the former residents of Lower Place who still keep in touch and meet, even locally at the pub. The plan was to just take turns to look at it and leave the same way, but permitted by the staff, the whole group walked through the pub...

Never judge a book by it's cover. Or this pub by it's exterior. It doesn't look much from the outside, but go through the door and, WOW. The new management have done wonders. No longer is it a scruffy eyesore to be avoided at all costs. But a place to take your friends, relax and enjoy the ambiance. I went yesterday evening (Friday 11/08/17) Having never been here before, due to it's past reputation, I wasn't expecting great things. On entering, however, all my prejudices were overturned. You enter into a comfortable modern bar. I was impressed there and then. The space was welcoming and the staff, when I went to the bar, friendly. A little later we decided to move outside and I discovered that the place is like a tardis. Much bigger than you'd think from outside. A lot bigger. There are five major seating areas. From the entrance bar through to a lounge area, popular with families. Onto a second bar, which when I visited was full of younger people on a night out with friends. A great atmosphere here but it did take a while to get served. Then on to a large canal side dining area. Due to last night's weather, the retractable roof over this was closed. And finally onto an even larger outside seating area with 3 huts right at the back. Private booths just for you and your mates. I seem to remember that there was also seating lower down right on the canal, but I didn't venture that far. I thoroughly enjoyed my evening here. The food and drinks were great, and reasonably priced. Plus, for once I got my steak cooked just the way I like it. Rare. Most places give you medium to well done when you ask for rare. GJA get a few extra points for that. Luckily I work 5 mins walk and live 15mins bus from this marvellous hostelry. They'll be...