Magpie and Crown — Restaurant in London

What’s gone wrong with the Magpie? Over the years I've been an occasional visitor to the Magpie & Crown and in the past I’ve enjoyed the ambience of the place, the real cider on tap and the food. Yesterday my wife and I decided to take a friend there for lunch and were really saddened by what we found and what we experienced.

Firstly while the bar still offered its usual choice of real ales and craft beers the only cider on offer on tap was Thatchers (not really what could be called a real cider) and even worse a selection of bottled flavoured apple based drinks that don’t even deserve the title of cider.

In the past the lunch menu has always been quite varied even though my wife and I are vegetarians we’ve always been able to find a choice of meal available. This is no longer the case as the lunch time menu has now been reduced to a few items and horror upon horror the wonderful hand cut chips that always made a lunch at the Magpie special have been replaced by commercially prepared ones.

When we arrived there was only one other couple in the pub and they didn’t appear to be eating so the place could hardly be described as busy. That being the case I would love to know why it took fifty-five minutes for our food to be served. That wouldn’t have been too bad if when the food arrived it had been worth the wait, unfortunately the haloumi in my burger had been burnt and I don’t know what had happened to the roll it was in, while still soft in the middle it was solid and inedible on the outside. I suspect it had been poorly defrosted in a microwave.

I’m sorry but there are now better local alternatives for both decent real cider and pub food so quite simply we will not be returning to the Magpie following this...

A great little spit & sawdust pub in the middle of Brentford high street,only a few minutes walk from Brentford basin so if you're passing by on your boat it's a good place to check out the food and have a beer 🍻 🙂 They do a good selection of fine ales and beers & also do (Thai) food & burgers. (Maybe next time I'll try the food) I had a pint of Camden pale ale which was very drinkable 😄🍺 & my friend had a pint of bitter (which I can't remember the name of the beer 🤔) he said "what a nice old pub hope it survives the redevelopment of Brentford".

Edit..I just had a thought I've been coming past this pub for well over 40 + years & never popped in,been sitting in traffic many times and thought I must go in their...well now I have 😁 & next time I'm in Brentford I'm going back for a pint 🍻 The pub has been serving Brentford for longer than I've been alive & I think it's a great asset to...

05/04/19. Was going to visit tomorrow. Then found out from What Pub that it is now permanently closed due to redevelopment in the area.

13/07/19 First visit since it's reopened. Very pleased and relieved that it has happened. Place hasn't changed which is great. Because it has always been one of my favourite pubs in London. Didn't meet the new manager, but the new barmaid, who has only been working there for a week, was very friendly, competent and helpful. Now serves Thai food again, but wasn't able to try it. Will do another time. Real ale selection was Twickenham Naked Ladies, Sambrook Junction Ale, Kew Camelia and Five Points XPA. Tried latter two. The Camelia was bit tired but still tasted ok. The XPA was spot on. Will be back there again next month with a...