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Well, I'm not too sure if I feel vindicated and elated or not!The Red Lion was my favourite pub since I became too old to go in the Queen Vic.( about 18 ! )But I and all my friends have had an almost identical experience. A far from friendly manager, poor quality beer and watered wines and spirits. My daughter had a Martini Bianco which tasted like soda water.The response was not far short of malevolent. Quite nasty.This Pub was once Fuller's Jewel in it's crown. Now it's is a shadow of the great beer and sandwiches local and workplace pub it one was.The gastro bandwagon is exposed by places like this as nothing more than a pretence. The setting and fittings are good but completely undone by poor management, poor drinks and overpriced food which can be good but not good enough for the money.I remember the Hot Sausage special. £1.20, White or Brown bread, 2 gorgeous sausages sliced in half, Cheese and HP sauce or Branston. They were superb and perfect with a pint of any Fullers beer or a Guinness. Never bettered.I've only been able to replicate it at home with 'Porkinsons' sausages which were close and one of the few sausages that tastes just as good cold. Since the new owners of the brand killed it off to promote the vile Richmond sausages, I've not found a sausage that comes near Norman Parkinson's own recipe.The Fullers beers in the Red Lion were always fresh, clean and excellent. Only the Castle could come close.I have to agree with Mr Gregan. Fuller, Smith and Turner would probably be pleased with the ambience of their pubs but appalled by their declining quality of their beers and management methods.  I expect the next move will be to do a Youngs, sell the Chiswick brewery to developers and move out of London. It all seems to be following a well trodden pattern.

Michael Brandt ● 4566d

No. No. No. State your opinion and stand by it. If I am wrong I wish to be corrected (or at least influenced otherwise). The two establishments that I am not keen on are a product of their management which has not changed in the past few years. Internal politics (between area management, senior management, and board management within the Fullers oragnisation) have kept these pubs going in spite of rafts of complaints. The staff at the sharp end at the bar are often unaware of the nature of their employer and are generally doing their best. They leave fairly quickly. It is the long-termers that call the shots and are the problem.There are many excellent pubs in Ealing, however, like good shops they do not need active marketing and publicity - word of mouth is often enough.Ealing has only one gastropub in my opinion and that is the the Ealing Park Tavern on the South Ealing/Brentford border (I believe it is still privately owned). Pubs that do food that are good, in my opinion, include the fairly recently re-vamped and re-managed Forester at the top of Northfields Avenue (which has an excellent Thai restaurant attached to it), and the New Inn opposite St Mary's Church.My definition of a "gastropub" is one where the food orders are taken by a waiter/waitress and not placed at the bar, while a "pub that does food" is one where the order is placed at the bar. I almost forgot to mention the legendary Wetherspoons pubs which are unbeatable for value - the Sir Micahel Balcon on the Mall (Ealing Broadway) and the Red Lion and Pineapple (Acton).

Kieren A Wroblewski ● 4569d