Forum Topic

O'Neill's in Ealing - has it closed down?

Builders working inside and a notice saying thank you for your custom so I guess our favourite eaterie has gone! Any ideas what is happening to this prime location?

Jean F Fernandez ● 4321d57 Comments

Andy I wonder if they will do any special lunch menus? I looked at the menu outside but prices are pretty steep compared to O'Neill's.However I wish them well! Looking through the window I have to admit the seating did look rather comfy!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4302d

Flippin 'eck give it a chance!I popped in yesterday to do a bit of a reccy and was pretty impressed.  The room is way better than it was and has lots of comfy seeting.  Lager-wise they had Heineken, Carling and Becks Vier and the guest ales were Doom Bar (probably permanent), Spring Sprinter (£4.30/pint), UBU (£4.20/pint and delish) and Ice Breaker.  They also had 4 craft lagers and 4 pale ales on draft plus Guiness & Aspalls.I'm going back today for lunch so will let you know what the food's like.

Andy Vaughan ● 4302d

The plan was to have a preview night on Wednesday but was cancelled due to unfinished building work.Grosvenor is supposed to open on Tuesday at 5pm (if work is complete).

Roy Tunstall ● 4302d

First day. Many would not even know it had reopened and it is not uncommon for the managers/owners to prefer a "slow" start to train up staff etc and then go for the PR.Talking of pubs closed for refurbishment any news on when The Grosvenor (corner of Grosvenor and Oakland Roads on Hanwell/West Ealing borders) will reopen. The intensity and time of builders works would indicate a more extensive project than The Drapers - but then again it probably needed more help.Quite a brave and unusual location for a gastro pub if that is what it will be.  But a welcome addition to the area.

Philip Coe ● 4302d

I walked past the new pub today, not many customer on it's opening day and only people drinking, not eating! I wonder how long they will survive at this rate?

Jean F Fernandez ● 4302d

A new J D Wetherspoons wouldnt be any harm, better then the Sir Michael Balcon on the Uxbridge Road

walter coady ● 4303d

It will be interesting to see how long it lasts if the prices are higher. O'Neills wasn't that bad.

Peter Mcleod ● 4304d

More of a lick of paint than a refurb then?

Philip Coe ● 4304d

Draper's Arms is opening this Thursday apparently but I think the prices willbe much higher than O'Neills. I had a look at their website!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4304d

Lamertons were drapers among other trades

Fred Hunt ● 4309d

I think Mitchells & Butlers own both the O'Neill's and Castle brands so this is a re-branding exercise.I wonder if there ever was a draper on that site?

John Walker ● 4309d

O'Neills is a brand of Mitchells & Butlers (M&B). They are moving some of the O'Neills pubs into different brands depending on what suits the area. Harrow is still open.

Roy Tunstall ● 4309d

The new Draper's Arms is painted a rich burgundy colour now and they've fitted a rather large decorative lantern light outside above the main door - it looks attractive - hope the new pub does well.

Gerry Tan ● 4309d

The Draper's Arms it's now called.

Simon Wycombe ● 4309d

I was repsonding to Peter's mention of the (now ex) persian restuarant opposite the YMCA.

Tony Colliver ● 4310d

No one in their right mind closes down a going concern for eight months to undergo refurbishment. What is really happening here! Anyway, Q.E.D. Quad Erat Demonstratum to my earlier comment.

Peter Mcleod ● 4311d

Between Lamertons and O'Neills it was a Firkin pub (Photographer and Firkin)

Fred Hunt ● 4312d

Thanks Nigel and Jean - times are changing our High Street too fast.

Gerry Tan ● 4312d

O'Neill's in Shepherd's Bush has also changed hands, I wonder whether all the O'Neill's restaurants have closed down?

Jean F Fernandez ● 4312d

Apologies, I was referring to the Persian Palace site.

Simon Wycombe ● 4312d

IIRC Gerry was it not Lamerton's Corner (the furnishers)?

Nigel Brooks ● 4312d

Tony and Simon, why is the site of O'Neill's doomed please? Its a prime location on The Green, I would have thought it should be a flourishing site. What was at the site before O'Neill's?

Gerry Tan ● 4312d

It does appear to be ,I agree.Mostly down to how it's run I think.

Simon Wycombe ● 4312d

I don't think its a doomed site Tony, after all before the Persian eatery it was run by a Portugese brothers very successfully for about ten years - it was a fine restaurant called Oporto before the Persian restaurant.

Gerry Tan ● 4316d

Yes, but that site is doomed.I don't know why, but it is.

Tony Colliver ● 4316d

Persian place should be a trendy wine bar and would make a killing if run properly(although I wouldn't visit).

Simon Wycombe ● 4318d

Opening 24th Aprilhttp://www.thedrapersarmsealing.co.uk/

Roy Tunstall ● 4318d

Also, it increases the value of his house so that he can increase his mortgage and get some money back to live off - "equity release". He may not be as shrewd as he thinks as when the property bubble collapses he will be left with a) negative equity), and b)rising mortgage rates that will become unserviceable. Many people are doing this, taking tens of thousand of pounds a year out of their property to keep up with the Jones's in their lifestyle. However, this is purely being fueled by the house price boom.

Peter Mcleod ● 4319d

You are imagining it.

Peter Mcleod ● 4319d

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Peter Mcleod ● 4319d

Talking to my neighbour about his new loft extension which he is building to accommodate his teenage sons as they 'spread; around the house and need more room to study.He is a shrewd chap and wouldn't spend money without good cause. He totalled up the potential cost of moving, agents fees, legal fess removal fees etc and reckoned that he would save over £10000 by staying put and extending his current house.

Nigel Brooks ● 4319d

Is it my imagination but everyone seems to be flashing their money about, building extensions and loft conversions and children can afford the latest iphone and go whizzing around the world. People with designer clothes and immigrants with clean fesh £20 notes in their hands at the supermarket. Everyone imo is RICH.Could this be something to do with benefits? cash in hand jobs, tax evasion, fiddling the books. I don't know.

Rhys Smith ● 4319d

or perhaps the pub has reopened and is now called O'Briens according to a site report I've just received!

Roy Tunstall ● 4319d

Yes, I'm real, Peter, and living in one of the richest suburbs of one of the richest cities on THIS PLANET, in a country where the economy is growing strongly and too many people seem to spend their time wondering which new mobile phone to buy this week.

Susan Kelly ● 4319d

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Peter Mcleod ● 4320d

If you build it they will come.And if it's any good they'll come back.

Andy Vaughan ● 4320d

The Persian opposite the YMCA was poorly managed; which is another reason why a restaurant / pub closes.I think there are many restaurants that are good (Osteria, Charlotte's to name but two) that are well run and have stood the test of time.The number of new restaurants coming to Ealing (Maggie's & Bills alongside applications for the Grill Shack and Turtle Bay) all of whom we assume did their research seem before investing seems to be siding with Gerry's optimism as do I!

Nadia Shaw ● 4320d

O'Neills closed on 30 March and will reopen as the Drapers Arms once the refurb is complete.Flanagans had a transfer of owner and DPS (landlord) lodged with Ealing Council on 1 April. Looked liked they were painting the outside when I passed last Wednesday so maybe a refurb is going on whilst the paperwork is being done.

Roy Tunstall ● 4320d

You know Roy, you are right about Brentford, the pubs there are not any cheaper, and even Fullers' employees warn me that I should stay out of the Beehive as people have a habit of losing their teeth there! Overpriced, and DANGEROUS to boot.

Peter Mcleod ● 4320d

Greed. Pure greed. You make a business with what walks in through the door. I wonder whether those pubs would still be open in they had charged less?

Peter Mcleod ● 4320d

Susan, which PLANET are you on? We have a foodbank in Ealing, the disabled and unemployed are having to pay some Council Tax from what, £50 to £70 a week benefit? Are you real?

Peter Mcleod ● 4320d

I passed there this morning and it looks like it has closed and there is another pub in West Ealing just opposite the job centre which I think has also closed.

Rhys Smith ● 4320d

Gerry, then why are there so many restaurant and pub closures? A place that you wrote of so highly, the Persian restaurant opposite the YMCA in South Ealing Road lasted, how long? A year maybe?

Peter Mcleod ● 4320d

My thoughts precisely, Gerry.

Susan Kelly ● 4320d

"...The economy is not getting any better and the footfall in Ealing is decreasing daily."I don't agree. The economy is getting steadily stronger and footfall in Ealing is increasing accordingly. Why are you so pessimistic?

Gerry Tan ● 4320d

I avoid Fullers pubs on principle their management is appalling. There isn't a good one in Ealing. Its not the £3.70 that annoys me, its the £5.50. Many of the places you mentioned were charging much more than £3.70 when they closed.

Peter Mcleod ● 4320d

Possibly.The loss of the Town House, Park View, the Haven, All Bar One (also M&B), Edwards, and the Green has probably helped the other pubs keep going.Thanks to the Fuller's monopoly and the Great British Pub Scandal (the beer tie), the price of a pint of real ale is around £3.70 no matter which pub you go in (except the Sir Michael Balcon)and I doubt we will see it come down.BTW, which pubs did you mean were cheaper in Brentford, given Fuller's own so many?

Roy Tunstall ● 4320d

Wait and see... The economy is not getting any better and the footfall in Ealing is decreasing daily.

Peter Mcleod ● 4320d

Wetherspoon pubs charge different prices along the Uxbridge Road, never mind throughout the country!It is unlikely the Drapers Arms will go bust as it it will be a managed pub owned by M&B and will be part of the same 'brand' as the North Star which is never under-priced and rarely empty.

Roy Tunstall ● 4320d

Ealing Broadway, and Ealing as a whole, is crying out for a good quality grille.If I had the capital I'd invest in thisEaling Park Tavern would probably be a roaring success if it was located where The Lodge etc areWith Dickens Yard etc the footfall is all there

Colin Goodman ● 4321d

If the Harvester's busy that's only because there's no Brewer's Fayre around!

Susan Kelly ● 4321d

The gastro pub will then go bust in due course for charging "Ealing" prices. The reason why chains like Costa Coffee, Wetherspoons, etc. make money is that they charge the same prices everywhere. There is plenty of money around in Ealing but what these not-too-bright purveyors of booze and feed should realise that you do not get rich by throwing your money around and you do not stay rich if you do. If you can get the same pint for a pound less in Brentford then over a nights boozing it really mounts up. The small numbers of people left in the pubs in Ealing are basiclly stupid - they are spending more than they need to.

Peter Mcleod ● 4321d

There is indeed and it is always quite busy.

Nigel Brooks ● 4321d

There's a harvester in Boston Manor, isn't there?

Susan Kelly ● 4321d

Another O'Neill's Gerry! :-)Seriously though we wouldn't mind a Harvester, the one at Ealing Common closed down a few years ago to be replaced by a block of flats and Sainsbury's.Something cheap and cheerful! The prices in Ealing Broadway are getting beyond a joke and all our favourite places to eat have closed down! Edwards has been replaced by Bills and the prices are a bit steep.It looks like it will just  be a 'toastie' in M&S in future......or McDonalds!

Jean F Fernandez ● 4321d

It has closed. Apparently being replaced by a gastro pub

Guy Edema ● 4321d

What would you like to see replace O'Neill's Jean?

Gerry Tan ● 4321d