Brook Green Hotel, Hammersmith

An imposing landmark pub, rebuilt in 1886, on the road from Hammersmith to Shepherd’s Bush. With three storeys (plus attic) it overlooks the eponymous green while the now-culverted brook is said to run beneath the pub. The ground floor is of stone with red brick above and on the first floor ‘Brook Green Hotel’ in stone relief with the wording picked out in black on white. Like so many pubs of its day, it doubled as a hotel and, indeed, still has good-quality letting bedrooms. Unsurprisingly, it has been considerably remodelled internally and opened out (the four external doors would have led to separate areas) but it still retains one star feature – an impressive mirrored bar-back with three gablets each above a Renaissance-style grotesque mask (mirroring one on an external panel).

Other features to look out for are the impressive Classical-style fireplace on the right (with flecked white marble inset), two stained glass panels (left-hand-side) depicting kings (one is evidently David, identified by his harp), and attractive cornices in the ceiling. The bar counter looks old and has recently been painted a claret colour. Modern alterations and partition removal leave us with a few puzzles: what is the meaning of the lower ceiling on the left, apparently with metal panels, and how does the varying ceiling cornice treatment relate to the original arrangements? The rear right-hand area is quite plain and its bar back fitting (left) seems entirely new.