Coach & Horses

Just minutes away from the heavily hyped Waldorf Astoria, this one-time coaching house on nearby Syon Park Estate recently dusted off the cobwebs & re-launched as a gastro-boozer for the 21st century. The Coach & Horses got a literary name-check in the pages of Oliver Twist, & there are still Dickensian echoes in the ‘saloon bar’ glass signage & traditional glass plating in the main room (once the stables). Elsewhere, bookcases, antique mirrors & ‘grandma-style’ lamps give the interior a cosy, lived-in feel. There’s an Anglo-European flavour to the food, which promises everything from slow-braised beef & ale pie to sea bass with colcannon, roasted cherry tomatoes & salsa verde, with back-up from the likes of smoked salmon, crayfish & avocado salad, rib-eye steaks & puds such as bitter chocolate torte with raspberry coulis. Weekend brunch lures in local families & there’s a separate menu for their little darlings.