Review

The Old Trout can be found in Hammersmith Broadway. This is an excellent idea since the Broadway houses both a bus terminal and Hammersmith tube station. This means that whatever mode of transport you choose to use you can go straight to the pub without having to step out into what is traditionally called "the outdoors" and given this is England, with it's entirely justified reputation for crap weather, that has to be a good thing. For those occasions when the weather decides not to conform to it's own stereotyped image and goes a bit foreign on us, there is a nice secluded courtyard out the back of the pub, which is surprisingly quiet considering the Broadway center is basically just the middle of a bloody big roundabout.

There's a McDonald's in the same covered center, for when the pub food looks that little bit too expensive and you're not quite drunk enough for a kebab. The Broadway also houses the offices of Coca-Cola so you can be fairly sure you won't be short of a mixer for your spirits.

The most interesting thing about The Old Trout though is the simple fact that it is a pub within a shopping center. This has got to be an attempt to help the fragile relationships of the 21st century and keep people out of the divorce courts. Traditionally the wife goes shopping and the husband goes down the pub, now these activities can be combined. The husband can get himself a pint and then go around the shopping center, beer in hand, to tell his wife how good she looks in the dress she's trying on without missing out on his pint. Everyone's a winner. OK, so we're not too sure how the shop owners will react to this plan, but hey, if enough of us try it they'll get bored of stopping us...

Review by AJS