An 1850s side-street local opposite the old Riverside Studios, its walls covered in autographed celebrity and sporting photographs, unpretentious and friendly
The Chancellors holds six hundred and ninety-nine reviews and a 4.4 – a strong score on a good sample – and it is a genuinely characterful and friendly locals’ pub: an 1850s side-street local on Crisp Road, opposite the old Riverside Studios, whose walls are famously plastered with autographed photographs of celebrities and sporting stars.
The 1850s local
The Chancellors has genuine Victorian roots. Originally “the Chancellor,” it seems to have been rebuilt around 1857, in a building dating from the 1850s, on Crisp Road – a quiet Hammersmith side street. It stands opposite the site of the former Riverside Studios (the famous film and television studios), and it was once on the Thames Path riverside walk. It is a friendly, unpretentious locals’ pub – and that is precisely what makes it stand out from the more upmarket establishments of modern Hammersmith. In a neighbourhood increasingly full of stylish bars and gastropubs, the Chancellors remains a proper, honest, down-to-earth local – the friendly backstreet boozer, full of genuine character, where the regulars gather and the welcome is warm. There is a real and increasingly precious authenticity to it.
The walls of fame
The Chancellors’ great and distinctive charm is its walls – which are famously covered with autographed black-and-white photographs of celebrities, film and television stars, and sporting heroes, a genuine heaven for nostalgia fans. The photos span British film and TV stars from the fifties to the nineties, and the sporting and celebrity images are grouped by trade – there is a whole Fulham FC wall, sections devoted to broadcasters and cricket commentators, and a corner given over to boxing. It is a genuinely charming and characterful feature – the little local whose walls tell a whole story of British entertainment and sport, a nostalgic gallery of signed and framed faces. Given its position opposite the old Riverside Studios (where so much British television was made), the celebrity connection feels entirely fitting – the local that hosted, and now commemorates, the stars.
The unpretentious welcome
Inside, the Chancellors is exactly the kind of proper, characterful, unpretentious old local that this survey most admires – the bar running round three sides of a square, dark wood and banquette seating, a comfy panelled snug, a dartboard, and those wonderful celebrity photographs everywhere. It keeps real ales on the handpumps (Doom Bar and London Pride among them), reasonably priced for the area and well kept, and there is a small beer garden and outside seating, and an amusing pub sign. In recent years it even became something of a local pizza sensation – the “Crisp Pizza W6” range, launched under a recent owner, drew rave reviews and queues at the door before the operation moved on to larger premises. Above all, though, it is a friendly, unpretentious, genuine locals’ pub – warm, welcoming, characterful, and refreshingly down-to-earth. Its strong score across a good sample reflects this genuine, honest appeal.
Between its 1850s roots, its position opposite the old Riverside Studios, its wonderful walls of autographed celebrity and sporting photographs, and its friendly, unpretentious locals’-pub character, the Chancellors is a genuinely charming and characterful Hammersmith local. Its strong score across a good sample marks it as a genuinely good and much-loved pub. The Prat’s desk admires the walls of fame, enjoys a well-kept pint in the snug, and raises a warm glass to the Chancellors.
The pub
A strong, much-loved locals’ pub doing a good 4.4 across a good sample – the Chancellors, an 1850s side-street local opposite the old Riverside Studios, famous for its autographed celebrity photographs.
Verdict
Strong, much-loved, and refreshingly unpretentious – the Chancellors, a nostalgic locals’ pub whose walls of signed photos tell a story of British entertainment and sport.
Have a pint at the Chancellors on Crisp Road, and enjoy the walls of fame – an 1850s locals’ pub opposite the old Riverside Studios, its walls covered in autographed celebrity and sporting photographs.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
This is what The Guardian’s editorial would read like if written by someone who actually understood what they were criticizing instead of just performing concern.