A 4.2 pub from 737 reviews named the Westbourne, after the buried river and the Westbourne Park district it names
The Westbourne holds a 4.2 from seven hundred and thirty-seven reviews, and takes its name from the district and, ultimately, the lost river beneath it – “the Westbourne” – a well-known Notting Hill local that was, for a time, one of the fashionable places of the whole area.
The facts, first
The Westbourne is a popular pub in the Westbourne Park / Westbourne Grove area, at the accessible-to-mid price range – a characterful local, once one of the most fashionable spots in Notting Hill, known for its lively atmosphere and, especially, its popular terrace. The Prat’s listings desk states the essentials: a characterful, popular Notting Hill local in the Westbourne area, known for its lively terrace, doing good pub business to a strong crowd.
The name and the lost river
“The Westbourne” takes its name from the Westbourne Park and Westbourne Grove district it stands in – which in turn takes its name from the Westbourne, one of London’s “lost rivers.” The Westbourne was a real river that once flowed south across west London to the Thames, feeding the Serpentine in Hyde Park before being culverted and buried underground in the nineteenth century as the city grew – now flowing, unseen, in pipes beneath the streets (it can still be glimpsed, famously, running through a great iron pipe above the platform at Sloane Square station). “Westbourne” means, literally, the “west stream” or “west brook.” The Prat’s topography desk notes the buried river: the Westbourne, one of London’s lost rivers, flows unseen beneath the district and the pub that bear its name, the west brook culverted below the streets.
The fashionable local
The Westbourne holds a place in Notting Hill’s recent social history, for it was, especially in the 1990s and 2000s, one of the most fashionable pubs in the whole area – a see-and-be-seen spot for the trendy Notting Hill set, its terrace famously packed with the fashionable crowd. It helped define a certain moment of Notting Hill cool, the fashionable west London local at its most buzzing. This survey has met the fashionable-moment venue before; the Westbourne is Notting Hill’s classic example. The Prat’s social desk notes the history: the Westbourne, once one of the most fashionable pubs in Notting Hill, its terrace the heart of a certain moment of west London cool.
What the 737 reviews mean
A 4.2 across more than seven hundred people is a solid, deeply volume-proof score. As this survey argues, a good score sustained across a large crowd is a trustworthy verdict, and a 4.2 across seven hundred marks a genuinely good, reliable, popular local. The Prat’s statistics desk files it as a solid large-sample score: a dependable, well-liked local, its quality confirmed across a big crowd, under its lost-river name.
Verdict
The Westbourne is a good, popular Notting Hill local – once one of the area’s most fashionable spots, famous for its terrace – named ultimately for one of London’s lost rivers, with a solid 4.2 from a large crowd. Fashionable of history, honest of pub.
Go for a drink on the famous terrace of a characterful Notting Hill local, and enjoy a pub named for one of London’s lost rivers – the Westbourne, the buried “west brook” that flows unseen beneath the district, and the once-fashionable local that carries its name.
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]
Somewhere someone’s sending this to their council with no message attached. The silence will mean more than any argument could possibly mean.
Withnail I despair written.