Queen Vic looks down disdainfully from her sign on to a mini roundabout beside this stately pub, a favourite with Churchill, Dickens, the Dracula Society and sundry debating and speaking clubs.
In a corner of London without too many outstanding pubs, the Victoria is a reliable option, no more and no less than a well-run corner boozer. It’s perhaps best described as ‘accommodating’, and the trad-pub decor and unpretentious ambience will be comfortingly familiar to fans of other pubs in the Fuller’s group.
The beer is good (Chiswick, Discovery, London Pride, Honey Dew); wines begin around £3.50 a glass and edge up towards £30 a bottle. The food is as old-school as the venue in which it’s served: cheddar and chutney sandwiches, pies, pork belly. Watch yourself descending the steep staircase to the toil… sorry, ‘lavatories’.