A riverside pub with a Beatles connection and a Cromwell legend. what a mix!
 
This watercolour captures The City Barge on Strand-on-the-Green, Chiswick, its riverside terrace spilling towards the Thames with views of Kew Rail Bridge and Oliver's Island beyond.  
 
First recorded in 1484 as the Navigator's Arms, the pub is one of the oldest surviving inns on the Thames, though much of the current building dates from post-war reconstruction after a parachute mine destroyed much of it in 1940.
 
The pub takes its name from the City of London Navigation Committee's state barge, moored nearby during the winter, and from the tollbooth installed on Oliver's Island in 1777 to levy charges on passing craft.
 
Inside, Victorian panelling, three open fires, and a reclaimed 19th-century bar survive alongside quirky touches including rare bird taxidermy, vintage games, and a metre-long model Thames barge. The Beatles filmed scenes for their 1965 film Help! here, with Ringo ordering "two lagers and lime and two lagers and lime" in a scene shot at the pub.
 
Interesting facts...
 
A notice on the pub's Thames Road frontage claims Oliver Cromwell was a frequent visitor, escaping through a tunnel to Oliver's Island. However, Cromwell's daughter the Countess of Fauconberg, didn't move to Chiswick until long after his death, and no tunnel has ever been found. Its amazing how many pubs are rumoured to have secret tunnels.
 
The tollbooth on Oliver's Island was a wooden structure shaped like a small castle, with a barge moored alongside to collect charges from passing river traffic, very cute.
 
The towpath outside was also used in both Help! and A Hard Day's Night and is a great place to have two lagers.
 
Location: 27 Strand-on-the-Green, Chiswick, London W4 3PH