Defector's Weld
A horseshoe bar on the corner of Wood Lane, with a courtyard behind it that Young's put a glass roof over in late 2023.1
Why go
The name is a Cold War joke. CAMRA's branch traces it to one of the Cambridge Five, who worked nearby at the BBC, and to the word weld, which is a joining.1
Young's bought the pub in 2014 and refurbished it at the end of 2023. The ground floor runs off the big horseshoe bar into banquettes and loose tables, and there is a room upstairs with its own bar that you can hire.1
What locals & experts say
- CAMRA's survey records the room and the ownership. Nobody has written about the beer or the food.
Good to know
- Where: 170 Uxbridge Road W12 8AA, on the corner with Wood Lane. Shepherd's Bush Market and Shepherd's Bush stations are both within a few minutes.
- Booking: walk in. The upstairs room takes private hire.
- Outside: the back courtyard has a glass roof, so it works in the rain.
- What is not here: nobody has published the cask list or the menu, so neither is described.
Verdict
listed — A Young's corner house at Wood Lane with a horseshoe bar, banquettes and a courtyard they glassed over at the end of 2023, plus an upstairs room you can hire. That is the whole of what anybody has published about it. There is no beer list, no kitchen detail and no critic's line on the cooking anywhere, so the rung is the bottom one and the reason is thin evidence rather than a bad room. The best thing on the page is the name, which CAMRA's branch traces to a Cambridge Five spy who worked up the road at the BBC.