Hammersmith Bridge to Kew Bridge

THAMES PATH

WALK

Hammersmith Bridge to Kew Bridge

Monday 29 May 2017

We started our walk today from Hammersmith by making our way back to the Hammersmith Bridge and then following the northern path along the Lower and Upper Mall. There are some terrific old pubs along this stretch and I find it much more interesting than the leafy track on the southern side of the river.

Before long we reached the Chiswick Mall where we could see some evidence of recent flooding. Most of the houses along this stretch seem to have their own mini flood defence systems and you can see one or two where these have failed in the past.

There is a museum, a shop and a fantastic pub, the Mawson Arms all located on this site. Halfway along Chiswick Mall is a junction with Chiswick Lane. There is a large brick building here. It is hard to tell from the wall of the building but this is part of the Fuller Smith and Turner Griffin Brewery where they make Fuller’s London Pride, Oliver’s Island and many more. Many of the names that they use for their beers are taken from landmarks along the Thames such as Oliver’s Island.

We continued along the riverside path, passing the Chiswick Pier and into Dukes Meadows before reaching Barnes Bridge. This is a railway and pedestrian bridge so we crossed over to the town of Barnes in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

We made our way to the White Hart pub where the path goes to the side and continues along the river but we could see that the recent flooding had covered the path with lots of sticky mud so we opted to walk along Mortlake High Street as far as the Mortlake Brewery before turning down Ship Lane and on to Thames Bank.

The Mortlake Brewery, also known as the Stag Brewery, was the home of Watneys although it was a Brewery before then with records indicating that there was a brewery on the site as far back as 1765.

Anheuser Busch, the American based brewing giant, took a lease on the Watneys brewery in 1995 producing Budweiser on the site up until 2015 when the site was sold and plans to redevelop the site as luxury apartments where submitted.

We stopped at the Fuller’s pub, One Over The Ait, for a drink before catching the Train from Kew Bridge station to Vauxhall and then walking to London St Pancras to catch the train home. From Chiswick Bridge, we followed the leafy track along to Kew going under the Kew Railway bridge, passing Oliver’s Island and then up and over Kew Bridge.

Chiswick Mall – signs of recent flooding

More signs of flooding at the White Swan

The Route

Distance : 6 Miles

David Welch – View Profile

Are you tired of being stuck in the office? Bored of being chained to a desk? Counting down the days until retirement?

Me too!!