The ‘local’, that Great British institution. Everyone in Britain has a local pub and everyone hopes that their local is a good one, or at least half decent. For years we were unlucky, the local pub – literally 100 steps from our front door – was not very good. It was mostly empty, did not seem to do any food and had little atmosphere. It changed hands a few times and it went from being pretty empty to getting a bit busier but still did not feel that welcoming. That was the case till it was taken over by Roger and his wife. The place was transformed and got the attention of all the neighbourhood.

Roger, as we found out, has been working in restaurants around London and decided that it was time to have a place to call his own. He put a wood fired stone pizza oven in the place and start serving good rustic Italian food.

Most importantly, as he is in the suburbs, all his menu was also available for takeaway which spread the word of the new pub much quicker. Another great feature of the pub is the live music every Friday and Saturday evening which creates a very lively and cosy atmosphere. Roger seems to have a great number of amateur / semi-professional artists in his contacts book and the music is always great.

The pub has a beer garden which although it is on the main road between Twickenham and Richmond it is very nicely done and has a really good view of Marble Hill Park (where Henry VIII kept his mistresses, some trivia never hurt anyone) which is exactly opposite, and is always busy.

Although we have been, or had takeaway, many times at the Aleksander this particular time was a Friday evening after work where we had arranged to meet some neighbours to say goodbye a couple of weeks before we move from the area.

We did not order starters but went straight for mains, I had pizza Amelie and K had the sea-food linguini.

As always, the food was delicious, the music was great and the place was buzzing.

There is not much more to say about the evening as Aleksander is all about chilling out in a comfortable environment around the corner. It is a place for the low key evenings and most importantly it’s not a chain. It is our local and we love it.

Although The Aleksander is not a gastropub that you will travel from the other side of London in order to try, it is definitely a pub that if you are in the area or live in the area you should go. The food is really good, it is not fancy, it is not fine dining (as some gastropubs do) but it is well cooked comfort food and they do a great Sunday roast, which is probably what you need from your local and it remains a local as people are always welcome for just a drinks – interestingly the regulars that used to go to the pub when it was not that good still go. I am so glad that Roger took over the place and made it great but at the same time I am sad that we will be moving soon and I will miss it…

The Aleksander

277-279 Richmond Rd, Twickenham TW1 2NP

T: 020 8892 6252