Draft House to open seventh site

Publican Charlie McVeigh is to open his seventh Draft House, this time in London's Hammersmith.

The move comes after McVeigh acquired the Laurie Arms pub in Shepherds Bush Road.

The pub will re-open on 26 February, serving a large range of craft beer.

The new Draft House is near the former site of the Hammersmith Palais de Danse, which opened as a ballroom as 1919 and played host to artists including the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who, David Bowie and the Sex Pistols.

The pub's playlist will be a celebration of the Palais, which was demolished in 2013.

Optics cocktails created by Max Chater of Bump Caves will be served at the pub, dispensed from traditional three-litre pub optics bottles.

There will also be a menu of pies including steak & ale, steak & kidney, and sweet potato & goat's cheese, all encased in short crust pastry (£6.60).

The pub's interiors will be restored, complete with the original 10-foot stained-glass windows which adorn the frontage and a glass conservatory.

Yellow ochre banquettes with fluted backs and steel frames, will line the 100 cover pub with booths, and will be lit by antique French ceramic pendants, and clusters of glass orbs with golden flex.