Competition in these dire times is leading to a major upgrade in the quality of pubs and bars in Brentford. While the High Street redevelopment seems light years away, the landlords of local hostelries are offering more choice and better service, to a standard not seen here before.
There are the headline makers - the seriously stylish Syon Park Hotel, and the brilliantly revamped Coach and Horses.
But others are keeping pace as well, taking risks and concentrating on their own cross-section of customer.
For many years the Magpie was more notorious than notable, not to everyone's taste for nice night out. That has changed completely.
It has brilliantly reinvented itself as an outstanding real ale pub, offering a big range of beers which are changed frequently and are supplemented by top-grade Belgian tipples.
Behind the bar Rob Burns, the landlady's dad, pulls the pints with delicate care and looks like a man who knows his beers and loves his work. He is on hand to offer tasting advice, whether you seek pale or dark ale, hoppy or malty.
'It's all about the beer,' he says. 'We want to offer the best pint to suit your personal preference.'
But, in fact, the Magpie is more than just the beer. The quality of ale has led to a change in customer, turning the bar room into a more relaxed and friendly place, one where you can sup and chat with easy pleasure.
In its commanding High Street location, the Magpie is to be commended for building upon the positive side of its distinctive, traditional character.
In style it could hardly be more different from The Fire Station a quick stagger down the road. It is run with exotic flair by the incomparable Rob Myers - known to many Brentford Dockers for his happy nature when serving in the now defunct Dock Club.
This week he has turned the Fire Station into a Cuban outpost - and let's hope Fidel Castro never hears that he apparently drinks Coca Cola.
Forget the real ales down at the Magpie. Here there is an extensive cocktail list, devised by cocktail meister Rob, winner of the 2009 Taste of London Cocktail competition.
'Cuba is iconic,' says Rob. 'It represents all that's makes life worth living - music and dancing, drink and food, sun and sea and beautiful people. It's swish and it's sexy. We want people to step through our doors and think they're on holiday in Havana.'
Brentford folk have never had such choice. Much of it is down to the dire trading conditions with 25 pubs closing every week across Britain. It means landlords and breweries cannot rest on their laurels as in the past. It has banished complacency.
Instead they must fight for every customer.
The result for Brentford is a serious enrichment of the pub and bar culture, one likely to accelerate.
'There's a lot of competition,' says Rob, 'and people want something distinctive and different. There's nothing wrong with the traditional pub but there is also no point in every pub being the same. Why bother with all the expense of flying to Cuba when there is our own Little Havana on your doorstep.'
It's a lesson which Fullers - long dominant in the high street - might like to take on board as it struggles to find tenants for two of its pubs, the Brewery Tap and the Six Bells.
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