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Your support makes all the difference.I'm a terribly sort of stay-at-home person now as I've got a wife and three kids, and I think I'm about 38. So I mostly go out when I'm entertaining people from abroad, usually people connected with the music. Brentford is Fullers country, which means the pubs don't look like mobile discos. The Americans love places like the City Barge, Strand on the Green, Chiswick, London W4 (081-994 2148) - it's not a barge but an olde worlde boozer. They have a couple of pints of bitter and throw up over their Chinese takeaway, but they have a good time. I show them where they filmed a Beatles movie, and there's a lovely walkway along the Thames.
The Tabard in Chiswick, 2 Bath Rd W4 (081- 994 3492) is good because they have the theatre thing going on upstairs, so you've always got a few luvvies in - you might see John Hurt propping up the bar - the regulars and some blokes from the building site next door. . . That's the nice side of England. Pubs aren't just for boozing and watching telly.
But the Americans get it right sometimes. In Hollywood I use a diner called Barney's Beanery, 8447 Santa Monica Blvd (0101 213 654 2287) as my office - I hang out, take calls, people know they can find me. It's a place where ordinary people eat, but it's got an eight-page menu.
Back in London, I find the cinema a bit of an inconvenience now, because of the parking thing. But I go to the Watermans Arts Centre, 40 Brentford High St, Middlesex (081-568 1176) for theatre and films. I went ligging with Keith Allen lately - an art opening, then the Groucho Club, then some transvestite bar in Soho, but I'm not a club person really. It's not my generation, and when you settle down you lose interest in going out. Besides, we have great home delivery in Brentford.
Rat Scabies is touring with the Damned
(Photograph omitted)
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