Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: JD Wetherspoon

London – Southwark (Borough of) – Sun Wharf (New JD Wetherspoon)

A new JD Wetherspoon has opened at London Bridge station in what was formerly the London Dungeons. The entrance here is the former way into the London Dungeons, which was here between 1974 and 2013. This venue is a considerable project for the pub chain and it’s open for long hours, between 06:30 and 00:30 every day of the week.

As usual, I’ll take the pub’s history from their own website:

“Next to London Bridge station’s entrance, 48–50 Tooley Street are distinctive brick arches. Until 2013 (almost 40 years), this had been The London Dungeon. The arches were occupied by importers and provision agents, whose livelihoods depended on the warehouses opposite. Many have survived (Hay’s Wharf, now Hay’s Galleria). Fenning’s Wharf and Sun Wharf were replaced (in 1984/85) by the huge No.1 London Bridge complex. During that site’s redevelopment, a Bronze Age burial mound was unearthed.”

The bar which is bright and open.

Some of the brick arches and I can see why this was a suitable place for the London Dungeons. The rooms flow into each other, I like this sort of quirky thing.

The new coffee machine and there’s only hot milk, with no jugs for the cold milk.

There’s a bank of three coffee machines.

The unique carpet.

There’s a display about the carpet and why they’ve designed this one in this manner.

The menu.

Part of the support elements that I assume stop the building from falling down. The trains are evident running above both by noise and also because things vibrate a little.

This feels like a really well designed building, there is a choice of seating styles including low and higher tables. There are quieter areas, open-plan areas and plenty of power points. The team members seemed engaged, helpful and I saw numerous positive customer service interactions. As a conversion into a pub, this is one of the best that I’ve seen.

Although the venue has only been open for a few weeks, I thought I’d see what the few online reviews posted are like so far.

“Had had a lovely evening here but sadly the dessert menu isn’t clear enough – says “vanilla ice cream” as if it’s plain but it actually comes with sauce and the staff member wouldn’t switch it for plain despite asking. It’s a scoop of ice cream! Don’t argue the toss just switch it hahahah. Sauce was horrible by the way”

The printed menu and the online menu both mention toffee sauce and Belgian chocolate sauce. And then to give the venue 1/5 after a lovely evening….

“Told off for bringing in a fully wrapped Greggs Muffin.”

Probably best not to bring in a Greggs…..

No-one has complained yet that they can’t bring their dog in, but I imagine that’ll be coming soon. Anyway, this is a large venue that has lots of little smaller areas, something forced upon the chain by the historic nature of the building. It all felt well managed to me, spotlessly clean and evidently already popular with local office workers. All rather lovely.

November 12, 2025
London – City of London – Sir John Oldcastle Pub

As I had a couple of hours spare in London before my train from Farringdon, I thought I’d pop into the JD Wetherspoon operated Sir John Oldcastle which is at the end of the street. It’s not been one of my favourite pubs as it’s often very busy, but matters are more sedate on a Sunday early afternoon.

As usual, I’ll use the pub chain’s own history of the pub name:

“Named after The Sir John Oldcastle Tavern, which stood in the former grounds of Sir John’s nearby mansion, this was already long established by 1680. Oldcastle is thought to have been the model for Shakespeare’s character ‘Falstaff’.”

Not a vast amount has changed with the street layout here in the last 150 years, the pub is located just above the “EET” of Charles Street. The ward of Saffron Hill has now gone, which originally took its name as saffron grew around here. It’s also where Fagin’s den was located in Oliver Twist.

The bar area and coffee machines and today it was the £1.81 unlimited hot drinks that tempted me in here rather than beer. It all seems functional enough and it felt well managed.

Carpets in every JD Wetherspoon venue are unique, although this one isn’t necessarily the most decadent in terms of its styling.

The online reviews are pretty decent for a JD Wetherspoon venue, despite the challenges they must have here with having a small site and limited space in terms of facilities.

“I was so surprised when the staff said to me I can not paid by 50 in cash. No explanation why. The answer was “not because not”. This is absolutely disgusting and ridiculous. I asked about manager to explanation me this situation. He didn’t show up to speak with me. I will never back to this place. Higley not recommended.”

Disgusting that a venue won’t accept a £50 note? Hmmmm. Seems quite reasonable to me given the number of forgeries.

“I’ve just been kicked out of here, because I had the audacity to bring a Costa Coffee in; even though I’d just ordered and paid for breakfast. They’d rather refund my breakfast purchase; than let me have a Costa with it. If their machine coffee was better; I wouldn’t have had to in the first place.”

Why not just bring in your own food as well?

“Good interior. Ordered porridge. I went to the toilet and when I came back some waiter had taken it away. I hadn’t eaten any of it. I found it was thrown away! Another diner’s beer was also taken away by the same waiter undrunk.”

Very efficient service, it’s good to keep the tables clean.

“If you want to sit and read a paper or a book, this is the place for you. If however, you want to have a laugh and giggle with friends, go to the castle pub instead.”

I’m with the pub, this group sounds needlessly frivolous.

“Leffe. £3.49 a pint in most Wetherspoons. John Oldcastle £5.49 some might say different location BUT McDonalds do not have this issue.”

It feels inevitable to me that a pub in central London will be more expensive than one in Swindon.

“Asked to leave when we were causing no trouble…”

I suspect another side to this story….

Anyway, once again I digress. I thought the pub looked relatively clean, although the toilets probably need more rebuilding than cleaning, with the team members seeming friendly enough. And the coffees and other assorted hot drinks tasted as expected, so a rather peaceful couple of hours.

November 2, 2025
London – Hackney (Borough of) – Baxter’s Court (JD Wetherspoon About to Close)

I’ve trawled to see what old photos I’ve taken of Baxter’s Court, a JD Wetherspoon pub that they’re closing this week. The venue notes about its history:

“This pub stands, more or less, on the site of an old alleyway, known as Baxter’s Court, which dates from at least 1700. Jerusalem Square also dated from this time, but both were swept away when Valetta Street (once Jerusalem Passage) was developed.”

They add:

“This Wetherspoon pub takes its name from a “lost alley” approximately on this site. Sir Thomas Marsh’s White House, also stood here until it was pulled down around 1869. In the late 17th century, Marsh used his house as an academy for training nonconformist ministers.

The bank next door occupies the former site of the Hackney Pavilion, an ornate 1100-seater cinema built in 1914. Defeated by television, it closed in 1973.

The building immediately to the south was at one time used by the Salvation Army, whilst next to that is the former Methodist Central Hall, opened in 1925.

Hackney’s first council housing was built in 1902 in Valette Street, which runs behind this pub. Valette Buildings, dating from 1905, stands on the site of the former Jerusalem Square, a development dating from around 1700.”

The chain has been making a large investment in more substantially sized pubs, including some new openings at railway stations in London.

The chicken bites basket with Mexican rice that I acquired here in 2022. I can’t remember what it was like, but I’m sure it was entirely adequate.

This is the Session IPA from Three Sods Brewery, a local set-up which closed in August 2022, a few weeks after I purchased this beer. I say purchased, it was given to me by the pub as they had started to pour it and realised I had ordered on the app the BoHo Bitter from the same brewery. I liked this arrangement.

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Deep in my digital archive, here’s a little throw back from the pub from 2012. Coffee back then was served by the staff, this was before the self-service unlimited hot drinks arrangement which I very much like. As I like things such as this, I had a look at how much this costs today in the pub:

Eggs Benedict – £5.29

Regular Cappuccino – £1.81

Large Pepsi – £2.05

So, a total of £9.15, which isn’t too much of an increase from the £6.24 of 13 years ago, especially as the coffees are now unlimited. Anyway, I digress, so I thought I’d have a quick look at the reviews of the venue and they’re quite low for the chain.

“Very bad … They Refused to serve me because I had a dog.. Dogs are not allowed which is okay But… Why I couldn’t Even drink my beer Outside? It doesn’t make sense at all!!!”

The obligatory complaint from a dog owner and the policy makes sense to me, they don’t want dogs in or out of the pub.

“I really struggle to give it 1 star. I went in there on Saturday 11/12/21 and manager tried to fiddle me. She overcharged me for a mixer for a whisky (I didn’t want or have) and when challenged asked me if I supported ‘Black lives Matter’… When I replied ‘no’ was told I was barred…. Watch out for her guys…. Still have receipt with date and time on!!!”

Without doubting the story, there must have been more to this exchange than just this.

“Horrible table service.. I ordered two glasses of wine at 5:00 pm it came to my table at 5:20 pm. I give them a negative 10”

This is the entirety of the review because two drinks took twenty minutes to arrive at the table….

“Absolutely disgusted just been in and ordered a pizza and asked for no chilli peppers as I’m allergic to them, sent the pizza back as they still came out with them on, new pizza arrived they just took them off and missed a few, staff didn’t care either when I took it back even when I explained I was allergic to them”

This is a bit sub-optimal….

“This establishment refused to accept a Clydesdale bank £5 note.”

They don’t have to….

“No John Smith what’s going wrong with this pub”

No wonder the place is closing if they couldn’t get that right….

Below is the sales document, it seems that the building has been acquired for over £2 million.

Sales Document Download

The pub has been trading as a JD Wetherspoon venue for around 25 years, I suspect that it’ll be missed by the local community, however many faults it might have had.

October 31, 2025
Bournemouth – The Parkstone and Heatherlands

I was en route to Bournemouth Airport and so I thought that I’d visit a JD Wetherspoon venue that I hadn’t been to before. This is the Parkstone and Heatherlands and I’ll use the chain’s history of the pub name:

“This building is better known to Winton’s older residents as the long-standing Co-op, the original of which (on this site) was a branch of the Parkstone and Heatherlands Society. Following a public meeting attended by 100 people, in May 1903, the society’s new store opened for business the following September. Molesworth House, as the store was then called, was replaced by a high, domed building, which became a familiar landmark. The dome was later removed and the building refaced.”

It’s a relatively small venue from JD Wetherspoon opened a large number of venues like this around twenty years ago.

This is from the other end of the pub, with the bar being located on the right hand side. I ordered at the bar and was served in turn by a friendly team member, so positive first impressions.

I only went for a coffee here, although they had around six real ales available at the chain’s usual low prices. The new signage telling people not to have multiple hot chocolates was in place, although not enforced.

As I like to have a little look for JD Wetherspoon venues, the online reviews for the pub are towards the lower end of the scale for the chain.

“Bad food cooked by unqualified people. Scruffy staff that need tidying up. Seems that certain staff dictate to the manager who they like & don’t like. Ban men for looking at the opposite sex, but when I’m not there men chat my girlfriend up & she doesn’t complain”

Hmmmm.

“Called in for a couple of pints on the Saturday evening. Bell rang for last orders, didn’t even make it to the bar within 60seconds to get my last drink of the night before being told no more serving. Was told within two minutes of that to drink up. Other obvious regulars given plenty more time to savour their last drinks of the evening. Will choose a better establishment to drink in with more patient staff from now on. Would rather pay more for my pint and enjoy it than pay cheaper and be rushed to empty my glass”

Julian the elder is the expert on this, it’s a shame he wasn’t there, but he seems to know exactly what to get and when to avoid annoying bar staff. Well, generally.

“Customers generally not adhering to social distancing with lots of handshakes.”

The venue gets a 1 out of 5 review for this. May these days never be repeated….

“The food and service was great. However within half an hour or so I thought I was in a kindergarten. There were no less than half a dozen women and screaming children who took the place over. Not somewhere I would go for a coffee and a chat, couldn’t hear myself think!!”

I’m very tolerant of course, but I can feel this person’s pain….

“Have just come in to the Parkstone and Heather lands with my 13 year old son one of the members of staff have told me my son can sit how he was. Which was lent over basically with his head in his phone like most teenagers. im absolutely fueming. Disgusting behaviour. Usually this pub if fine I’m literally shocked”

I’m not sure that I even understand what’s happened here.

“Terrible, table next to us ordered food and they gave it to us instead, we ate it as anyone would do and then said you either have to pay or leave! Your fault you ordered it to the wrong table.”

No, nearly nobody would eat the food that was put on the wrong table.

“It’s cheap and not chearful, only place I know where they make you pay up front.”

I feel that someone might be new here.

“Worst wheaterspoons pub ever”

Interesting spelling. But, I digress and in terms of the cost, the price point here was the same as their two more centrally located pubs in Bournemouth.

There are also about twenty reviews complaining that the chips are being microwaved and numerous photos of soggy chips. Seems a bit odd. Anyway, I rather liked the pub although it feels more old-school Wetherspoons in the way their smaller pubs outside central London used to feel. They were a bit more focused on serving regulars and more wet-led, but this pub seems to be an important part of the community.

And I got several coffees (and obviously no hot chocolates as I don’t want to break the law) for £1.81 so that was rather lovely.

October 23, 2025
Bournemouth – Thomas Shelley

The Thomas Shelley is the second JD Wetherspoon venue in Bournemouth, located nearby to the Moon in the Square. They used to operate the Christopher Creeke on Holdenhurst Road, but that’s now closed, although I did visit it when I was in Bournemouth in 2018.

As usual, I’ll take the history of the pub name from JD Wetherspoon:

“St Peter’s churchyard contains the grave of Mary Shelley and her husband, the romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary, author of the novel Frankenstein, died in London in 1851. Her body was interred in the family vault at St Peter’s by her son, Sir Percy Florence Shelley, who lived at nearby Boscombe Manor (which later became part of Bournemouth and Poole College).”

I’ve written about this situation already and I’m still marginally annoyed.

The pub was busy, this is one of the few tables that was briefly unoccupied. It’s a large venue and there are numerous different seating areas, with the bar in the centre of the whole arrangement. There were about eight real ales available and the drinks, as usual, were keenly priced. I ordered at the bar and it was all efficient and organised, with only a minimal wait.

Working through a little more of the JD Wetherspoon beer festival, this is the JDW Young Henrys Newtowner which isn’t particularly well reviewed on Untappd. I rather liked it though, it was light and citrusy.

Ross ordered Coors and I’m not judgemental at all about beer, but I know others in the pub might be, so I hid it in case anyone said anything.

The next half pint was the Root and Branch from Oakham Ales, which is a black IPA. It has an interesting flavour, roasty and quite complex.

The carpet.

As usual, I feel the need to look through the reviews as it’s a JD Wetherspoon venue and it’s quite well reviewed online.

“Popped in to get a quick whiskey and to see if I could get some ice to take away. Not a problem but had to pay a pound for the coffee cup to take it away in. Was interestingly informed by the barman serving me that it was good ice cos it’s hard and lasts ages. Information for barman, ice is ice and it lasted no longer than any other ice.”

Wetherspoon does have good ice I suppose, but seems a bit harsh to charge £1 for a takeaway cup….

“I came on steak Tuesday order a sirloin steak chips. The steak did not taste right like a sirloin. Also asked for normal peppercorn sauce and they don’t have it, ask them to make it they don’t make the sauce fresh its in a bag!”

I like the idea of the team member in the kitchen quickly making some fresh peppercorn sauce….

“During my Son’s Stag we ordered food & did not receive what we paid for. The upset member of staff took it away. He later returns and said that it was paid for anyway and dropped the 2 plates onto the bar and when I called the manager / team leader to explain and complain about he’s action I was told that she will not deal with it as I was being rude. They then refused to sale any drinks to the party of 22 people. I was told we can stay but can’t order.”

You can stay, but don’t order anything probably isn’t what a stag group wants to hear….

“Was appalled to see England supporters being told to cover up their shirts. Thought this was an English pub in an English Town in an English County where democracy exists.”

In a democracy, pubs can ask customers not to wear football shirts. Although the chain has changed their mind on this numerous times, it probably is a bit unfair on customers to work out what their current policy is.

“Didn’t stay for a drink as the men’s toilets were so far away downstairs it was like a punishment! Might be a good pub but I don’t want a marathon to the toilet”

They’re down one flight of stairs…. Anyway, the exercise is good for the soul.

“Most of the staff here are horrible.”

They’re probably not….

“Still trying to uphold some vague restrictions . Doesn’t suit virtue signalers or those that want normality . Just the usual really, pretend to be doing something for some woke points and inconvenience everyone whilst actually doing nothing of use…”

Perhaps it’s that woke Tim Martin.

Anyway, I’ve digressed once again. All seemed in order at the pub, it was clean, organised and the team members seemed friendly. It was useful to tick a couple more beers off from the real ale festival that they’re having nationally and Ross was pleased with his pizza.

October 12, 2025
JD Wetherspoon Can’t Offer Free Refills on Mocha and Hot Chocolate

Not that I’m one to complain….. But this is entirely sub-optimal, the recent Government changes on sugary soft drinks have also impacted the hot chocolate at JD Wetherspoon. That means no more unlimited mochas or hot chocolates, which seems to me a ridiculous infringement on my coffee drinking rights. And, next to these machines will be unlimited sachets of sugar, those are absolutely fine on their own….

I’m not entirely sure whether JD Wetherspoon will actually monitor this or just end up removing hot chocolate entirely and having it by sachets only or something. I’m not entirely sure that this will help the health of the next generation, but what would I know…..

October 11, 2025
Bournemouth – The Moon in the Square

Here’s the exterior of the Moon in the Square pub from when I visited last November. I’m currently back here again, so I felt the need to write something about it. I’m always keen to surprise and delight my two loyal blog readers….

As I usually do for pubs in the JD Wetherspoon chain, I’ve taken the history of the venue from their own website:

“This is one of several Wetherspoon pubs with ‘moon’ in their name, linking them with the ideal pub described by George Orwell. He called his fictitious pub ‘Moon Under Water’. This one stands on the site of Victoria Villa and Library – the home and business premises of TJ Hankinson, who was Bournemouth’s first mayor, elected in 1890. Around that time, the buildings were replaced by King’s drapery store which traded here for several decades.”

And, courtesy of the JD Wetherspoon website, here’s the link to the area to Tony Hancock.

The interior of the pub, which was all clean, tidy and organised. It’s about half full on a Friday afternoon and it’s the tail end of the JD Wetherspoon beer festival. I still haven’t found the cucumber beer from Adnams…… They did though have seven real ales available, all reasonably priced.

I went for half a pint of the Dark from Exmoor Ales which cost just £1.08. It was a malty and rich beer, even slightly decadent.

Also, as usual, I felt the need to have a look at the reviews for the pub, which is rated highly for the chain.

“Fully booked up. Streams people. Often over crowded. 3 nights out of 4 couldn’t eat here on our stay”

It feels unfair to rate the venue 1 out of 5 for that.

“Beer is tasteless, I had thatchers gold cider and it was tasting flat.”

They sell over 50 beers across keg, cask and can so it’s hard to understand how it’s tasteless. Unless they ordered Bud Light, but it’s meant to taste like that.

“***** is an absolute jobsworth. Because he’s got an ear piece in thinks he’s something important, runs away and hides in the kitchen, sends his bar staff out to deal with issues and hides 🤣. Nice pub, cheap and cheerful but jobsworth management”

This sounds like a former staff member who is annoyed at the manager in question…. And, as I know from Norwich Beer Festival, anyone with an ear piece is important.

“Refused to serve us at outside table, they seem to think dogs are unacceptable but smokers are OK! No dog sitting quietly ever caused lung cancer 😡”

An angry dog owner is never far away….

“We were kicked out by bar staff me wife dog out side drinking said drink up dogs not allowed”

There’s a Brewdog opposite which loves dogs to be fair….

“Terrible service, the person at the bar didnt even know how to use the till!”

God forbid they have a member of staff being trained…

“absolutely dreadful wasn’t allowed to drink my pint for some reason which i had every right to drink and paid for with my hard earnt money”

I suspect that there was a reason.

“Was locked in mens cubicle as door locks malfunctioned and used my mobile phone to call bar for help. Staff arrived with screw driver to hand to me as lock wouldn’t undo from outside of door so removed screws on lock and door fell open. All door locks on public toilets should have opening device”

This feels like a proper, valid complaint. At least it added some exciting drama to this customer’s day.

Anyway, I’ve digressed and got distracted once again. I’ve been to this pub a few times and it does get busy in the evenings, but the service always seems friendly and sort of efficient. And there’s a decent amount of real ale available, although unfortunately neither this pub nor the other nearby JD Wetherspoon have made the Good Beer Guide….

October 10, 2025
Coventry – Flying Standard

Unlike the nearby Earl of Mercia, this JD Wetherspoon pub isn’t listed in the Good Beer Guide. It’s in what appears to be a grand old building (although that exterior is all mock Tudor and it’s a twentieth century construction) which is visually appealing and there’s a small external seating area as well. As usual, I’ll quote from JD Wetherspoon, who have operated the venue since 2000, about the origins of the pub name:

“This is named after the fondly remembered motor car, part of a range of models made in Coventry from 1903 until the 1960s. Standard’s first car, the Motor Victoria, was built in 1903 by Reginald Maudslay, in Much Park Street. The Standard Nine was launched in 1927. Inexpensive, at £198, its success saw Standard through the ‘slump’ and it was still going strong when, in 1936, the Flying Standard models made their début.”

I visited when the beer festival was taking place and there was quite a choice, with all of the beers in the festival being £1.95 a pint. There are a couple, namely from Titanic and Adnams, that I’m hoping to try although I haven’t seen them anywhere yet.

The first half I ordered was the Free Rein from Purity Brewing and this was really rather good with a tropical edge and it was smooth and fluffy. Quite punchy for 4.5% and a bargain for under £1 for a half.

The second half was the Blackberry Porter from Mauldons and it tasted as if there was as much hedgerow as blackberry in it, the beer was quite rustic. But, I like robust flavours and I like Mauldons, with the lingering taste being pleasant and it was under £1 for a half…..

The new light bites menu has been launched nationally this week, alongside another round of price increases on food and drink.

As this is a JD Wetherspoon venue, I always like to have a little look at the reviews so see how they’ve annoyed customers over the years. It is though really quite positively reviewed, so they’ve delighted a lot more customers than they’ve seemingly annoyed.

“So earlier this afternoon I visited this spoons with a friend as we fancied some drinks. We got our drinks and were sipping on them when I realized there was a fly that had entered my drink. I was absolutely shocked and took this to the bartender, they were shocked too and called for the manager. I had about half of my drink left when I brought this issue up and there was no I was going to drink it. I spoke to the manager and expressed my concern and she didn’t seem to care one bit. I asked if I could get another one and she said that no I couldn’t as I only had a sip left. I was sickened by this service and treatment as I’ve never had such a horrible experience before. Usually if there’s something wrong or an issue with a drink or a dish (say hair was found in it), it always get taken off the bill oror you’re given another one. But in this case I was given such sickening treatment and the manager didn’t bother to even solve the issue. I’ve worked previously in restaurants and hospitality and we’re trained and taught the opposite of this behavior. We’re instructed to treat the customer with respect and prioritize their thoughts, something that was far from what I had experienced today.”

I think I’d notice a fly in my drink before I had nearly finished it…. Or I’d just take the bloody thing out and carry on.

“Went there really wanting to have a good English breakfast. Didnt work out very well. The food is good.. many options on the menu to choose from, but i have visited weatherspoons before and this was not an experience i liked. I went to get a cup of coffee left half my breakfast on my plate to come back to it. Wen i came back, the table was cleared. As i checked with the servers i received an answer as they thought i was done, but i had half my breakfast still left. Didnt feel like sitting there any more after this. Wont visit the place again.”

Sit near the coffee machine and watch the table like a hawk when not at it. It’s the only way…

“One of the management team (Andrew), was quite rude when we had our food stolen, lack of management skills and communication”

There are a fair number of these reviews, either they have efficient waiting staff or there’s a hungry customer permanently waiting to pounce.

“On visiting Coventry my husband and I went into Witherspoons for our lunch I wish we hadn’t bothered it was really awful, we went in by one door but was blocked by tables and chairs so close together you would not get a person through so we tried another door and found ourselves on the upper floor but to get a table to sit and have a meal to go up into the lift, we got out of lift but once again found we could not get to a table I forget to mention I have to use a walker to get around I could not get through any ethereal at all so husband started moving tables and chairs to get me through. We got a table but the meal was really awful we ordered gammon,chips they do not serve pineapple only fried eggs with the gammon my egg was buried underneath the chips and peas we eat very little I just wanted to be out of there. Before we left needed to go to the ladies it was disgusting no flush the handled broke but no maintenance so we just moved a lot tables and chairs for me to get through to get out we will never visit a witherspoons ever again”

What a lovely lunch they had, I always love stories about how people battle through even through adversity.

“As with all Witherspoon’s it lacks any sort of atmosphere, people sat in small groups quietly eating and sipping there order,tv,s dotted around showing only sport channels with the volume turned down. the smokers area is a total joke a few large brollys on a very busy pavement, with only a extendable webbing barrier between not smoking area and people who may or mat not smoke if they wish just millimetre away,not the cheapest beer in town ,disinterested staff,turning into a rest home”

If we’re defining atmosphere as lots of music, then I like pubs with no atmosphere.

“Tried to order six pints of Greene king and was turned away. Outrageous”

They should be listed in the Good Beer Guide for doing this.

“Food was stone cold but staff was fantastic in there”

I like the bluntness of this one. Anyway, I digress once again.

I rather like this pub and I’ve visited a few times over the years. The service was friendly on this visit and I liked the manager was pro-actively engaging about the beer festival, they seemed quite excited by the whole arrangement.

October 6, 2025
Oxford – Four Candles

I think that this is my favourite name of any JD Wetherspoon pub, I’ll use their history of the pub to explain its origins:

“The eye-catching building next door but one to these premises is Oxford University’s history faculty. It was originally the city’s High School for Boys, which opened in 1881. The comic actor Ronnie Barker was a former pupil and later one of the Two Ronnies. Probably their best-known sketch was ‘Four Candles’. Barker walks into a hardware store and asks for and gets ‘four candles’. However, he really wanted fork handles – ‘andles for forks’.”

The building was used as a Yates Wine Lodge until JD Wetherspoon took it over in 2008. There’s a different carpet in every one of the chain’s pubs and this one is styled in the form of four candles.

It’s located across two floors and is a reasonably large venue. The tables are a little near to each other which makes navigating around just a little more difficult.

And my breakfast arrangement of a small breakfast, alongside toast with marmalade and unlimited hot drinks. This was £5.48 for everything, which doesn’t feel unreasonable for Oxford city centre. Everything was hot and tasted as I’d want, especially after I’d added my required amount of black pepper.

This wasn’t early morning drinking, I bumped into Simon from the LDWA later on and we had time for a quick drink before my coach to Luton Airport. It’s the Firefly from Windsor & Eton Brewery which was light, hoppy and unexciting. They usually have three real ales alongside their Greene King offerings, not the largest selection by any means.

As it’s a JD Wetherspoon venue, I of course had to go and look at the online reviews, which are broadly positive for the chain.

“Tattoo barestaff asked me to leave after my food due to me taking some of my ecig.. understand couple of warning but after I order food. Blocking tab straight away. Obvious intentions. Disgusting and want be returning.”

So a customer breaks the pub’s smoking ban and is allowed to leave after finishing their food, but they still think that’s “disgusting” as they felt they needed at least a couple of warnings?

“Went for a few drinks here, was asked to leave the pub for being too loud?”

Good. There are other pubs to be raucous in.

“Standard Wetherspoons but T**** the Deputy Manager……..Well done T****!!!”

I’ve removed the complaint itself, but I’ve never understood the need for people to name individual staff (and I’ve starred the name out so I don’t look hypocritical) in negative reviews. I’m also not entirely sure that Google should allow it, but there we go….

“where to start the table was filthy luckily I have a baby so baby wipes was on hand. we ordered 2 traditional breakfasts, 1 with an extra sausage and preserves on toast. the breakfasts came with no bacon or tomato, and missing the extra sausage. and the toast had no jam. disaster.”

Disaster? Maybe sub-optimal or even not ideal…..

“I came there, waited for 15 for a waiter to come, and then I left. And I will never come back.”

I think I know what’s happened here…. Anyway, I digress.

It’s a cheap, friendly and cheerful option in the city centre, one I’ve visited before, but it felt right to excite and delight my two loyal blog readers by writing about it.

September 25, 2025
Horsham – Lynd Cross

As I hadn’t eaten at the Burger King at the services, as the prices were far too decadent, I decided to get food and drink at the Lynd Cross pub in Horsham whilst waiting for the others (Nathan takes hours to do his hair). It’s a JD Wetherspoon venue and it was relatively busy when I entered, although it felt like a safe enough pub.

Before I go further, I’d add that I was going back for breakfast the next day so thought I’d get some riveting photos for this blog. Unfortunately, the damn thing was shut as they had a water leak, so the imagery on this blog is rather limited.

The chain, who at least make an effort to explain their history, notes:

“The Lynd Cross was the 14th-century name of the junction between the Bishopric and Springfield Road, now the site of this Wetherspoon pub. The first record of a building at this address is in the 1930s, when it was the Old Horsham Bakery.”

To my slight surprise, the venue is on the lowest price band for the chain, so this meal cost just over £6 and included a pint of beer. The group of lads on the table next to me were quite excited about that I had ordered a breakfast on a Friday night, although I pointed out that the chips quite rightly made this an evening meal. They also helpfully gave me some suggestions for other pubs in the town, one of which the others were about to go to. The food tasted fine, particularly at that price point, and was sufficiently filling and all at the appropriate hot temperature.

The drink never arrived at the table but the time I had finished my late night breakfast and so I just went to the bar to collect it. The Elvis Juice from Brewdog was its reliably grapefruity quality. There were six real ales available, but I wasn’t tempted on this occasion. Unfortunately, this pub isn’t in the Good Beer Guide, so I couldn’t tick another one off.

The service generally was a bit all over the place with the staff just standing talking rather than doing any table orders. I mention this as the venue has rather poor reviews for a Wetherspoon venue, which nearly all fit into the 3.8 to 4.1 stars on Google Maps (yes, I’ve analysed it that much). This one sits at 3.7, which indicates there’s likely a local issue going on so I’ve decided that it’s a great use of my time to read the reviews.

“So My Husband and myself are sitting outside Weather spoons in Horsham as I write this , with our 5 months old puppy on our laps , We know dogs are not allowed inside . Hence we are outside , We have been asked to leave because dogs are not allowed anywhere on the premises , I’ve never experienced anything so ridiculous. She’s as quiet as a mouse not disturbing anyone . So we can sit in any pub garden , but we not allowed to sit outside scruffy old weather spoons sitting on a rented public thoroughfare”

I’m not entirely sure that a lot of customers realise that the ban is on dogs generally, it’s not “no dogs, but we allow quiet dogs” as that is, unsurprisingly, difficult to enforce. And if you don’t allow dogs, then you can’t really have them in beer gardens or outside, as how do you get them through the pub or how do you go to the toilet or whatever unless you have someone else to look after them?

“Warning no dogs accepted outside. Even the staff member had trouble locating the sign. Even well behaved dogs. There loss of a £45 order. Other pubs in area dog friendly and excellent service”

I’ve seen pubs with “well behaved dogs welcome” signs but how are we defining a well behaved dog? One that doesn’t bark? One that doesn’t jump on tables or chairs? One that doesn’t bite other customers? And, in the same way as people think their child is an angel, I’ve met lots of dog owners who think that their dog is well behaved and IMO self-evidently isn’t.

“Terrible experience here. Ordered food while the app said there was a waiting time of 12 minutes. 25 minutes later asked at bar, very unhelpful. In the end we had food 39 minutes from ordering, had to rush to eat then go to an appointment. Also had to go to bar to get coffee cups as they didn’t arrive. Staff couldn’t care less.”

and

“Absolutely horrendous service 45mins it took for 2 small food meals & 10+ minutes for 2 pints of apple juice to arrive the atmosphere is dull”

There are a lot of these reviews from the last few weeks, something seems to be sub-optimal with this particular JD Wetherspoon.

“Dump and the lowest of low customers, even had one guy called Peter come up and Insult us, quite funny but would not set foot in here again”

This rather says more about the reviewer, but there we go.

“Surely one of the worst managed pubs in the Wetherspoons franchise. Service at the bar is nearly always slow; tables are rarely cleared; app orders take forever. They are seemingly always understaffed, and consequentially even on quiet afternoons they struggle.

In addition, whilst staff are friendly, there is quite a cliquey atmosphere amongst them collectively. Off duty staff can often be found performing ad-hoc duties, and there is a general atmosphere which can make customers feel like they are imposing upon the staff.

The pub just needs a reset, with a better manager in place who can help it realise its potential.”

This is one of the recent reviews, it feels quite balanced. But that’s enough of my commentary on this matter….

Anyway, as the pub was shut the following morning I couldn’t work out whether things were better when it was quiet and nor could I take a photo of the carpet (I didn’t say I was interesting). It’s quite a small venue for the chain, but it opened in March 1998 before they started opening much larger outlets as almost a standard. But, I have to note that the food and drink represented excellent value for money, so I left happy although maybe I’m just easily pleased….

September 24, 2025