The phrase has also been used in Letchworth Garden City, where artist Bettina Furnée incorporated it into her 2003 public artwork Paradise Is, commissioned for the centenary of the original Garden City. And here, across three photos, is this rather pleasant and slightly quirky signage.

It’s not always easy to find somewhere to sit to get work done which doesn’t get in the way with the operations of the venue. I’m not going to take up a seat in a cafe where they need the tables because I do have some moral limits, even if they are inconsistently applied. But JD Wetherspoon has the perfect set-up for me and so that’s how I ended up here.

I did try the town’s library as an alternative, but that was louder than this pub, which feels like a sub-optimal development for civilisation. I appreciate, begrudingly, libraries have changed and are no longer silent temples of paper and mild fear, but it is still slightly disconcerting when the pub is the better option for concentration. Somewhere, a Victorian librarian is turning in their grave, probably while tutting.

As I’ve decided to keep every photo from the last 15 years, this is when Liam and I popped into the pub on 4 November 2018. I’ve included it for the sake of completeness…. One day historians will thank me for preserving these moments. Well, maybe.

Using the chain’s website to explain the pub name:

“Letchworth was the first ‘Garden City’, inspired by the work of the urban planner Ebenezer Howard. He illustrated his idea for ‘Garden Cities’ with his famous three-magnets diagram, from which this Wetherspoon pub gets its name.”

That is quite a pleasing bit of civic context. Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City idea was all about combining the best of town and country, which is a noble ambition. I’m not sure he specifically envisaged his planning philosophy leading to refillable coffee, curry club and someone checking Untappd in the corner, but social progress takes unexpected forms.

There was a decent selection of real ales, around seven in total, and all reasonably priced with the options here from Thornbridge, Elgood’s and the Cairngorm Brewing Co.

I went for the Wildcat from Cairngorm Brewery Co and it was fruity, malty and rich. And not only was it well-kept, it was just £1.95 with the CAMRA discount.

The rear section of the pub, which isn’t enormous and some of the seating is a little tightly stacked in.

My now obligatory carpet photo. Some people collect art, some climb mountains and I document the floor coverings of national pub chains. I won’t pretend this was my original life plan, but I must work with the gifts that I have been given.

When it’s just over £6 including the 0% Guinness then I can’t resist. This was all cooked well other than that gravy could have been hotter.

Obviously I felt the need to have a little look at the online reviews and they’re towards the lower end of the chain’s scale.

“Went for a dinner few nights ago and we ordered Indian chicken jalfrezi meal and fried halloumi burger. The food was atrocious. The waitress only bothered to tell us AFTER we had paid for it that the Indian food was reheat and eat.”

I’m not sure if they expected the JD Wetherspoon chef to be making curries to order in the kitchen, perhaps grinding spices by hand while someone asks whether table 42 has got their chips yet. There are many things to enjoy about JD Wetherspoon, but I’m not sure bespoke Indian cuisine is quite the business model.

“Charged £4 for 2 halves of Stowford press when the menu said £1.99 a pint, something going on here, maybe bar staff are fiddling”

Sub-optimal, but hard to imagine the team members are fiddling if that’s what the till comes up with.

“The chavs like smoking their cigarettes at the main door of the pub – with the door wide open – no surprises – the pub stinks of cigarettes. Manager doesn’t seem to care.”

I wouldn’t refer to smokers as chavs, but this smoking at the front door has annoyed a few reviewers and it’s still going on….

“The overweight barmaid…..”

I ignored the rest of the review, this sort of review really shouldn’t get accepted.

“Dogs are banned even in the outdoor space. Utterly ridiculous.”

Always reassured to see at least one person annoyed at the chain’s dog policy.

“Don’t sell carling”

I’m not sure why that deserves a one star rating.

Anyway, I digress. I had wanted to explore more pubs in Letchworth, but a number were shut on Mondays and Tuesdays, although I did find one interesting one I’ll post about soon. This JD Wetherspoon seemed competently managed, cold gravy aside, it was cheap, cheerful and was a suitably comfortable place to sit. Although they need to sort out the number of flies around their coffee machine, that was a little ridiculous.