Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: JJ Moons

  • London – Brent (Borough of) – Wembley – JJ Moons

    London – Brent (Borough of) – Wembley – JJ Moons

    I have to confess to another little trip to JD Wetherspoon for breakfast, since it’s cheap on Mondays to Wednesdays and also much cheaper than anything that the Wembley Ibis was offering.

    I last visited this pub in 2012, so have managed to forget everything about it. It’s a much larger pub that I expected (I’m not sure why I expected anything since I’d forgotten everything about it, but I digress) and it wasn’t particularly busy either. The interior is all inoffensive and clean and JD Wetherspoon opened here in 1989, so this is one of their earlier projects. Before it was used as a licensed premises, this was the shop which was run by William Perring & Co Ltd, House Furnishers.

    Another photo of the interior. The staff here seemed friendly and welcoming, so it was a comfortable environment. I don’t know if they still do it, but I know a few years ago that surge pricing was in operation here, so prices were higher on match and event days, since it’s near to Wembley Stadium. It must be challenging running a pub like this so close to Wembley, as the volume of customers would be potentially huge in a short period of time.

    The pub has this display about John D Barrow, a cosmologist who was born and educated locally. He died a few weeks ago, on 26 September 2020, aged 67.

    And the £2.99 traditional breakfast, which was all as expected. Not more to add about these, they’re cheap and cheerful, with the quality of the ingredients being OK.

    So, a perfectly nice pub, and they’ve also handily made sure that there are plenty of power points for customers, which is always useful (well, for me). Friendly staff, clean environment and a suitably interesting range of beers.

  • London – Havering (Borough of) – Hornchurch – JJ Moons

    London – Havering (Borough of) – Hornchurch – JJ Moons

    This JD Wetherspoon outlet opened in 1993 and it’s the only pub in Hornchurch which is listed in the Good Beer Guide.

    It’s relatively sizeable inside, this is at the back of the pub and the bar is located towards the front. All relatively clean and organised, with the health precautions being taken seriously.

    A quick chicken wrap without chips, all entirely acceptable, although slightly unusually the food arrived before the drinks. I had a half of the Dodge City Delta from Kansas Avenue Brewing, quite a floral beer and it was well-kept. There was another customer holding court loudly about Brexit, but it made a change from listening to people angry at how the Government are dealing with the health crisis.

    I had a quick look at TripAdvisor and the pub has some mixed reviews, although I liked this one:

    “We visited most Thursday or Saturday for breakfast. Only TWICE in the last year did we enjoy our meal enough to thank the chef. Food was either look warm, congealed looking, ville tasting or rolls covered in oil…….horrible
    Today, we visited. I had a new dish… Shepherds Pie……once again almost cold.”

    So, someone visited just over 100 times and had good food only twice. I have to say, it’s surprising to say the least that they kept going. But each to their own. There’s also a photo of someone’s breakfast which shows toast which is burnt. Often the customer seems to be exaggerating, and I quite like toast which is on the well-done end of the scale, but the photo that the customer uploaded shows toast which is pretty solidly black. Perhaps not the best day in the kitchen.

    Anyway, all was well with my visit, there were around six real ales on although no dark beers, and I can see why the pub is in the Good Beer Guide.