FREEDOM PASS WETHERSPOONS 10 (APPENDIX)

FREEDOM PASS WETHERSPOONS 10 (APPENDIX)

    I've finished. Including those I'd previously patronised, some now closed, the total number of London Wetherspoons visited is 108. 

    By design, the whole exercise encompassed some of my favourite pastimes - seeing friends, walking, photography, museums, music, stand-up comedy, writing, and, of course, going to the pub. I also got to discover parts of London I'd never been to before, despite having lived in the capital for over fifty years.

    So now I know where the Krays are buried, and the site of the world's first ATM.

 

    I thought this would take longer; but a mild winter helped. The most pubs I visited in one day was six. But that included starting in The George, my Wanstead local, and only briefly visiting the sixth for the gents and a photo of the carpet. 

    The red dots show all the places I've been since starting my Freedom Pass Wetherspoons quest in January 2024 ....

       The big cluster of dots is central London, some of which are Wetherspoons. The blob just north of Ilford is where I live. The rest plot pretty much all the Wetherspoons pubs within the Transport for London area. The only place I paid a train fare to reach is Woking, where my friend Bob lives. We met up in The Herbert Wells. Yes, it's also Spoons - and it was Bob's round.

    The cheapest beer I found was £1.69 for Ruddles in The Beehive, Brixton - quite likely the cheapest pint in the whole of the capital.  And the cheapest bottomless coffee cost just £1.04 in The Great Spoon of Ilford.

    It has been suggested I rate them all. But, apart from being a bit boring, it wouldn't be particularly objective or useful as a pub that is an oasis of calm for breakfast might be awash with tiresome drunks by the evening. Also, comparing food and drink is pointless as, for every Spoons, quality and price (apart from the airport terminals) is pretty much identical.

     So, I'll just flag a few favourites:

Well worth a visit:

    The Fox on the Hill - Denmark Hill. Spacious country pub with plenty of outside seating, great views and next door to a nice park.

      The Coronation Hall - Surbiton. Elegant former cinema with many original features .....

      The Eva Hart - Chadwell Heath.Former police station named after Titanic survivor. Airy interior but with lots of alcoves, wood panelling and a gallery.

     The Crosse Keys - City of London (Bank Station). My favourite central London Spoons. Nice toilets - and the most appropriate carpet. But busy at lunchtimes.

For tourists:

     The Moon Under Water in Leicester Square and Montagu Pyke in Soho are good places to meet before sampling the delights of the West End.

     The Ice Wharf is in the middle of Camden Market .....

      The Rocket in Putney is the only London Spoons pub actually on the banks of the River Thames .....

      However, there is another riverside Spoons on my list - the Back of Beyond in Reading, which is on the River Kennet. 

      There are 55 Wetherspoons in the UK which are also hotels. But just one of these is in Greater London - The Greenwood Hotel in Northolt. It's nice enough, but not close to any points of interest and almost a mile from the nearest Underground station. So, unless you have friends in west London, not for tourists. I've stayed in Spoons hotels before - in Hull, Ripon and Tewksbury. The best thing about them is, unlike most hotels, the breakfast is optional as you can just go down to the bar and order off the regular menu.

     Fundamentally, Wetherspoons pubs are like the YMCA where ....

   𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮 You can get yourself clean, you can have a good meal, you can do whatever you feel.𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮
   𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮  And you can hang out with the (old) boys.𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮

     Also, you can have a good drink without breaking the bank. When available, a pint of Ruddles is £1.79. Doombar, Abbott and the wonderfully named Daleside Old Legover are currently also under £2 a pint. And wine is a lot cheaper than typical restaurant prices markups.

    So what next? Suggestions include:

Blue plaques: They tend to be clustered together in central London, many of which I've already covered with my Monopoly Challenge. So, no.

Museums and galleries: According to Wikipedia there are around 250 of these in London. It sounds a lot but over the years I've already been to around half of them. So this is certainly an option, maybe using this Flow chart of London Museums. 

World Cuisines: I started this during covid, but quickly stalled on Andorra. The few I sought out were fun, especially the Albanian restaurant in Barking where they thought I was from the Michelin Guide and showered me with free drinks and desserts. Disappointingly my Deliveroo Afghan meal wasn't delivered by camel. A downside of resuming this quest is I might end up looking like the Michelin Man, spare tyre and all.

Street art: This has great appeal, but is a constantly changing dynamic. Some councils have zero tolerance for street art and will paint over all graffiti, even a Banksy  potentially worth a fortune. So there would never be a feeling of completeness. But I will sign up to some of the street art walking tours, of which there are plenty. Also, the London Mural Festival returns in September with around 100 new artworks to find.

      UPDATE: This just appeared in nearby Forest Gate. It's by French street artist Zabou who is based in London. And it turns out she has similar works scattered around London.

The Super Loop: This is a new bus service that girdles London. Whilst I love riding around town on top of a double-decker bus, I've already been to most of the stops.

Great Trees of London:

      There were originally 61 of these of which 53 remain. The four I've seen so far on my wanderings are (clockwise) The Charter Oak in Welling, The Berkeley Plane in Berkeley Square, The Fairlop Oak in Barkingside and the George Green Sweet Chestnut here in Wanstead. I must have walked past the last one a hundreds of times without realising its significance. Wetherspoons named a pub, the New Fairlop Oak after the tree that stands in front of it.

    And I already walked The Thames Path, not the whole 185 miles, but the part through Greater London, between Thamesmead and Hampton Court.

There's the option of plundering someone else's idea: 

      Apart from the many pub guides, there are other possibilities ..... 

    But, unless someone comes up with a better idea, I think maybe combining unseen museums/galleries with uneaten national dishes might work. And if there's a great tree or Zebou mural nearby, all the better. But there's no rush and it could be a good thing to save for the winter months. This time around, unless I book a break in Andorra, the gastronomy won't be alphabetical. Meantime, sitting in a Wetherspoons beer garden with the crossword and a pint of Doombar seems like a perfectly good option. 

BREAKING:

     In September 2024 a new Wetherspoons, The Lion & The Unicorn, opened at Waterloo station, bringing my total up to 109 ....

       The pub's name recalls The Lion and The Unicorn Pavilion which was part of the 1951 Festival of Britain, centred here on the South Bank. It was hugely popular and significant coming soon after WWII. The Royal Festival Hall is the only building that remains from then.

       The £2.8 million development will likely prove to be a popular place to wait for a train or meet your well-heeled friends from Surrey. But it's relatively quiet right now as it's adjacent to the relatively remote Platforms 20 to 24. 

       If your train is delayed, you can either order another pint or check out the street art in Leake Street tunnel .......

      ..... take the side exit from the station, on the floor below The Lion and The Unicorn. Otherwise it's a bit of a hike.

 

 

The Full London Wetherspoons List:

Alfred Herring - Palmers Green

Asparagus - Battersea

London and South Western - Battersea

Back of Beyond - Reading

Hope Tap - Reading

Barrel Vault - St Pancras International

Baxter's Court - Hackney

Beaten Docket - Cricklewood

Bear - Maidenhead

Beehive - Brixton

Botwell Inn - Hayes (Hillingdon)

Brockley Barge - Brockley

Captain Flinders - Euston

Central Bar - Shepherd's Bush 

Colley Rowe Inn - Collier Row

Coronation Hall - Surbiton

Crosse Keys - City of London

Crown River - Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 (after security)

Star Light - Heathrow Airport Terminal 4 (after security)

Dairyman - Brentwood

Eva Hart - Chadwell Heath

Fox on the Hill - Denmark Hill, Camberwell

Furze Wren - Bexleyheath

Wrong 'Un - Bexleyheath

Gate Clock - Greenwich

George - Croydon

George - Wanstead (scheduled for closure)

Goldenglove - Stratford

Goodman's Field - Tower Hamlets

Good Yarn - Uxbridge

Greenwood Hotel - Northolt

Great Harry - Woolwich

Great Spoon of Ilford - Ilford

Greyhound - Bromley

Richmal Crompton -  Bromley

Half Moon - Mile End

Hamilton Hall - Liverpool Street Station

Holland Tringham - Steatham (now refurbished - I checked!)

Ice Wharf - Camden

J.J. Moon's - Hornchurch

J.J. Moon's - Kingsbury

J.J. Moon's - Ruislip Manor

J.J. Moons - Tooting

J.J. Moon's - Wembley

Kentish Drovers - Peckham

Kings Ford - Chingford Mount

King's Tun - Kingston

Ledger Building - Docklands

Liberty Bounds - Tower of London (north)

Pommelers Rest - Tower Bridge (south)

The Lion and The Unicorn (Waterloo Station)

Masque Haunt - Old Street 

Metropolitan Bar - Marylebone

Montagu Pyke - Soho

Moon and Spoon - Slough

Moon and Stars - Romford

Moon and Stars - Penge

Moon on the Hill - Harrow-on-the-Hill  (scheduled for closure)

Moon Under Water - Colindale

Moon Under Water - Enfield

Moon Under Water - Hounslow

Moon Under Water - Leicester Square

Moon Under Water - Norbury

Moon Under Water - Watford

Moon and Sixpence - Hatch End

Moon on the Hill - Sutton

Moon on the Square - Feltham

Mossy Well - Muswell Hill

New Fairlop Oak - Fairlop

New Cross Turnpike - Welling

New Fairlop Oak - Fairlop

New Crown - Southgate

Nonsuch Inn - Cheam

Penderel's Oak - Holborn (scheduled for closure)

Pennsylvanian - Rickmansworth

Plough and Harrow - Hammersmith

William Morris - Hammersmith

Railway Bell - Barnet

Red Lion & Pineapple - Acton

Rochester Castle - Stoke Newington

Rocket - Putney

Rockingham Arms - Elephant and Castle

Shakespeare's Head - Holborn

Sir John Hawkshaw - Cannon Street Station

Sir John Oldcastle - Farringdon

Sir Julian Huxley - Selsdon

Sir Michael Balcon - Ealing

Sovereign of the Seas - Petts Wood

Spouter's Corner - Wood Green

Stargazer - O2 Arena, Greenwich

Surrey Docks - Rotherhithe

Tailor's Chalk - Sidcup

Village Inn - Rayners Lane

Walnut Tree - Leytonstone

Watch House - Lewisham

Watchman - New Malden

Wetherspoons - Victoria Station

Whispering Moon - Wallington

White Swan - Islington

Wibbas Down Inn - Wimbledon

William Webb Ellis - Twickenham

Willow Walk - Victoria

Closed:

Knight's Templar - Chancery Lane
Angel - Islington 

London & Rye - Catford

Lord Moon of the Mall - Trafalgar Square

Tichenham Inn - Ickenham

Outside the Freedom Pass area:

Herbert Wells - Woking