The Kings Tun (JD Wetherspoon), Kingston Town, Kingston Upon Thames

A huge Wetherspoons in what was originally the Empire cinema although I remember it from the days that I lived in the area as the Reject Shop (remember them?). There isn't much inside to remind you of its former guises and it is for the most part a typically branded ‘Spoons albeit covering a large area over 2 floors. The downstairs main bar is essentially the old cinema foyer and fairly open with the usual run of screened off snugs down a couple of sides. One interesting addition to the silent fruit machines and multiple plasma screens is an electronic table top poker game. The main bar has 12 hand pumps however as it is currently Ale Festival time, I cannot for certain say how many guest beers they normally offer but on top of the 7 Festival Beers on Monday, they also had 3 additional guest beers so I am assuming that the selection is better than average even outside of the Festival dates. An open staircase winds its way to the even more spacious upper floor which has its own self contained bar albeit with just the 3 hand pumps. Due to sheer size of the place, I would assume that grabbing a table is pretty easy even at the busiest of times however some of the customer base were a bit charmless to put it politely. The same cannot be said of the staff who were pleasant, efficient and were never without a smile. They were also patient and tactful when I witnessed them having to deal with some particularly demanding characters. The old pictures of town are of personal interest since I can relate to the days when Kingston wasn't just a seemingly series of chain shops, refurbished bars and mass market consumerism. I no longer know the town centre well enough to determine where the Kings Tun fits in with the competition but for Ales, it would certainly be a front runner even if the pub itself lacks any great intrinsic charm.