Moon & Starfish (JD Wetherspoon), Clacton-On-Sea

Seafront 'spoons of no particular distinction, with what should be a good view obstructed by the clutter of amusements around the foot of the pier. Opened-out slightly from what was presumably once a hotel (with an interesting arcaded first floor) to leave a 'L'-shaped bar and a square side room, with some additional seating on the front terrace. Not a bad selection of five festival beers (including a decent Acorn XV oatmeal stout, just £2.15) and three ciders in addition to the usual suspects from the two banks of six handpumps.

Official site of Moon & Starfish (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of Moon & Starfish (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

I turned up here on a dank February day so there were certainly no staffing issues and the adjoining road was hardly busy! I thought it was smaller inside than it looks from the outside but did spot a rather pleasant long narrow area with low tables running along the front windows. Apart from that it's fairly standard JDW but with some slightly better furnishings. I got here just after eleven on a Thursday morning so it wasn't that busy although there did seem to be a few members of the Essex branch of the Daytime Brigade. The bar has ten hand pumps which on my visit had one unused and the JDW Trio Of Doom. The six beers worth considering were almost all from the current guest list (no Locale beers) and were Phoenix Navvy, Oakham JHB, Adnam's / Stone Amber Ale, Upham Punter and Flack Manor Flack Catcher. I went for the Navvy (£2.29) which was in excellent condition. It's still GBG listed and I only actually saw one other pub in Clacton which it turned out didn't open until midday so I wished I had stayed for a second. It's a better than average Spoons but I would hate to come here at peak holiday time.

Nice enough Wetherspoons over the road from the funfair. Small terrace at the front for drinkers, but the adjoining road is busy. One L-shaped room with curved bar. Not enough staff to cope with the tourists after good deals where the choice of other venues is limited. But overall a decent enough place & the beer was good!