The Queen Hotel (JD Wetherspoon), Aldershot

It was a relief to get inside here away from the depressing town centre that Aldershot has. Once inside they have done a good job in keeping the hotel going. Nice beer garden and friendly staff. A nice Spoons this one.

Modernish Spoons converted from a Victorian hotel (and Spoons still offer accommodation here in the upper floors) in 2014. Light and airy with plenty of skylights, a marble topped bar and an open plan area with exposed beams. Over-use of puff blue paint on the wood panelling, feels like you're trapped in a Wedgwood vase. There's a decent rear garden. Just two uninspiring guest cask, my Elgoods was metallic but I’m blaming the brewery here as all their beers I’ve had in Spoons have been dire. Extensive range of Spoons list craft cans which I switched to in double-quick time. In the context of central Aldershot, there’s probably not much reason to go anywhere else. But there is also a bit of room for improvement on the cask front. 6.5

A Victorian hotel in the town centre, currently owned by JDW who have extended and updated the building to good effect. The bar area is entered along a ramp from the door to the main bar area. High vaulted ceilings in the extensions make it feel modern and open, and it’s actually quite pleasant. The staff were engaging and helpful, and there was the usual selection of gaming machines to entertain those who need it. There were two banks of six handpumps on the bar, but only 6 ales on plus a boxed cider behind the bar and a selection of bottled beers from Meantime, Brewdog and various foreign breweries. I had a pint of Hogs Back Bitter (HBB) which was tolerable but probably on its last legs. As Aldershot pubs go this is a safe bet.

As already noted this is a classy conversion of an old hotel and is still a hotel although it looks like the number of rooms is fairly limited. Inside it consists of several rooms and the main bar area has a mix of wooden floors, black & white tiles and carpet. The furnishings are not standard but a far better quality offering. The standard guest ale price is £2.29 which means it isn't the cheapest Spoons but nothing like the dearest. I did notice that four of the Club food offering were about a quid dearer than typical but it is a lot more opulent than many of their branches. The only problem for me was that they only have six beers on at a time. There is a "dead" set of six pumps behind a pillar that just shows what's coming next. On my visit they had the two GK Beers, Doom Bore, Hogs Back Tea & HBB and Welton's Topper Mild. I went for the Topper Mild (£2.39) which was in excellent condition. The three interesting beers of the six were all Locale which is a plus point. This is definitely one of the better Spoons which makes the limited beer choice something of a shame.