The Railway Bell (JD Wetherspoon), Barnet

This Spoons is, handily, only a few strides from New Barnet station. It’s an actual pub conversion; however it’s not that great a job done here, a dull bijou frontage with jumbo rear conservatory out back. A surprisingly large amount of guest ales and my Twickenham Winter Royal was very good (NBSS 3.5), so a marked improvement on that front from the last review and therefore worth its GBG listing.

The exterior is not heavily branded but the turquoise paintwork grates.Inside it's a typical spoons with lots of pine high tables,widening out to a rear conservatory with dining type table.All day drinkers abound,it's a melting pot for the elderly and the derilict. On my visit the ale options were unremittingly dreadful.The regular ales to Doom Bar,GK Abbott and Ruddles Best were supplemented by guests of Marston's brewed Directors,Hobgoblin,Brains SA alongside Sambrooks Wandle and Lees Plum Pudding (a malty mess NBSS 1.5).That line up would give most real ale fans nightmares ,and just how the local CAMRA branch can feature this place in the 2022 GBG is beyond me.But then again ,it's been a regular choice of theirs for years.Maybe it's time to admit there are not that many good ale houses in Barnet and give up most of their GBG allocated slots. I would just keep walking past.

Just over the road form New Barnet station, this is a Wetherspoons pub that makes good use of an existing pub premises, giving it more of a 'pubby' feel than many of their outlets. It's quite a novelty to walk straight into a 'Spoons and be immediately confronted by the servery, as is the case here, where the bar runs along the right hand wall almost from the point you enter the room. Just before the bar, there is a slightly raised lounge where a few sofas and padded chairs are squeezed in beneath the front windows. The servery is predominantly a modern pine affair, split halfway along by a large pillar and with a pub mirror as the centrepiece of the bar back. The usual high tables and stools fill the limited space opposite the bar, whilst tub chairs appear further to the left, screened behind several sections of wall that suggest a probable two bar layout prior to Wetherspoons arrival. A TV on the side wall was showing muted rolling news coverage and there were some fancy light fittings made from twined pieces of wood, which looked pretty good. Beyond the bar, you emerge into a large, bright conservatory-style area which is rammed full with standard tables and chairs, reminiscent of the way some 'Spoons airport bars are furnished. Big windows run in a semi-circle around the back of the room, providing plenty of natural light and looking out to the garden area beyond, whilst an open kitchen can be viewed to the rear right. The usual 'Spoons info boards were present, but in general I felt there was a lot less on show around the pub compared to the average Wetherspoons. The ten handpulls were clipped with four 'Spoons regulars and six guest ales - five of which were from London-based micro breweries. Several boxes of cider, as part of the ongoing Cider Festival, were available in the fridges. I had a pint of Redemption Urban Dusk (£2.60) which poured very flat and lifeless but retained a good deal of flavour until about two-thirds of the way down. Staff were very efficient and pleasant - not always a given in this particular chain. I wasn't really expecting anything special from this place but I warmed to it pretty quickly, thanks in part to the friendly staff, good local beer range and comparatively comfortable, pub-like surroundings (something that admittedly wears off the further back into the pub you go). A shame that my pint wasn't in the bet of shape, but overall this left a positive impression and has to be considered a good bet for this part of town.

This is a ‘spoons, so obviously you get the usual cheap beer and food. When you enter, the bar counter’s on the right and you have to walk past the pillar to see a second bank of pumpsdown at he far end of the counter. The first bank has the Ruddles Best and the like, so it’s definitely necessary to see what the second bank has to offer. This ‘spoons is a bit unusual in that it’s not a high street conversion, but is housed in an original pub. But the furnishings are typical ‘spoons. There are a couple of interesting features however. This one has a functioning dartboard, and among the usual decor featuring matters of local interest there is a framed diagram of the Barnet railway junction switching arrangements. It’s not every day that you see one of those in a pub! As you might expect, there’s a pub garden at the back. This is a perfectly decent ‘spoons, and certainly better than many that I’ve been in.