The Muggleton Inn (Lloyds No 1), Maidstone

A vast Spoons in an rather splendid old building, as described below. Sadly the service in the downstairs bar was poor, so we ventured upstairs only to discover there was only the trio of doom there, so back down and queue for the two guest ales (Jaipur and Acorn Golden Brewer). Visiting both floors revealed that the packed clientele were almost entirely twerlies and mostly eating, so the various empty pubs visited elsewhere in the town really need to open their eyes and get their act together. The place itself just needs an improvement in service and some better ales.

This is quite a grand Wetherspoons pub set across two floors in a sprawling building in the heart of Maidstone town centre. The ground floor has quite a large, single room with the servery over to the right, plenty of mixed seating throughout and various forms of partitioning, including some nice decorative moulded pillars, that help break up the room and make it feel less like a drinking barn compared to sister pub The Society Rooms. The bar is lit by a skylight above the counter, which is of the traditional dark wood panel variety and has a matching bar back. There are plenty of impressive polished stone and dark wood fixtures and fittings throughout, which add a sense of grandeur. To the rear, there appeared to be some sort of patio garden area, but I didn’t explore properly. Heading upstairs, you find a two-room, first floor bar and lounge, with each room separated by the servery and connected by a walkway at the far side of the bar, and by the stairs, which continue upwards towards the toilet block. The bar up here has a nice bevelled counter and matching traditional bar back, which I presume was lifted from another pub. The room is carpeted and has large windows along the front wall, which look down to the High Street outside. Impressive chandeliers, a couple of modest fireplaces, muted Tv screens and large bookcases full of fake books, added to the mix of grand decor and typical ‘Spoons fixtures. On the bar, just the two guest ales along with the three usual ‘Spoons cask options. I tried the Wantsum More’s Head, which took quite some effort to obtain thanks to a scatty barmaid who couldn’t get her head around how to process a half pint ordered with a meal deal. Anyway, it was in pretty good nick when it was eventually plonked before me, and the grub was of a higher standard than usual too - I think I got the biggest portion of chips I’ve ever had in a ‘Spoons here. I quite liked this place, which makes good use of the old insurance office building it inhabits, to create something markedly different from your average High Street ‘Spoons. The service could’ve been a bit sharper and an extra guest ale or two wouldn’t necessarily go amiss, but overall impressions were good and for me, this was easily the pick of Maidstone's two Wetherspoons.