The Muggleton Inn (Lloyds No 1), Maidstone

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.

A superb and elaborate building, apparently once the host to The Kent Insurance Company and then their subsequent successors, the interior has been sympathetically refurbished to provide an agreeable interesting space to enjoy a pint. Large arched windows, internal also arched openings, detailed plasterwork and elaborate moulded ceilings. The pub is over two floors, the extensive first floor area accessed via a period dark wood staircase and which has its own bar but with a limited selection. A void over provides a galleried view to downstairs. The main room is large and runs back a long way eventually to a bit of outdoor space which serves the nicotine needy. The beer range wasn't great, the usual suspects from a JDW plus a pair of "coming soon" however they did have about three guests on, my visit was seriously enhanced by the sublime Old Dairy Snow Top, just the job on a cold and bitter day. Another Dairy beer was on the coming soon list so to me that is promising.