Wibbas Down Inn (JD Wetherspoon), Wimbledon, SW19

Classic old skool interior converted in 1995 from a Tesco - dark varnished wood, green and sandy red colours (surely blue and yellow or purple and green would have been better?). Initially fell apart at the bar with only one two guests in Pride and Jaipur and one overworked barmaid. I Paid. And waited. And waited. Eventually it turned up and had a sweetcorn tint (NBSS 1.5). And then the revelation: it turns out there are two bars, and a much bigger one with more ales is round the back (or front, as there are entrances at either end of the building) of the dog-leg layout. Gave benefit of the doubt and ordered a Twickenham London Porter from there which was very good (NBSS 3.5). So use this review as a warning if you enter from the Russell Road entrance - go straight to the Gladstone Road end. Noted that it has fallen out of the latest GBG which, on my experience, seems like the right decision from the local CAMRAs.

Paid a return visit to this branch of Wetherspoon's on a Saturday morning. I can't remember my last visit in 2017 too well, but suffice to say there are still two entrances with bars at both ends and a rather dark, windowless section in the middle. The main bar is at the Gladstone Road end. Indeed, if you ordered a cask ale from the Russell Road end, it would be fetched for you from the other bar. However, I believe the keg fonts at the Russell Road end were operational. We were here for breakfast before watching an early kick off football match at Stamford Bridge. We hadn't quite done our research properly as Wimbledon were also playing at home with the same early kick off time. So, it was probably much busier than normal. Service at the bar was still fairly efficient and the breakfasts we ordered all arrived in a timely fashion, perhaps with the exception of mine where the black pudding I ordered came about 5-10 minutes before the breakfast itself! There are 5 regular cask ales - Sharp's Doom Bar, Greene King Abbot & IPA, Thornbridge Jaipur & Fuller's London Pride. Guests were Sambrook's Pumphouse Pale, Oakham Cryptologist, Three Acres Session Pale & Skylark Stout, Hook Norton Old Hooky, Surrey Hills Collusion & Twickenham London Porter. Traditional cider has also been re-instated since my last visit. Both Weston's Old Rosie & Gwynt y Ddraig Black Dragon were on sale.

Good beer guide 2024 entry. Typical Spoons and a former tesco, which explains its two bar depth - with an entrance on two roads. Everything you would expect - table service, keen prices (£2.74 for an excellent London Pride a bargain), standard menu, packed with the all of society from pensioners to kids, to wallopers who had come in for a change to howling at the moon outside.

Decent Spoon's with a good selection of guests on. There were at least 6 when I called with a couple from Sambrook's, Old Dairy Bluetop IPA, Otter Bright and Tillingbourne Dormouse. I had the latter which was fine. Worth a visit.