The Red Lion (JD Wetherspoon), Thetford

The Red Lion is a Wetherspoons with seating either side of the entrance and also at the rear opposite the bar counter that runs up the right-hand wall. There’s a television that was showing muted news, and in the centre of the pub is a beer shelf with stools and plugs for the charging of phones, much like one would find at an airport. On the square out front are lines of picnic tables behind waist high barriers. The bar supports standard and premium keg and there are two banks of five hand pumps that were mirrored with Exmoor Brewery’s Gold and Sharp’s Doom Bar alongside Greene King’s IPA, Abbot Ale and Abbot Ale Reserve, the latter coming in at 6.5%. The JDW food menu is also in operation. I found the service to be polite, but this wasn’t my favourite Spoons.

Always an inn, rather than a conversion, so the seating / dining areas in the original part of the building retain some character. That said, the extension over what was probably the rear courtyard is quite well done, and if that doesn't take your fancy then the outside area has now been extended out into the Market Place. Disappointingly, the two banks of five handpumps were offering a fully duplicated selection of Ruddles, Doom Bar, Abbot, Hobgoblin and Adnams Broadside (but was just £1.99, so one can't complain too much).

Official site of The Red Lion (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Red Lion (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com