John the Clerk of Cramlington (JD Wetherspoon), Cramlington

John the Clerk of Cramlington doesn't exactly roll off the tongue as a name, but this Wetherspoon's pub at the centre of Cramlington seems to be a popular place for locals, most likely due to its competitive pricing. Arriving on a Thursday morning, the pub was busy with most tables occupied. I'd checked out the beers on their app beforehand, which had listed 3 guests. However, it turns out that the app was wrong. The beer I had selected was still "settling", leaving just the usual Wetherspoon's selection of Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar and Cameron's Strongarm and Big Lamp Prince Bishop's Ale as the guests. However, they did also have Weston's Rosie's Pig cider, which wasn't listed on the app. You win some, you lose some! It's a fairly modern looking place that was quite bright inside.

This was an original pub called the Travellers Rest so why JDW named it after some geezer from over 800 years ago is anyone's guess. It only opened in 2013 so has rather better fixtures and fittings than some of their older outlets. It's a roughly square room with a mix of tiled, wooden and carpeted areas. The bar is on the left and there is a small patio to the right. It was fairly quiet on my Wednesday afternoon visit but it did have a nicotine guard of honour at the door. The bar has ten hand pumps which had the two GK beers with an extra Ruddles, one unused, Sonnet 43 Aurora & Raven and four festival ales. I went for the King Goblin (£2.05 festival price) which was in good nick. This seemed to be a decent enough Spoons with a much better choice of beers than many.

CAMRA WhatPub - whatpub.com

CAMRA WhatPub - whatpub.com

Official site of John the Clerk of Cramlington - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of John the Clerk of Cramlington - www.jdwetherspoon.com