The Skylark (JD Wetherspoon), South End, Croydon

Unlike the previous reviewer, I much preferred the George to the Skylark, the latter having a much more limited ale selection and no real cider at all. Situated to the south of Croydon town centre, it has a typical open plan layout. We didn't venture up to the first floor, preferring to bag a table in the centre of the ground floor. The usual Wetherspoon's triumvirate of Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar. 3 guest ales were on - Marston's Pedigree, Oakham JHB & Reedley Hallows Nook of Pendle. Disappointing, even by Wetherspoon's standards.

The Skylark is a large Wetherspoons with a bar on the left hand wall where twelve hand pumps can be found in amongst a sea of standard draught. Down the centre of the pub are some high tables that lead to a rear staircase that gives access to seating and the toilets on the first floor. The front of the pub consists of standing room and there is raised seating along the right hand wall. During my visit early on Thursday afternoon there was no background music playing and I didn’t spot any televisions, although I did note the presence of some gaming machines. The usual spoons prices and deals are present on food and drink and this pub opens at 8am every day. Closing is at midnight except for Friday and Saturday nights when closing is at 1am. I found the service to be friendly and would have no problem returning for another afternoon beer if in the area.

Large Wetherspoon's that has an upstairs area that opens at 12 noon. On my visits there always seems to be a good selection of beers on with the local Clarence & Fredericks American Pale Ale being in top form.

This pub is named after a poet, to quote from the Spoons website "the well-known and widely appreciated poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins". I've never heard of him or his poem "The Sea and the Skylark". Apparently the only link he had with Croydon was that his grandparents lived here! I doubt if the clown who was yelling into his mobile phone the entire time I was here had heard of him either, he seemed to think it was appropriate to have the speaker turned up on his phone so that I was subjected to two streams of mindless drivel. It's a conversion of a building that looks like it was once a cinema or theatre from the bus stop over the road, however the windows seem a bit incongruous. There are two levels, I didn't look at the upstairs part. Downstairs, it's a typically large open room. There are 12 pumps, which on my visit were taken up by the two usual GK beers, Hobgoblin doubled up, a cider, London Pride, Young's Special, Hammerpot Madgwick Gold, Spitfire, Dorking Red India Ale, Butcombe Bitter and Sambrook's Wandle. I went for the Dorking beer (£2.80) which was in reasonable condition. This place, like the George half a mile away is more expensive than other Spoons outside Central London. All the guest ales seemed to be priced at £2.80 apart from Butcombe bitter which was £2.49. It seems odd that the lowly Spitfire (4.2%) should cost the same as the Dorking Red (6.0%). It's GBG listed which makes seeing the Hobgoblin doubled up even more disappointing. Sadly this overrated beer along with the likes of London Pride and Doombar are becoming permanent fixtures in many of London's Wetherspoons.

A decent spoons with a good beer selection as even has my favourite (Hophead) as a house beer. I tried one of the others. Mulberry dark from North Wales was in good form and as it's a spoons was very reasonable. There were 11 beers on in total on my visit