The Liberty Bounds (JD Wetherspoon), Tower Hill, EC3

I get they are providing a service and my low rating is purely on the enjoyment that I found during a visit. Opposite the Tower - its peak tourist location. Every table taken. Queues at the bar, managed well by overworked staff. The background noise was out of this world. I found a perch, nicked a stool and got a headache. All this whilst a jobbing high viz jacketed security guard patrolled, with the most bored looking expression on his face. Here for the Good Beer Guide and won't be returning.

Very close to the Tower of London and the signs everywhere to mind your bags together with a high viz security guard patrolling the interior doesn't give a welcoming first impression.However I visited on a cold Wednesday at 5pm and the pub was not jammed.The interior with it's anchor themed carpet is one of the better 'spoons attempts,with raised seating areas below the vast glass windows,high tables opposite the bar area while up some stairs was a calm lounge broken up by wood clad columns and a balcony view over the lower areas. The bar has two ranks of 6 handpumps with regular GK IPA and Abbott,Doom Bar,London Pride and Adnams Broadside but with guests Lymestone Ein Stein,Maxim Samson,Cotleigh Red Nosed Rheindeer, a real cider,Hook Norton Twelve Days Porter,an International festival ale and Salopian Golden Thread (£3.29,NBSS 2.5).Thankfully no "available soon" malarkey and I can see why the local CAMRA branch have awarded this pub 2020 GBG status. Better then I feared,it's still a 'spoons but with 6 guest ales you may find a decent pint.

I wonder if there is a more 'touristy' Wetherspoons pub in the UK than the Liberty Bounds - if there is, I haven't been there. Sat just over the road from the Tower of London, close to Tower Hill tube station and affording good views down towards the Thames, this is an inevitable magnet for foreign holidaymakers, families on day trips and folk who have landed in the city from nearby Fenchurch Street station. Thankfully the pub is big enough to be able to deal with the inevitable large volume of customers it attracts, spread across two roughly equal sized floors, each with their own fully stocked bar. The floors mirror one another, with carpeted seating areas towards the front and on either side and serveries along the rear wall. The ground floor has a slightly elaborate layout with various bits of wall, pillars and partitioning screens breaking the space up and creating fairly distinctive seating areas - a feeling enhanced further by the raised front seating area. A few large tapestry works can be viewed here and I also noted some large sculptures including a headless queen, all of which has presumably been added to create some sort of visual link to the Tower. Elsewhere, there is the usual mix of 'Spoons seating including some booths and a sea of standard tables and chairs. Similar seating arrangements can be found upstairs and the booths here all had nice recessed images, such as one which I noticed had a copy of the Mariner's Mirror on show. Fake bookcases can also be found here and there are some reclaimed wooden panels and stained glass partitioning screens that combine to good effect. Over to the left there were a couple of very small, curved snugs which seat two people and were both filled with snogging couple on my recent visit. We got chatting to a Canadian couple who had thankfully refrained from such public displays of affection and they told us that they liked the pub but were put of by the countless warning signs alerting customers to the threat of bag thieves, including a six foot tall board to the side of the bar. On my late November visit there were five regular 'Spoons ales on handpull plus another five guest ales, with the final two pumps downstairs left unclipped. I tried a pint of Oakham JHB which was perfectly serviceable once the staff finally decided they should stop chatting and focus on serving me. A re-visit on New Years Eve saw a load of Christmas themed beers on and both the ones I tried were in pretty good shape. I found this place pretty manic and was rather pleased that I visited later in the day when it was at least free of children. The service was sloppy, the beer was so-so and the customers were mostly clueless, but I at least had a good view and managed to visit twice without having my bag pinched, so this one rates as fairly average with the potential to be pretty good or pretty dire depending on how you time your visit.