The Crosse Keys (JD Wetherspoon), Leadenhall, EC3

If you took your average High Street Wetherspoons pub and doubled everything in size, you would end up with something approximating this huge 'Spoons outlet. The main room is enormous, with row upon row of seating filling the considerable amount of space between the entrance and the large, oval shaped island bar towards the rear of the room. The interior is pretty impressive even by bank conversion standards, with marble walls and pillars throughout and a nice ceiling with large glass domes in it. Whilst most of the seating is of the standard table and chair variety, there are still plenty of high stools and tables and drinking ledges throughout the room and even a few large, throne-like chairs past the servery area, where a smaller room can be found, as if any more space was required. The bar houses 24 handpulls, with 19 dedicated to ales and the other 5 used to dispense cider. Each pump is numbered and a full list of what's on can be viewed on TV screens above the bar, which saves you from having to walk round the bar looking for a specific beer. My pint cost £2.70, which is probably at the top end of what Wetherspoons pubs charge for a guest ale these days, but it was in good shape and served by a friendly barman. The staff work hard to keep the place tidy, which is no mean feat when it's full, as it was on my Friday evening visit. Although there is a sense that this is an impersonal drinking experience, the benefits of the wide beer choice and fine surroundings outweigh it and make for one of the better Wetherspoons pubs in the capital.