The Tyburn (JD Wetherspoon), Marble Arch, W2

This modern and rather soulless Wetherspoons pub takes its name from the infamous gallows which were sited just down the road, close to Marble Arch. This place was packed when I visited on a Saturday evening, attracting a mixed crowd of jaded shoppers, pre-club revellers and lost tourists. The wide glass frontage is composed of several floor to ceiling windows and a blue neon pub sign, making it look like your entering a shopping mall or cinema complex rather than a pub. You enter into a spacious room with modern laminate flooring and a bewildering amount of standard and high stool seating, although still not enough to seat everyone present on this visit. The servery runs down the right hand wall with a basic wooden bar back and some glittery light shades over the counter. The room is broken up to a degree by four large structural pillars, one of which has a padded bench running around it, allowing it to serve several tables. The back wall has a similar padded bench running along it, underneath a decorative light fixture. A TV screen set in an elaborate looking frame was showing a typical Saturday evening BBC light entertainment show, but without sound, this seemed a pretty pointless exercise. I counted ten handpulls offering four 'Spoons regulars, four guest ales and two displaying 'Coming Soon' clips. I decided to try the intriguing 'Tan and Black' beer from Bateman's called Colonel's Whiskers, but sadly this wasn't in particularly good shape. The bar and waiting staff seemed to be pretty efficient dealing with the crowds, although this was sometimes done at the expense of general courtesy. A Wetherspoons just off Oxford Street was never going to be a great pub-going experience, but this was a particularly disappointing visit. Plus points are that it did at least appear to be clean and it offers the usual reliable, 'safe' food options, but I can't think of much more positive to say and doubt I'll find myself here again in a hurry.

The Tyburn is a typical modern looking Spoons which is handy for Hyde Park. We visited this pub on three ocassions in the morning for a breakfast and pint,because our hotel in Bayswater was so dire we decided to miss out on the free breakfast on offer there. Once inside there is a decent sized room which has others have said is full on normal tables and chairs,this did'nt bother us too much as the pub was fairly quiet at 9.30 in the morning. There was a decent choice of real ales on the bar,the three pints i had each day were very nice,car'nt remember what they were,the breakfasts were also very nice. We quite enjoyed drinking in here,i especially like drinking beer when others frown at you for drinking before a set time,usually sometime after 11 in the morning. Pub visited 13/4/2006

From the top of Park Lane, I walked through the hordes of tourists and weird or dodgy characters around Marble Arch to get to this place. One thing that hasn't yet been pointed out is the fact that this is one of the smaller Spoons, which may partly account for the crushed seating arrangements. At around 19:00 on a Saturday it was reasonably quiet despite the mayhem going on outside. The 10 handpumps were not used to full effect as apart from the GK IPA and Abbot (no Ruddles), London Pride was an expensive uninvited guest, two were devoted to Old Rosie Cider, then one each to Gwynt Y Ddraig cider, Lancaster Red, Maxim Double Maxim, Everard's Tiger and Great Newsome Pricky Back Otchan. I found it disconcerting that two of these beers were from the July / August guest list and it was now mid September (the 14th to be precise). I went for the Great Newsome beer (£3.05) which was in decent condition but uninspiring. The toilets in this place are down a dreadful narrow staircase and are not really up to the very high standards of most Spoons. If I was unfortunate enough to find myself at Marble Arch again, I would be more likely to dive into the underground and return to civilisation.

Randomness Guide to London - Tyburn entry

Randomness Guide to London - Tyburn entry

Not one of the better Wetherspoons but they had a few beers on and I found one festival beer that I hadn't yet tried. The bar itself is small by Wetherspoons standards and a bit of a goldfish bowl due to the wrap around windows, but it does mean it is good for people watrching on the busy streets outside. A small plasma, with an intermittent signal, was showing BBC Sport.

Official page of The Tyburn - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

Official page of The Tyburn - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk