The Willow Walk (JD Wetherspoon), Victoria, SW1

This pub's greatest asset is its location opposite Victoria train station, but despite a number of less than impressive quick stop-offs here in the past, a recent visit saw this potential backed up by 12 operational hand pumps offering a selection of Wetherspoons festival ales and ciders, plus a few familiar regulars. I sampled four of the festival ales and found them to be in good shape, which is consistent with the pub's inclusion in the last three editions of the Good Beer Guide. A pint was £2.35, which despite being slightly higher than in most pubs in this chain, is still good value. The interior is 'Spoons by numbers, with a large amount of seating crammed into the narrow room in order to provide an element of comfort to the high volume of customers that pass though here every day. Staff were quick, despite the crowds at the bar and were, with one exception, very friendly as well. The pub is now back on my radar as a place worth stopping off at when passing through Victoria, but, as others have mentioned below, I'm not sure I'd want to spend an evening here.

A sizeable ‘Spoons built into the ground floor of a modern office block and named after a marshy causeway that once led to Westminster Abbey a mile or so down the road that is now lost far below the road level. There are entrances in 2 streets but between them lies a quite faceless and featureless interior. The place has all the pro’s and cons that go with the chain by way of food and drink and due to its close proximity to Victoria station can get very busy with a largely transient customer base although there is usually a seat to be grabbed if you look hard enough.. The 10 hand pumps do at least throw up some interesting guest beer choices albeit largely drawn from the Wetherspoons seasonal range and the quality isn’t always up to ‘Spoons normal standards despite their Cask Marque accreditation. Service is generally prompt and efficient but rather faceless. There are a couple of silent flat screens, cash machine and games machines and the usual historic snippets are a bit more interesting given the tourist interests in the surrounding area. For the most part however, this is little more than a handy meeting place that does an adequate job and provides a handful of decent ales but I wouldn’t particularly opt to have a lengthy evening’s session.

Randomness Guide to London - Willow Walk entry

Randomness Guide to London - Willow Walk entry

A totally uninspiring average Wetherspoons out the front of Victoria railway station. Open plan room between the two main roads, there is the usual set up of square tables along with usual 'Spoons decor. Although isted in the Good Beer Guide, the beer I had, Oakham Rollercoster, was very poor indeed.

This isn't the worst spoons that I have been into even if it has less than no atmosphere due to the transient crowd from the station. I thought that the staff were above average and there were a number of guest ales available alongside the usual Pedigree, Abbot and Marstons. I had a nice pint of Twickenham ale whilst I thumbed through my newspaper. There's not much wrong with having a quick pint in here if passing.