The Rockingham Arms (JD Wetherspoon), Elephant & Castle, SE1

A place of refuge, if balaclava clad youths on electric vehicles are giving you the fear for the future of your electronic devices. Or you are tired of negotiating with tramps. Architecturally, nothing going on. Ground floor of a (probable) office block. Toilets downstairs. Modern spoons. Lots of men in high viz having all day breakfasts. Beer - for spoons standards - more expensive than I am used to. Jaipur at £4.49. I went for a black sheep - and it was disappointing. Handy for a break but in no way worth going out for way for.

A medium sized , modernish Spoons, fairly typical as the chain goes, slow to serve, slow to clear tables, unaware of whose next in line to be served, five festival beers clipped up but only two available. Crap.

Classic old skool Spoons-U-Like (2000 opener) in a fairly hideous building, facing an appalling roundabout/road junction. Inside is a long and shallow room with wood panelling and a neat drawing room feel on the right-hand side. Already ferociously busy at 4.45pm on a Friday. Three guest ales, my Southwark Borough Market Brown was pretty perfunctory with a long pour taint (NBSS 2). A convenience stop only.

Opened on 1st November 2000, this is another pub with a Wetherspoon’s upcycled name, the original incarnation dating from the late 18th century, demolished in the 1950s to make way for what was originally built as the Ministry of Health’s grade II-listed (and Civic Trust Award-winning) Alexander Fleming House, making this the only pub in a building designed by an architect whose name was appropriated by Ian Fleming for a Bond villain: the name’s Goldfinger. Ernő Goldfinger. Aside from the all-pervasive smell of vomit, the unusually plain interior is probably unchanged since previous reviews, with the floor tiling exhibiting dried sticky spills, contrasting with a mass of soggy tissue paper and crisps strewn about the place; the partially finished drinks and empty glasses came as no surprise, likewise the urinals which were all out of order. What would however appear to have changed come my Saturday night visit, was the rough types who have largely decamped, to be replaced by endless tattooed students, alumni of the various surrounding educational institutions, many being ID’d at the door, one nipper looking like she was no more than 12 years old and, no doubt attracted by the scantily clad female talent on offer (can I say this?), a band of cackling old local geezers eyeing up the ladies. Aside from the usual suspects, there were three from Sambrook’s: Tomahawk, Lavender Hill and Junction at just £1.15 a half, the latter two sampled and on good form, served by confused staff. This is a very poor ‘spoons and if I were unlucky enough to find myself in this godforsaken area and utterly desperate for a drink, the E & C is a better option.

Official site of The Rockingham Arms (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Rockingham Arms (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Old school Spoons not helped by the scaffolding all around it when I called. I managed to fight my way through the smokers standing in front of the "No smoking outside this doorway" sign! Usual layout and 4 guest ales including Upham's Autumn Leaves, Purple Moose dark side of the moose and Brains Gold. The beer was just OK. I wouldn't rush back to be honest!

This is a large, bland Wetherspoons pub with a pretty grim interior that mirrors the very worst of the local area. The pub has a wide but relatively shallow room with the servery along the left half of the rear wall. A row of enormous pillars run in pairs through the centre of the room with some tatty mosaic tiling around their lower halves, helping to break up the sightlines across the room pretty well but adding absolutely nothing from an aesthetic viewpoint. There is a mix of carpet, floorboards and tiling throughout the room with high tables and stools under the front windows and around the pillars, banquettes in a raised space to the far right and standard tables and chairs elsewhere. The bar has a very long counter with a curved right hand end, broken twice along its length by pillars. The bar back employs some nice old wood panels, plain mirrors and an integral clock, making it arguably the pub's top feature. The usual TV screens showing muted news coverage and the discreetly positioned slot machines were all present and correct. The walls have been whitewashed for the most part, which gives the place quite a bright feel, which doesn't really suit the clientele who would be better served hidden away in a dingy corner somewhere. Some random modern art prints here and there added an incongruous touch and my general impression was that interior design must be the lowest priority for the people running this place. There are a few seats out in a roped off pavement space, should sitting next to a busy road seem preferable to another minute staring at a whitewashed wall. Perhaps the beer could rescue the day? Well, yes, it could (to a point). There were four 'Spoons regulars available alongside a highly unexpected five guest ales and one real cider. I tried a pint of the Yeovil Ruby and it was in pretty good nick too, so hopefully a change in the fortunes of the ale range and quality might translate into improved refurbishment at some stage. I don't think this is anyone's favourite 'Spoons, with the possible exception of a few hardy locals, and it certainly leaves a lot to be desired when compared to other South London 'Spoons or indeed pubs in the immediate vicinity. I left feeling vaguely hopeful thanks to the decent pint and reasonable selection of ales, but things would have to improve a fair bit to get me back in here again any time soon.