DC Lion, Hackney, E8

Enjoyed some good locales in this Spoons and at £2.16 a pint even better. I went straight for a pint of Clarence and Fredericks Golden Ale which was excellent. Other ales tried were Hackney APA and Trumans Eyrie and were also very good. We called on a Monday lunchtime, were we got to see a lot of interesting locals parked up.

Baxters Court is a Spoons that is on the busy mare street in the middle of Hackney. Once through the main door you enter an open area which is open to the sky,this area seemed very popular with smokers. The main room is L shaped with the bar facing,the seating is the usuall Spoons type plus a couple of leather settees,unusally loud background music was playing tunes from the 70s. There was a decent enough choice of real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Three Castles Tornado which went down well on my mid Saturday morning visit,the other beers i noted were Adnams Ghost Ship,Doom Bar and the usuall Spoons regulars. There is another room upstairs and an outside terrace was advertised,but i did'nt see it. I was happy enough having a drink in this pub. Pub visited 4/10/2014

Decent enough McSpoons if you want cheap beer and food.Only a couple of guest beers on but in fine condition.Busy.

There were five guest ales on in this ‘spoons, which is good enough by their standards. Obviously the usual ’spoons menu is available, but the traditional breakfast here is a little more (at £3.29) than this chain’s pubs that I use in South London. As you enter from the street you find yourself in an “open to the sky” atrium with a handful of tables and chairs, no doubt designed for use by smokers. The main room has the usual ‘spoons mix of normal tables and chairs and, tall tables/tall stools, and one or two enclosed booths. A bank of four one-armed bandits have congregated at the back on the right, but otherwise it’s quite civilised by ‘spoons standards. Well, it was until an early representative of the buggy brigade arrived and sat close to me. But the kid didn’t make too much of a nuisance of itself if I’m honest. Some love ‘spoons and some hate them – but me, I can take them or leave them, and there’s nowhere better to go for a pre-noon beer and breakfast.