The Crown (JD Wetherspoon), Berkhamsted

From the outside, you wouldn't recognise the Crown as a Wetherspoon's. Indeed even as you enter, the pub has the feel of an olde worlde coaching inn with a couple of front rooms and low beams. Beyond that the pub starts to open out a little. The ceiling becomes much higher and the familiar Wetherspoon's bar can be seen on the left-hand side. There is a more modern area to the rear. On the bar, the usual 'spoon's ales were present - Greene King Abbott, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar. In addition, there were 4 guest beers, all from Tring - Liberator, Squadron Scramble, Washington & Piggeries. There was no real cider. Unusually for one of my crawls, this was probably the pick of the day's pubs in Hertfordshire. For one, it actually had some more unusual beers from the local brewery. But I also liked the fact that drinking here felt like drinking in a proper pub.

One of the older 'spoons (in the building sense), being a coaching inn on one of the historic main roads north of London. Partly opened-out and extended to the rear, so little original character left inside, but comprehensively refurbished in a semi-traditional style throughout so not completely out of keeping. The former side alleyway is also now used for an outdoor seating 'terrace'. I found seven different real ales from the two banks of six handpumps: Greene King IPA, Doom Bar, Abbot, Broadside, a pair from Windsor & Eton - Guardsman and Father Thames - and Tring's seasonal Nosebag (£1.99).

There are probably more original pubs in the Wetherspoon estate than most people realise and this is another one. Certainly in the London area they tend to be large suburban pubs often with a troubled past and many were music venues. This is a genuine rambling old coaching inn with all sorts of nooks and crannies. It's much bigger inside than it looks from the front. It is GBG 2015 listed so the beer selection was on the face of it slightly disappointing. Four beers were doubled up, GK IPA, Tring Moongazing, the American Wadworth's Mermaid's Red and the American Banks's Young Henry. On their own were Haresfoot Sundial, White Park Bedford Best and a cider with one unused pump. On the plus side there was no Abbot or any of the three national beers so maybe the doubling up wasn't as bad as it first seemed especially as there were three Locale beers and two of the American series. I went for the Tring Moongazing (£2.60) which looked like it was going to be a boring brown beer but turned out to be extremely tasty and a bit of a hop bomb. The price for this 4.2% beer struck me as expensive for a Spoons.

This is a Wetherspoons pub on Berkhamsted High Street, but crucially, there has been a pub on this site since the 1740’s, which means this place doesn’t quite fall into the uniformity associated with this chain. Originally called ‘The Crown’ the pub has been through countless name changes over the years before Wetherspoons took over in 1998 and returned it to its original name. You enter into a surprisingly cosy, bare brick seating area with, of all things, a lit fire which was proving very popular on a bracing winter’s afternoon. You move through the pub, which is quite narrow but goes back a long way, to find the servery in the mid section, running down the left hand wall. Opposite there is a strange conservatory type area which gets a lot of light compared to the rest of the pub, despite being hemmed in by buildings on all four sides. Further to the rear there is a presumably newer section with a split level seating area which felt perhaps the most like the typical Wetherspoons format, despite another Spoons rarity in the shape of two dartboards. Several TV screens were showing the usual muted rolling news channels and at the rear there was a decent garden which was well lit by the winter sun. On the bar there were two banks of hand pumps offering two Spoons regulars, two ciders and four guests, with some of the pumps doubled up. I went for a pint of the Red Squirrel Mister Squirrel at £2.25, which was a pretty good pint. There was a good crowd in at lunchtime and I had to go all the way to the very back of the pub before I found a free table. I warmed to this place and thought it was a good variation on a well tested format which might appeal to people who dislike the chain for its formulaic approach. Worth popping in to see what’s on the bar and maybe settling in if you can grab a spot near the fire.