The Swan (JD Wetherspoon), Weymouth

Workaday oblong Spoons. Painted in unappealing coffee shades and lit by a large bank of fruit machines. Four guest cask, my Gadds Conspiracy was pretty good (NBSS 3.5). Less frantic than the William Henry but also less interesting. Apparently this used to be an ‘adults-only’ Spoons until a few years ago - a new one on me!

Adults only pub.Liked this one.Good beer selection.Cant rememberthe beer I had but it was well hoppy.They had a Piddle beer on for the tourists.Nice courtyard to the rear.

The Swan is set on the ground floor of a hideous square block in the Weymouth main shopping area. The inside is an improvement on the exterior consisting of an open plan L shaped room with fairly typical furnishings. It was busy on my Saturday afternoon visit so what it must be like on a Summer Saturday doesn't bear thinking about. It's not particularly large for a Spoons which doesn't help. The bar has ten hand pumps which had one unused, Piddle Slasher & Mad Hare, Dorset Tom Brown's Best & Dusk Till Dawn, Directors, Abbot, Ringwood Razorback, Doom Bore and Phoenix Double Gold. I thought this was a decent choice. I went for the Piddle Slasher (£2.69) which was in excellent nick. Overall I thought this was a decent Spoons.

A rather featureless 'spoons on the ground floor of an anonymous modern building,the bar is at the far end of the building running along the rear wall.There are two banks of 5 handpumps offering on my visit GK Abbott and Doom Bar as regulars besides Marston's Pedigree,CW Directors,Piddle Cocky,Brakspear Bitter,Ringwood Razorback and Dorset Brewing Chocolate Orange Porter (drinkable),plus two real ciders.Worth including on an ale tour of the town,not sure that I would spend the whole evening in here.

A fairly bog standard 'Spoons standing, abeit smaller than many, on the site of a former brewery and pub called The Swan Inn, which was demolished and turned into a characterless shopping block in the 1970s. Fairly quiet when we visited, there were 7 ales and 4 ciders on. The staff were a bit laisser faire, the locals mostly harmless. Worth including in a crawl.

The Swan is a large T shaped Wetherspoons that is located opposite a Yates in the more lively part of town. The bar is stocked with standard draught and the ten hand pumps were drawing a mix of Spoons and guest beers. Cheap pub co food is available, but the kitchen was closed during my visit late on a recent Thursday evening. There is a plasma screen either side of the pub and these were both airing muted Olympics. At the rear is a covered beer garden that was full of smokers during my recent Thursday evening visit. In my opinion this is the poorer cousin of the William Henry which is the other JDW in town.

Not bad for a 'spoons - it was non-smoking long before the ban - but it always feels very cramped. Having said that, the normal decent range of beer is well kept and I've never had more than a thirty second wait at the bar because of all the staff on duty - other 'spoons please note!