The Golden Lion (JD Wetherspoon), Rochester

This has just been refurbished and is now part of the JDW chain of small hotels. This is the first time I have ever stopped in Rochester for a beer. One of the plus points here for me was that I managed to avoid spotting any references to that great literary bore Charles Dickens which seem to crop up everywhere in this town. I suspect the refurbishment was mainly to provide the new hotel facilities but thinking back the carpet and fixtures did seem fairly new. The bar still has ten hand pumps and at first glance it looked like being a disaster as the two GK beers and Doom Bore were all doubled up. The situation was saved by the fact that the four guests were all Locale, three from Rockin' Robin and one from Old Dairy. I went for the Old Dairy Snow Top and the Rockin' Robin Peacemaker, both at £2.15 and both Old School winter ales in first class condition. After this I had given up on the idea of seeking out any other pubs and got another Snow Top in before returning to the station. This is a decent Spoons and I would gladly return.

The Golden Lion is a Wetherspoons that is a short walk from Rochester train station. I got into this pub just after 9am so it was fairly quiet with most people having breakfasts. The room is fairly large and L shaped,there is a raised area to the front left which has normal tables and chairs,the bar is on the left side halfway down the room,the rear area is down a couple of steps. All 10 pumps were in use,but the beer choice was very poor compared to most Spoons i have been in,i had a drink of Batemans XXXB which went down very well,the other beers in noted were Vale Gravitas,Exe Valley Shepherds Crook,GK Abbot x 2,Boom Bar x 2 and Ruddles Best x 2. This seemed a pleasant enough Spoons to have a drink in while i waited for the 10am openers. Pub visited 6/6/2015

The Golden Lion is a large L shaped high street Wetherspoons pub with seating at the front and a long bar that runs towards the rear where there is a ‘family area’ down a couple of steps. Out the back is a large beer garden and the toilets are located upstairs where I found one blocked cubicle and in the other was someone playing tunes with his phone keypad. There are a couple of booths on the right hand wall opposite the bar. The bar is stocked with standard draught and I counted ten hand pumps that were drawing a mix of usual the usual Spoons’ stalwarts and a few guests. Unsurprisingly very cheap food is available. I found this pub to be a pretty run-of-the-mill JDW that isn’t worth going out of the way for.

Like all the Wetherspoons I have visited the selection of real ales is impressive. However, I go to Wetherspoons to eat and drink with my chosen day of the week being Tuesday which is Steak day. This Wetherspoons comes at the bottom of the league for its food. The last mixed grill I had possessed so few chips that I believe they must have been counted out one by one.