The Great Harry (JD Wetherspoon), Woolwich, SE18

This Spoons occupies the ground floor of a ghastly office block not far from Woolwich Arsenal station. It is several decades since I had been to Woolwich and to be honest I didn't recognise any of it. The pub has the saving grace of having windows down two sides of it unlike the usual long narrow shop conversion, but that was the only redeeming feature for me as the beer selection was rubbish. There are ten handpumps but five were taken up with cider (1 Available Soon) then there was Abbot, Ruddles, Old Speckled Hen, Caledonian / Stone Session IPA and Elgood's Snickalmas. I went for the Elgood's Snickalmas which was in very good nick but at £2.65 more expensive than most Spoons outside Central London. The best part of my visit to this pub was leaving it and getting the 51 bus over what seemed like mountains and a vast variety of suburbia to get to Welling.

This is a ‘spoons, and is typical of the brand, being functional and characterless. It’s a large shop conversion slap bang in the middle of Woolwich and was very busy on Saturday with families possibly visiting the fair opposite or having a well-earned respite from the rigours of Christmas shopping. Anyway, you know what you’re going to get with a Wetherspoons, and this one doesn’t disappoint.