The Alfred Herring, Palmers Green, N13

A 2006 opener, this is a mildly confusing suburban Spoons. It might well be three properties whacked into one as there's three ‘tube’ rooms going into the bowels of the building, as it were. My notes stop abruptly for some reason, Untappd says of my pint of Vale Black Beauty was “In good nick here; lovely interplay of molasses, roast coffee and a bit of sweetness.” So let’s call that an NBSS 4. Overall, not bad at all for a Spoons. However, everything written here is moot as Timbo wielded the axe a couple of weeks after I was in and it’s now closed.

A large shop conversion Spoons in an under-pubbed area. Not the most enticing frontage but inside is ok, typically furnished with traces of the 'library' style. The large main room is broken up by pillars, while there is a connected side area which presumably was the shop next door. It would have been relaxing, with noise generally muffled rather than echoing which can sometimes be the case, however the gym upstairs produced some annoying thumping sounds at intervals. Three guests beers were on from the autumn festival, no unable to tell what might be available normally.

Not sure you could get any more identikit Spoons. A shop conversion - so its lacking the sometimes architectural joy that JDW can provide. Large open plan room. Long bar. You know the menu. You know the core range of beers. Look a little closer here and there were two unexpected Dorset Brewing Company gems on offer. The durdle door was absolutely perfect and at £1.99 - a bargain of epic proportions in London. Justifies its inclusion in the 2021 GBG. I took it my filthy table, hoping the glass wouldn't get stuck.

This is a modern looking shop converted Wetherspoons located just a short walk from Palmers Green station on the main road through the area. A large porch leads you into the sizable main room with the servery down the right hand wall. The bar has a regular counter and impressive double-height mirrored bar back but still has that recognisable Wetherspoons look to it. Two rows of pillars run through the centre of the room, hinting at some form of previous division, presumably into a number of separate retail units. The main area i carpeted and has high tables and stools through the centre and regular tables and chairs elsewhere, with some comfy looking banquettes around part of the perimeter including in a cosy dark wood panelled area to the rear which looked like one of the better spots to bag a seat in the pub, albeit in quite a dark corner. To the left there is a long, narrow side room, probably another former shop unit in the past. This room is also carpeted and has some nice half panelled walls, windows looking through to the main bar area and some plain mirrors and 'Spoons info boards on the walls. There is also a large, abstract sculpture in this room, set into a wall recess, which has no interpretive board to explain its significance, yet still remains arguably the most interesting feature of the pub. Lots of TV screens throughout the pub were showing a subtitled news channel. The guest ale to regular ales ratio seemed a bit off here, with no less than six of the ten handpulls given over to regular 'Spoons options like Abbot Ale and Doom Bar, whilst he remaining four offered guest beers, although even then, one of these turned out to not actually be available, not that this was enough to encourage the staff to turn the clip around. I ended up with a pint of Trumans Attaboy, which seemed like very good value at just £2.15. It was in good shape too and served to me by a fairly friendly barmaid on this moderately busy weekend afternoon. Whilst this 'Spoons seemed to have a few nice spots in which to settle down over a pint or two, there wasn't really a great deal here to get excited about. The cheap, well kept beer was a plus and there aren't too many other serious contenders in the immediate area, but I have the feeling this is the sort of place that I will have forgotten about in a few months time.