The William Webb Ellis (JD Wetherspoon), Twickenham

Now Twickenham's sole branch of Wetherspoon's, this is quite a large venue that can probably still get very crowded when big events are on at the local stadia. It's the typical bland 'spoon's layout with a lengthy bar along the left-hand side and toilets up a fairly precipitous staircase. Regular cask ales here are slightly different from most Wetherspoon's. Greene King IPA & Abbot, Sharp's Doom Bar & Twickenham Naked Ladies are the regulars. Guests on our Wednesday afternoon visit were Fuller's London Pride, Oakham JHB & Green Devil, Purple Moose Calon Lan, Branscombe Vale Summa That, Hook Norton Double Stout & Exmoor Beast. The cider was Gwynt y Ddraig Black Dragon. My half of Calon Lan was fairly non-descript.

I found this Spoons rather dark and dingy especially given the more appealing seating was at a premium on a busy afternoon. An adequate beer range but a gloomy visit, I preferred the atmosphere in the Cabbage Patch up the road but this may be okay if you really need food.

As described below, this rather ordinary ‘Spoons is not one of their best, but it does cater for the early arrivals to watch the rugby. On this occasion it was full of people attending the Army v Navy game so was more like a NAAFI bar on drag night than a civilian pub. Sadly there were only 2 ales on, Doombar and Twickenham Naked Ladies,and the beer was served in plastic jugs. And because it was an ‘event’ day they wouldn’t take CAMRA vouchers. It was a handy facility but by no means a great pub.

A fairly large Spoons in one of the more modern and rather boring styles. As the name suggests, it is rugby themed but restrainedly so. Entering through a couple of seated areas at the front, a long main hall has the bar along one side, while there is another pokey bit behind. It was a bit blokey and echoey, although not overcrowded. However I was impressed by the beer range, with three from By the Horns, Boss Beetlejuice, Swanney Pleep, Twickenham Naked Ladies, Westerham Audit Ale, Kelham Island Pale Rider (and the 3 unmentionables).

This is a large High Street Wetherspoons pub, just down the road from the train station and therefore a complete no-go on rugby days. You enter to a front section with bare floorboards, fancy wallpaper and half panelled walls where numerous high tables and stools have been arranged in a spacious seating area. Over to the left is a carpeted section with a long banquette down the back wall under plain mirrors and regular tables and chairs through the rest of the space. Once through these seating areas, you emerge into the main bar, fully carpeted and semi wall panelled with some plain painted uppers. The servery runs along the left wall and has a smart counter front, the usual polished stone counter top and a nicely lit bar back. Large pillars through the middle of the room give this vast pub a compartmentalised feel, even in the bar area, where high tables and stools have individually been placed between them, with regular tables and chairs along the right hand wall, including on a raised platform a little further into the room. The rear section wanders left a little, past the end of the bar and offers more regulation seating, albeit in perhaps a slightly cosier space. Large windows to the rear look out to a garden area. As you’d expect, there are plenty of rugby themed photos, newspaper clippings and signed shirts on show, creating quite a nice, coherent display throughout the pub. A couple of TV screens were showing muted darts coverage rather than the usual news channels and I assume they show rugby fixtures here too. There was a great guest beer to ‘Spoons regular ratio here, with eight of the former and just three of the latter, to create quite a selection dilemma. I ended up with a pint of Titanic Iceberg, which was very enjoyable and slipped down easily once I’d negotiated the rather slow service. Putting that slow service to one side, this was a pretty enjoyable ‘Spoons experience. I thought the pub was smart and well presented, the beer range was extensive and the place had a number of comfortable spots to settle down over a few pints. It obviously can get excessively busy, so your enjoyment may vary depending on the timing of your visit, but I was impressed with this place and would call in again.

Typical one room Spoons with a good selection of ales including Pale Rider @ 5.2%. Best pub I found in the area on the day, which may or may not be a good thing.

A large formula spoons,one long room carpeted throughout with the usual multi-seating options,the room itself was quite gloomily lit. At the bar the service was good, quite a novelty for me as far as spoons go,there were three banks of four handpumps with the furthest four from the entranced reserved for the usual boring suspects, the remaining eight pumps featured a pretty good selection, Harviestoun Schieallion,Twickenham Naked Ladies,Trumans Swift,Oakham JHB,Exmoor Gold,Reunion Talanar,Prescott Grand Prix and Darkstar Hylder Blonde which was in good condition.