The London & County (JD Wetherspoon), Eastbourne

On a winter's Saturday midday visit this place was quite busy. It's a fairly typical Spoons, certainly at lunchtime. I was surprised that it wasn't that large inside, although the upstairs was completely ignored. I wonder if the upstairs area is used for Lloyds style activity such as evening music. As a corner bank conversion with windows on two sides it was much brighter than all those shop conversions where the front doors provide rhe only natural light. All the beers were going, the Greene King Abbot Reserve and Marston's Old Empire were both in very good condition. The young (student?) staff kept the show on the road much better than some Spoons, although there weren't loads of people demanding coffee or asking stupid questions about the food.

This Lloyds No. 1 version of Wethespoons is housed in what, given the name, was presumably a branch of the London & County Bank that eventually became part of Nat West). Prior to ‘Spoons involvement it had been a Hogshead and a Slug & Lettuce. The interior is split over 2 floors although the upstairs wasn’t open on my visit so I can’t comment on that. The main bar is quite small compared to the average ‘Spoons. It would feel a little cavernous and were it not for a few wall remnants breaking up the sightlines. The décor is quite plain with the usual ‘Spoons snippets. My visit was essentially for a breakfast and first pint of what would be a lengthy crawl but the pub was quite full even at 11am with fellow breakfasters and I was advised that there was at least a 30 minute wait, not that there was anywhere to sit and eat it anyway which made the closure of the upstairs bar a bit mysterious. I consoled myself that there were 6 ales (Ruddles County, Marsten Old Empire, Deuchars, Batemans Rosey Nosey (with a fully functioning flashing nose light – a rarirty!), RCH Steam Sleigh and Springhead Rudolph’s Ruin). Given the choice of the 2 ‘Spoons in town, the L&C would be my preference, certainly for the beers. It is also far superior to the Gildredge opposite if you are looking to kill time before a train. Other than that it is a functional ‘Spoons that does the job unless you want breakfast on a Saturday morning.

This is a fair sized Lloyd's No.1 that had a fair range of guest ales on when I visited.It was fairly busy and I managed to get a seat that was unfortunately by the big screen playing music but other than that not a bad pub.Has an Upstairs seating area.