The London & Rye, Catford, SE6

Visited 26/01/26. Visited previously in JDW ownership on 17/07/23. Cask amounted to five working hand pumps out of ten and dispensing GK IPA, London Pride, Doom Bar, Abbot and Otter. Regular bitters quite JDW'esque! Keg comprised Brixton Reliance Pale Ale, Inch's, Cruz, Moretti, Fosters, Neck Oil, Guinness, Heineken, John Smiths, Amstel and Red Stripe. There was also a tap offering three flavoured old Mount ciders (oft espied berries & cherries, today out in partnership with pineapple & raspberry and kiwi & lime). Returned to check out this venue in its post JDW existence. A s a venue it is a long rectangle from the main road, glass fronted and carpeted from front to back on the left-hand side. The bar counter is along the left-hand wall from middle to rear, with a stone tile skirt along its full length. There are a couple of pool tables at the front with plenty of regular tables and chairs on the carpet with some tall tables and backed stools in the space in front of the bar counter. There is a stone tiled area on the right-hand side with a few tables served by a banquette towards the rear of the venue. A fair number of twinkling fruit machines dotted around the right-hand side of the venue. Quite a few TV's dotted around, all switched off on my visit the music a rather load rap-based soundtrack that made me want to finish my surprisingly decent pint of Otter quite quickly and move on.

Catford Spoons is a good wetherspoons. Much better then Lewisham spoons. Lewisham spoons is depressing but Catford spoons is a cheerful place. I go in depressed and come out with a smile on my face. Beer is descent,guinness is descent as well. We had a bit of beef in there in June but its all blown over now and we are enjoying supping in there now. It has WiFi it doesn't obviously have sky TV but if you want to watch the match go to the goose if you want some food and a few pints go to spoons. The toilets are the best toilets in SE6 FACT.

Set on the main road through Catford, once a key coaching thoroughfare between London and Rye in Kent – hence the name – this is a pretty standard shop conversion-style Wetherspoons pub of the sort you are spoilt for choice with across South London. The rather charmless interior comprises a rectangular room, carpeted for the most part, but with a rather pointless quarry stone floored section in the rear right corner. The servery runs down the left hand wall and has a vaguely art-deco style counter and a rather bland bar back. Lots of standard tables and chairs fill the majority of the room, with the odd high table or drinking ledge dotted around the perimeter, each supplemented with high stools. Two sets of pillars run through the pub, breaking sight lines to a degree, although a padded bench seating area in the rear right corner offers little in the way of privacy thanks to some angled mirrors suspended above the benches, which allow punters to covertly watch whoever is sat there from above. The room extends a little to the rear, past the end of the bar, where you can find a couple more tables that are ideal should you wish to be seated outside the toilets. The room has been decorated with a lot of plain mirrors, ‘Spoons info boards and a useful ale board which lists what is available and what beers will be coming soon. A TV screen next to the bar was showing muted coverage of the afternoon’s Formula One Grand Prix. I counted four guest ales and three ‘Spoons regulars on the hand pump, plus a real cider and two unclipped pumps. I tried a pint of Banks’ Black Diamond, which was pretty good and served by one of the efficient and friendly bar team. I couldn’t really muster a lot of enthusiasm for this place and felt it was one in a long line of drab South London Wetherspoons which become difficult to differentiate from one another. The beer and service were the two big bonuses, but for decent atmosphere and interesting interior, you’re better off looking elsewhere.

This is a fairly typical 'spoons conversion. They did have several decent ales on though, including Celtic Experience Dark Age (£2.35 a pint), a decent enough 4% mild. If you were just dumped in here somehow you would know instantly you were in a 'spoons. You've got the usual handful of tall tables/tall stools near the front, with loads of normal tables and chairs crammed in behind them. There's nothing special going for or against this one. It's a run-of-the-mill 'spoons. There's nothing paticularly wrong with that of course.

If this was meant to be Wetherspoon's contribution to the new millennium (it was opened in 2000) then it wasn't a very exciting one. It's a converted DIY store, square in shape and with a low ceiling throughout. It's furnished with the typical Spoons tables and chairs. There were ten pumps, four taken with the usual GK beers, an Old Rosie and 5 festival beers. I went for the Titanic Cappuccino (£2.15) which was in very good nick.

The London and Rye is small for a Wetherspoons and has a long open plan interior that is slightly broken up by the numerous thin supporting columns. The bar is on the left hand wall and I counted ten hand pumps that were drawing five usual Spoon’s ales and four guests alongside Old Rosie cider. The usual standard draught is available and cheap food is served with various meal deal options. There is a plasma screen on the rear wall that was showing muted rolling news and there is no Sky Sports, although the upcoming European Championship football was advertised as this is aired on terrestrial television. Out the front there is some seating that faces the busy main road and this is where the majority of the other punters were gathered on the recent sunny Friday afternoon I visited. I found the staff to be friendly, but this isn’t the greatest JDW that I have visited which is probably more to do with the area than the efforts of the management.