The Village Inn (JD Wetherspoon), Rayners Lane, Pinner

Small and fairly typical spoons with a decent choice of beers. Aqualung will be pleased to know that Windsor and Eton brewery are still represented with Conqueror and Malt Head Mild along with Oakham JHB and Reunion ales Opening Gambit. I went for the latter and it was fine. Friendly service and an all round good experience. If I lived local I would call in often - although there isn't really any competition!

A 1st generation Spoons originating from the standard double-fronted shop conversion. Quite small, obviously the early days of Mullet Man’s buying power. Enter to a lively front bar then down a few steps to a strip of booths leading to a basic rear patio. Five guest ales on which was rather a surprise and my Adnams Regatta was fine. Service was swift and pleasant. One downer was that the tables desperately needed a deep clean but overall it was fine as far these older Spoons go. 6.5

Well described below, but clearly standards have slipped since Aqualung's review. There are now 10 pumps and 7 ales. Plus 16 craft beers on pressure and 20 bottled beers. The draft ales we tried were ok but not brilliant, while the staff performance offers a training opportunity, especially for the village idiotess who lacked any charm whatsoever. A decent 'Spoons with a few flaws, no more and no less.

A Wetherspoon's on a split level with the front bar upstairs and a further seating area at the back. It can feel a bit closed in at the back which leads out into the beer garden. There was a fair selection of real ales but nothing really worth mentioning.

As stated before, another split level shop conversion with a fairly small bar and despite only 8 pumps it had THREE of them devoted to Windsor and Eton Brewery beers. Now this is what to me Spoons SHOULD be about, supporting local and small micro-breweries rather than the Global Corporate Abominations, GK, Marston's, Wells, Fullers, Adnam's, Nethergate... I was so taken by the three W&E beers that I failed to notice the other beers on offer. I went for the Windsor and Eton Conqueror Black IPA at £2.45 which was a magnificent pint. I would happily have stayed to try the other two W&E beers if it wasn't for a prior engagement with a Big Mofo Stout on the other side of London. This was easily the best of the four Metroland Spoons I visited on the day.

Split-level bar, unusually dropping lower towards the back, with side booths of various sizes. Some pavement tables out front. Reasonable patio beer garden to the rear. Plenty of staff, serving quickly and getting the tables cleared. 'Only' eight handpumps, but a pretty decent selection with two from Weltons, Naylors Pinnacle Porter (£1.99) and a stout available. Not bad, overall.

Randomness Guide to London - Village Inn entry

Randomness Guide to London - Village Inn entry

This is a large Wetherspoons with a small bar, but I still counted seven hand pumps alongside the standard draught selection. There are a couple of plasma screens in the front section for showing rolling 24 news and some stairs from the bar area lead down to a booth lined seating area. Past here is a good sized beer garden and there is also some more seating along the side of the pub. Like most JDWs I wouldn’t go out of my way to visit here, but it’s always handy to have one locally as I think that on the whole the chain has vastly improved over the past couple of years.