The Moon Under Water (JD Wetherspoon), Norbury, SW16

Low grade Wetherspoon's with little to recommend it. Two remarkably cheerful ladies trying to copy with a busy early evening crowd plus the usual selection of people who use it as a canteen; indeed as it is mainly laid out like a canteen that's not surprising. E grade beer range, Abbot, Ruddle's, Broadside: a couple of more interesting beers like Titanic White Star were "coming shortly". I didn't dare ask how long shortly might be. It's a perfectly serviceable pub for the community, not that they've got any other usable choice without getting a bus, but I wouldn't bother again.

This is one of the smaller Wetherspoon's and there were several guest beers on which was due to the London ale festival being on. The Portobello Apache Pale was in great form.

It's hard to say what this building originally was but presumably it was a shop or something. It's a fairly typical old school Spoons consisting of a long single room. There appears to be a Car Park behind the pub but I don't think it is part of the premises. Two banks of five pumps are on the bar, but six were taken up by the two GK beers and two ciders. This left the Wadworth / Chelsea Sunset Red Available Soon, Three Castles Autumn Daze, Rooster's Calamity Jane and a Locale Hogsback TEA. I went for the Autumn Daze (£2.15) which was in good nick. All Spoons have good and bad days and I think I hit this place on a better day than the previous reviewer. It's a reasonable Spoons in an area where the only other options are the horrendous looking place over the road or a journey out of the area,

This is a simple Wetherspoons pub at the top end of London Road. The front of the pub is quite wide with plenty of standard seating, but it was full of screaming kids on my visit so I ventured further into the room, which quickly narrows at the point the servery starts. The bar runs along the left hand wall and there are a range of seating options opposite, with a few nicely partitioned booths towards the rear of the room where things open out slightly again. There’s a lot of light wood and some panels and pillars have been painted white, giving the place a lighter feel than some other ‘Spoons outlets. The usual array of local pictures and information boards were present and correct, as were the TV screens showing muted rolling news and one which was tuned to an obscure foreign cricket match, which seemed to please the three or four men sat watching it. I noticed what appeared to be a book swap as well, but other than that, I thought the pub was fairly devoid of character or any sense of community. Things didn’t get much better when surveying the ten hand pumps. I found myself with a poor choice of Ruddles, Abbot Ale and two Westerham beers (plus one cider and a whole host of ‘Coming Soon’ clips). I tried the Westerham Jubilation and thankfully it was a good pint, albeit served that bit too cold, as per usual in these pubs. There are a few Wetherspoons outlets in South London that remind me of this place – pokey, quiet and with a poor beer range, but at least this place was clean and looked fairly appealing. I won’t be venturing out of Croydon to visit this place again, but if you’re in need of a drink in Norbury, it’s far preferable to the other option over the road.

Randomness Guide to London - Moon under Water entry

Randomness Guide to London - Moon under Water entry

Official page of The Moon Under Water - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk