The Alexander Graham Bell (JD Wetherspoon), Edinburgh

This is a fairly typical more recent JDW. The single room has been well described below and on my Thursday afternoon visit was quite busy with more people eating than drinking. Many of the male diners looked and sounded like Radio 2's Ken Bruce and were just as boring. The ten hand pumps had the JDW Scot Trio Of Doom with Deuchar's IPA and Abbot doubled up, Kelburn Jaguar doubled up, Edinbrew Friendly Fire and two I couldn't get to read. I noticed the standard guest ale price here was £2.69 so went for a festival cider (£3.35). I thought the Standing Order down the road was miles better than this one.

Much as others have described it, small by JDW standards but low ceilinged and comfortable, it's at the Charlotte Square end of George St. Two sets of five pulls with the standards and beers from further away, a different selection to the Standing Order up the road. I thought the service and beer quality weren't as good as the Standing Order and the breakfast was definitely much worse. Once again apart from Doombar no beers lower than 4.5% ABV, not good at breakfast time.

Decent enough JDW near enough in the centre of the city. It's got very few distinguishing features, but it's nicely decorated. We called in for a drink late one afternoon and found it to be very busy with shoppers and OAPs. Several guest beers on the bar and the one I had was in good nick. We called in the following morning for breakfast. Nice to see a full Scottish breakfast alongside the full English. We often have breakfast in a JDW and the service in here was some of the best we've ever had. Well done guys.

A modern Wetherspoons housed in a building that was originally built late in the 18th Century as a pair of period houses before being used as shops and offices. The façade was rebuilt in the mid 1970’s and prior to it opening as Wetherspoons in 2010 it was the Ivory Lounge and before that Bar 38. The largish interior is a total contrast to the Standing Order ‘Spoons just down George Street with none of the elegance and any architectural merits having been ripped out under the various former transformations. What is left is a modern open plan interior with low ceilings and, despite the pub’s size, some quite cramped seating, in oparticular in front of the bar wher the proximity of the tables make it awkward getting to/from the bar without having to breathe in and squeeze between two seated people The stairs to loos contain some quite stunning photos of 19th Century Edinburgh, some dating back to the 1850’s, as well as displays about two of Edinburghs more renown citizens, Conan Doyle and of course Alexander Graham Bell himself. On the subject of toilets, they are the current Loo of the Year award winners for those who revel over such things. Whilst you generally know what you will get product wise with ‘Spoons, the choice of beers on my visit was quite poor with not much in the way of any interesting guest beers. Service was quite sluggish although to be fair it was a Saturday night and the pub was packed with the usual tourist element boosted by fringe festival goers. Overall, this is probably one ‘Spoons that is best left to ‘Spoons collectors and it would be a shame to miss out a more essential Edinburgh pub to fit this one in.

A fairly busy new JDW on George Street, the Bell lacks the character of the Standing Order, just along the road, although its smaller size makes it more intimate. Staff are fairly inefficient and apathetic, but the clientele is nice enough. Of the ten handpumps on the bar, 7 had ales on and one a cider. I had a pint each of Red House and Otter, both average and both served too cold. It's not the best pub in the area, but equally well there's no reason to avoid it. Worth including in a crawl.