The White House (JD Wetherspoon), Scraptoft, Leicester

As with many-a-Spoons, this one has barely changed inside since my visit seven years prior; in this case, for the good. Five guests, my Courthouse Porter by New Buildings Brewery was par (NBSS 3). One area of clear (COVID necessitated, I’d wager) improvement is the garden, which is massive and really nicely done - must be one of the biggest in the UK, I would have thought. It’s a good Spoons this one and despite its suburban location it was plenty busy on a sunny Saturday afternoon. 7.5 December 2019 A JDW situated in a large stone-built country house, away from any obvious town centre area. Despite the inevitability of Spoonerisation it's fairly nicely done. Enter to where the reception and grand staircase are which has had an injection of wood panelling. There are some rooms heading off, with a small bar to the right with a reduced offering but prefect for the simple cheap option imbibers; there’s a nice fireplace here and stuff about the history of selective breeding in animals (it is Leicestershire after all…). Straight on and down some steps is the main area, which is where the diners congregate. It’s a decent space as it looks like an old conservatory and there are windows overlooking a nice garden enclosed by semi-mature woodland. Two genuine guest ales at this bar, with no complaints about my Naylors Old Ale (NBSS 4) and one I forgot to note (3); Aqualung will be pleased/gutted to learn that the prices were rock-bottom, under £2pp sans Spoons CAMRA voucher. Amusement value provided by a toddler who replicated the pace and swerve of JPR Williams in his prime, twice escaping the table he was on, past the despairing grasp of the adults and powered over to the disabled lift to press the emergency alarm button, which the whole pub heard quite clearly. Rated 7

A JDW situated in a large stone-built country house, away from any obvious town centre area. Despite the inevitability of Spoonerisation it's fairly nicely done. Enter to where the reception and grand staircase are which has had an injection of wood panelling. There are some rooms heading off, with a small bar to the right with a reduced offering but prefect for the simple cheap option imbibers; there’s a nice fireplace here and stuff about the history of selective breeding in animals (it is Leicestershire after all…). Straight on and down some steps is the main area, which is where the diners congregate. It’s a decent space as it looks like an old conservatory and there are windows overlooking a nice garden enclosed by semi-mature woodland. Two genuine guest ales at this bar, with no complaints about my Naylors Old Ale (NBSS 4) and one I forgot to note (3); Aqualung will be pleased/gutted to learn that the prices were rock-bottom, under £2pp sans Spoons CAMRA voucher. Amusement value provided by a toddler who replicated the pace and swerve of JPR Williams in his prime, twice escaping the table he was on, past the despairing grasp of the adults and powered over to the disabled lift to press the emergency alarm button, which the whole pub heard quite clearly.