The Watchman (JD Wetherspoon), New Malden

This is a brand new Wetherspoons that opened today. As is usually the case with this chain this is another conversion, this one from a long closed red brick police station. They’ve extended from the original building back over the old station car park, so this is a large pub even by ‘spoons standards. It’s everything you expect from a ‘spoons – rows of modern but fairly comfortable tables and chairs, some chunky tall tables/stools, the usual pub grub, and of course cheap beer. The design is a bit unusual, with the bar counter on the left as you enter using the old police station entrance on the High St, but with some booth seating behind the servery thus making it an island bar. Unusual for a new build. Other items of note are the predominance of blue, including the upholstery and a large swathe of the floor in front of the bar counter, no doubt by way of remembering the previous occupants of the building, and the large skylight in front of the bar counter letting in some welcome natural light. Behind the servery there is a large glass panel through which one can see the casks of ale where they are racked. By the side of the building is a terrace with some tables and chairs, which some wag has ambitiously named “The Parade Beer Garden” There were two banks of seven handpumps on the counter. The usual GK offerings were there of course, and of the rest I reckoned that the Ringwood Old Thumper and Jenning’s Sneck Lifter (£2.45 a pint) were the best bets. I have to say that I didn’t think that the choice was particularly good for somewhere with fourteen handpumps available, but the Sneck Lifter was excellent. The place was very busy when I was in at lunchtime, but I guess the typical numbers might have been swollen by those (like me) who wanted to try out a new pub on its first day. At one stage they stopped taking food orders, presumably because the kitchen couldn’t cope with demand. It will be interesting to see what it’s like on a “normal” day. It’s inevitable that I will pay repeat visits to a pub so close to where I live.

Watchman page at the JD Wetherspoon site - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

Watchman page at the JD Wetherspoon site - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk