The Great Glen (JD Wetherspoon), Fort William

Modern Wetherspoons moving away from the standard boring layout to a little more thought.

This is a modern Spoons that takes up the ground floor of the town Travelodge. It's an open plan room with a weird striped decor that extends back a fair way. Despite there being a Travelodge above they have made the toilets here into a training exercise for the tedious ascent of Ben Nevis. I was thinking of eating here but the appearance of a fat man wearing a bright red kilt put me off the idea. The beer choice from the ten hand pumps was quite disappointing. There were three available soon, two unused, a cider which was in the fridge, Deuchars, Bowman Quiver, Elgood's Greyhound and Orkney Dark Island. The two Scottish beers were both taken from the national list rather than local micros. I went for the Dark Island and Greyhound (£2.35) which were in decent nick. This one is GBG 2017 listed but I didn't really rate it on the day.

If I describe this as a typical J. D. Wetherspoon's pub, I don't have to add much more to let most Pubs Galore members know what it's like. It has the expected combination of bland surroundings and good selections of both beer and food at competitive prices. The only distinctive feature here is that, being at the southern end of the eponymous Great Glen, the signage is in Gaelic as well as English.