The Star Inn (JD Wetherspoon), Honiton

A pretty average ‘Spoons, pretty much as described by others, below. Ales on were Ruddles, Doombar, Abbott and Devon Dumpling, and again there was no real cider available. Does all the usual things averagely well but falls short in its beer range.

Honiton is one of those towns that really benefits from having a Wetherspoon's, as from what I saw of the rest of the town's pubs, they were pure dross. Walking along the street, I thought I'd missed this branch of 'spoon's. It cleverly conceives itself as a normal looking pub. In fact, it did used to be a proper pub. Once inside, you know you're in a Wetherspoon's. But on first arrival, the layout is quite disorienting and it's not obvious where the bar is. Once at the bar, I found the usual beers on - Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar. Two guest beers - Dartmoor Jail Ale & Bays Devon Dumpling made the range very adventurous by Honiton standards. I also spotted 2 real cider pumpclips - Weston's Old Rosie & Winkleigh Sam's Cloudy Crush. I'd never had the latter before. So I ordered a pint, only to be told that they had none. Yes, this Wetherspoon's is the best place to drink in Honiton, but unfortunately it suffers the same problems as other branches in displaying pump clips for beers and ciders that aren't available. I had to content myself with an Old Rosie instead. Bright fruit/games machines are present, along with multiple TVs showing the news. Unusually for a Wetherspoon's, a cat was wandering around the tables looking for scraps. Whether this was a pub cat or whether it had crept in from the outside unnoticed by the staff, I'm not sure, but I suspect it didn't belong there!

Honiton's JDW is an original pub and quite obviously so looking at it from the main road. Inside the original pub has been taken up with low tables and chairs and the bar is in what looks like a modern extension at the rear. Although open plan it is split into smaller areas. The whole place has a low ceiling and seems to have been completely modernised. The bar has ten hand pumps which had the JDW Trio Of Doom with the GK beers doubled, two ciders, Otter Bright, Dartmoor Jail Ale and Bays Devon Dumpling. I went for the Devon Dumpling (£2.15) which was in good nick. I also went for the Fish Friday (£6.49) which is cheaper than average here despite other food clubs being slightly dearer. I thought this was OK for a small town Spoons.