The Barrel Vault (JD Wetherspoon), N1

Station branch of Wetherspoon's which is fairly small but always seems to have a good constantly revolving stream of customers. I'd forgotten about a recent visit there when I had time to spare before a booked train to the Peterborough Beer Festival. Regular beers on here are Sharp's Doom Bar, Greene King Abbot & IPA & Thornbridge Jaipur. Guests on my visit were Oakham Citra & Bishop's Farewell, Lancaster Black, Twickenham Nooksack, Acorn Olicana IPA, Mad Squirrel Trident & Southwark Lemon Drop (Single Hop). Ciders were Weston's Old Rosie & Snail's Bank Raspberry Ripple. I chose the Lemon Drop, which was nowhere near as good as it sounded. I suspect it was nearing the end of the barrel. The fact that JAQPTIO's visit was on or before 10th August and mine was on 21st August would seem to confirm this theory unless they had more than one cask, which I very much doubt. The interior is small but the lack of doors on the station side gives it a bit more of a spacious feel. I was amused by the barman. When we told him we were on our way to the beer festival, he proffered that we'd find a lot better beers than in the Barrel Vault! He was 100% correct but as station pubs go, the range here is very good. Prices are steep, but this is not a bad branch of the chain.

A long thin ‘spoons on the edge of the station nearest King’s Cross and fronting on to Pancras Road. From the name I thought it would be underground in the old beer barrel storage area mostly used by Bass. There’s a nod to that history as the decor is almost entirely old casks on racks around much of the room. Fairly standard spoons furnishings, although I’d not seen the tall single round tables before and they’re tightly packed in making getting about difficult. Two sets of six pulls with the usual T-bars between, one T-bar is a double decker affair. Usual suspects plus Oakham Citra and Pride on one bank, festival beers on the other. The festival beers were all at a very reasonable £3.49 while the standards were from £3.29 (IPA now showing as 3.4%) to £4.99 for Abbot, it was £3.49 for the Citra, £4.79 for Doom and £4.97 for Pride. Cask quality was just above average and as noted before the staffing level is more than adequate.