The Sir Alexander Fleming (JD Wetherspoon), Paddington, W2

Yesterday was my first visit to this new branch of Wetherspoon's in the Paddington Basin. It enjoys quite a pleasant location overlooking the canal and surrounded by offices and new apartment blocks. You wouldn't want to have too many in here as there's not a lot to stop you falling in the drink! The interior is bright and modern. We didn't get much further than the bar area but it seems that most tables have some kind of view over the basin. Plenty of families were in for food and drinks on our Saturday morning visit. The usual 'spoon's cask ales were on - Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar, alongside Brains SA, Marston's Wainwright Gold & Titanic Plum Porter. A fairly average selection and I seem to recall them being priced around £4 a pint, which seems high by the chain's normal pricing. There was no real cider. The location is just about the best thing about this pub. If you want some different cask ales, hear to the Bear or possibly the Mad Bishop & Bear. If it's expensive craft beers you're after, Brewdog is also just at the end of the basin.

Opened yesterday, this pub takes its name from a former eponymous hostelry on Praed Street which closed in 2017, named after Fleming who invented penicillin at St. Mary’s Hospital over the basin. Another ‘spoons, the interior is very modern with mustard coloured exposed brick and screed walls, then titmouse blue or mushroom paint; the floor has a typical baffling patterned carpet then terrazzo flooring around the bar; there is much in the way of exposed ductwork, décor in the form of photos and prints of the area from yesteryear then a myriad furniture styles including some booth-style banquettes and solitary pouffe doubling as my drinking companion (see photos). Lighting is bright, coming from various lamp styles and customers were young studenty types, probably from St. Mary’s, or surgeons getting tanked up before going into the operating theatre; less welcome was the squawking baby in a pram, its parents watching noisy YouTube videos on a phone. Overall, the place isn’t that big and surprisingly, the lavs are very cramped. The cask choice is poor by ‘spoons standards, with two unused pumps, then Gloom (with a new pump clip to trip up the unwary), Abbot, Ruddles Best and Portobello Market Porter, £1.88 the half, served by an attentive barman. Paddington is a pretty ropey drinking destination, the Bear still being the preferred choice, but if you must visit a branch, keep on going on the tube to the Metropolitan; a little further takes you to the Barrel Vault. Rates 4.5.