The Watch House (JD Wetherspoon), Lewisham, SE13

This is a fairly typical High Street Spoons dating from 1997. It's only an average size for the brand and on my pre-midday visit was quite busy with a mix of the slightly scary daytime Spoons types and other folk. There were twelve pumps with six Festival ales on, one unused, two Ruddles, Old speckled Hen and two ciders. I got lucky with the Festival ales as there were two I hadn't come across, Rooster's All Star and Brewster's Aromatic Porter, both of which were in very good condition. For some reason I was charged £2.49 for the first pint and £2.29 for the second, so if you're reading this Watch House you owe me 20P!

This quite formulaic High Street Wetherspoons takes its name from the old Village Green that now lies under layers of tarmac in the nearby shopping precinct. The interior is wide but quite shallow with an exyended area to the right of the bar. There comes a time when writing about a ‘Spoons does little more than cover the same territory and the Watch House is not really any different athough the interior does have a little bit of character with some good use of the pillars that have been cleverly turned them into display units. The beers and food are as one would expect with a couple of decent guests on my visit. It was fairly quiet (late Sunday evening) although I suspect that it is a “choose the right time” sort of place to visit. Overall I would say it is above the average ‘Spoons but in an area like Lewisham, it can be a Godsend for anyone looking to sample a few out of the ordinary ales and for that reason alone, is worth popping in.

Randomness Guide to London - Watch House entry

Randomness Guide to London - Watch House entry

Official pages of the Watch House - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

Official pages of the Watch House - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

Large Wetherspoon's in the Market area of Lewisham. Does a fair range of real ales and the usual Wether nosh