The Full Moon (JD Wetherspoon), Dudley

Almost 9 years since my last visit to this town centre 'spoon's, I returned. Little has changed. This is a long, single room with a small section on a slightly lower level to the rear (assuming you entered from the High Street), as there are doors at the far end onto King Street. The typical Wetherspoon's clientele are here, from groups of young girls on pitchers of cocktails to older men who seem to enjoy stronger strength beers or ciders. As such, the ABVs were on the high side. Sharp's Doom Bar & Greene King Abbot are the regular beers. Also on was the Greene King IPA and a couple of beers from Byatt's (Regal Blond) & Dockyard Strong Porter. Their XK Dark was clipped, but the barman wasn't sure whether it was on or not. I think it had been pulled through by the time I left. Boxed ciders in the fridge seemed to be popular. These were Old Rosie & Black Dragon.

Old-school 'spoons in a rather gloomy, elongated shop unit spanning back to King Street with a small frontage at each end. The dark furniture and carpet, and low-level lighting don't help much either. On the beer front, Adnams Ghost Ship, Great Newsome's Frotheringham Best (£2.46), Old Hooky and Crowning Glory from Theakston supplemented the usual trio of Greene King IPA, Doom Bar and Abbot on the two banks of six handpumps.

A straightforward basic Spoons of the ‘long and narrow with a bar on the middle side’ variety. Whilst there’s not a huge amount of interest inside, it nonetheless is welcoming enough and is stuffed with a wide variety of comical Spoons Characters. Service was noticeably good over our three visits, staff being bright, cheery and switched-on. Our one drinking stop found an excellent (NBSS 4) pint of Titanic Cherry Dark, amongst several other genuine guests. Noted the next morning over breakfast that the Greg Davies-alike manager was having a cheeky sample of one of the ales – which might well explain the quality. Whilst it’s hardly a must visit based on the interior the ale and service mean it stands above many of its JDW peers.

A by-the-book Wethers. Long and thin with, depending on which way you enter, an extension to one side. 12 handpumps with all ales doubled up, which meant the usual crap plus 3 beers from Exmoor today (Fox, Stag and Beast). It doesn't seem to have the attraction of being any cheaper than the other pubs in the town centre. And apart from Ruddles you won't be paying less than £2.35, which is still not bad.