The Sir John Oldcastle (JD Wetherspoon), EC1

The Sir John Oldcastle is a modern looking Spoons that is very handy for Farringdon station. We had the fortune to visit this pub on a couple of occasions in the early morning when is was almost empty. Once inside there is a large L shaped room with the bar facing,the seating is the normal Spoons type with mainly normal tables and chairs,we sat looking out to farringdon road watching the people rush by. There was a decent choice of real ales on the bar,car'nt remember what but it went down well with an early morning breakfast. We quite took to this Spoons,but this was in the morning when it was almost empty. Pub first visited 17/8/2006

Located pretty much next door to the redesigned new entrance of Farringdon station, this is a classic L-shaped Wetherspoons pub. The simple interior has typical ‘Spoons décor throughout and I couldn’t help but think that you could stand at any point, facing any direction in this pub and instantly recognise that you were in a Wetherspoons. The room is carpeted throughout with panelled walls and pillars decorated with the usual historic information boards and photos. Sofa style benches are arranged under the large front windows whilst plenty of high tables and stools fill the gap between a row of structural pillars and the bar. At the rear of the room there are a few semi-partitioned booths which are positioned underneath a fairly pleasant looking bookcase. Several TV screens were on showing news coverage during my late evening visit which saw just a small handful of fellow customers. The ten hand pumps had a disappointing ratio of regulars to guests, with six of them offering standard ‘Spoons products, whilst the remaining four provided three guests and a ‘Coming Soon’ clip. I ended up with a pint of Caledonian Mild Mayhem, which wasn’t really up to much, although it was at least served by a friendly barman who spent much of his time engaging in banter with the few customers loitering around the bar area. This place was about as unmemorable as pub visits get, with no outstanding features and nothing special about the beer. It’s a handy option for a quick pint before heading to the station, but those who bemoan Wetherspoons homogenous approach to pub design will be tearing their hair out in this place.

Named after a 14th Century political and religious leader (and alledgedly the inspiration for Shakespear’s Falstaff) who owned a mansion within whose grounds the pub stands although there have apparently been pubs on this site since the 17th Century. Today’s incarnation is a large and formulaic L-shaped Wetherspoons, lacking any great degree of character but fulfilling all the usual ‘Spoons functions. The 2 sides of picture windows and open layout keep the place relatively bright and airy despite the lowish ceilings. The lengthy bar ensures there is usually a gap somewhere to get served when busy and my recent visit found a very impressive 11 of the 12 hand pumps being utilized for the recent Festival beers. Despite there being a high percentage of reserved tables grabbing a seat was relatively easy albeit I would imagine that at peak times the place does a roaring trade by undercutting the prices of anything else around here. Not the best ‘Spoons around but far from being the worst either although if you want a pub with character, best look elsewhere.

Typical open plan Wetherspoons in an L shape around a corner, though its smaller than some. Standard square wooden tables, with some high bences and some more loungy sofa, the walls dark wood pannalled with some info on local celebrities. I could have written this without actually going there!

I can concur with the final comment of Steve below. If you like Wetherspoons then you will probably like this one as I thought it was quite a good example of the plastic fit pub chain. The Sir John Oldcastle occupies a large corner plot underneath an office building a short walk away from Farringdon Tube. It benefits from having fairly large floor to ceiling windows on the two exterior walls and is therefore lighter and more airy that a lot of these establishment, especially when a few of the windows by the corner section are open. Internally it is a standard Spoons fit out, lots of dark mahogany wood seating, copious amounts of teles and a few B&W period photo’s of the surrounding Farringdon area to try and give the place a bit of character. 12 hand pumps on the bar as stated below and on my visit at least 10 were on with the others suffering from the minute ‘coming soon’ signs. These included Cotleigh Tawny Owl, Brewsters Hophead and Itchen Valley Green Jackets. Standard Spoons service behind the bar in that when I tried to order the Hophead without spotting the coming soon sign my mistake was indicated to me by pointing at the sign and grunting. But I’ll forgive that as I then got poured a full pint of the Green Jackets and it was a well kept pint.