The Edmund Tylney (JD Wetherspoon), Leatherhead

Wetherspoons on High Street, nicely laid out, has usual wood panels & books but its a little more rambling than a lot of the chain & feels comfortable. Good service & well kept beers, including a good choice of local ales helps as well.

This is an old school Spoons having opened at the tail end of 1997. It's not the first Woolworths conversion I've been to but as noted below this shop conversion is made more airy by not enclosing the central part of the room from the first floor. I got here before 11:00 and the place was dominated by a daytime brigade contingent at the tall tables and chairs in front of the bar. The bar has two sets of six hand pumps. The right hand set can be dismissed out of hand with the two GK beers and Doom Bore doubled up. The left six were much morw interesting with two of the International series of beers from Adnam's and Caledonian plus four Locale beers. These were Dark Star American Pale, Sambrook's Wandle, Twickenham Champion's Ale and Dorking Buffalo Buffalo. I went for the Dark Star and Twickenham beers both of which were in excellent condition at £2.85. That leads to my only real gripe about this place which is that the prices are quite high for a Spoons. It's not as bad as Central London but heading that way. The standard guest ale price is £2.55 and I assume the £2.85 I paid was the Premium / Locale price. I was glad I had a couple of CAMRA vouchers with me but it was still 10p dearer than my local Spoons. I also noticed some of the food deals were about a quid a time extra. This is the first time I had ever been to the centre of Leatherhead and have to admit there are not many pubs, I only spotted three others so maybe they are all expensive. Despite all that I thought it was an above average Spoons as the beer quality was faultless.

I am not a fan of Wetherspoons but this was certainly one of the better ones I have been to. Although a fairly large space I thought the interior was nicely softened by the decor and wood paneling ,I didn't count the pumps but there were plenty, all working and not to much in the way of bland stuff,my beer was in good condition, the staff were attentive and strangely seemed to know what they were doing.It is a JDW but I wouldnt be too put out if I had to return.

Pretty much a formula 'spoons shop conversion of a couple of units. The centre is galleried as the stairs to the toilets run up through here and therefore gives a feeling of space plus light too as there is a large opaque rooflight over the area. The bar is down one side but the single space feels split due to the stair location and the opposite side area which being slightly raised feels slightly separated. It certainly would be the preferred area to sit having some interest in the form of a few booths, bookshelves and appreciations of former local residents of note, however being Mothers' Day and also being the part of the pub with a childrens' licence it wasn't too appealing on Sunday afternoon. A roaring trade in budget roast dinners was evident. The area has though clearly had its share of celebrities with links to the area, such as birth control pioneer Marie Stopes, a visiting Jane Austen and the marvellously named Goblin Hoovers. The pub has a community board which was dominated by kids' scribblings presumed to be from the crayons provided (perhaps Mothers' Day isn't a special case). Edmund Tylney was apparently Master of the Revels to Queen Elizabeth I, a local JP and a licencer of plays who advised the likes of Shakespeare. There were five of the current JDW beer festival ales on, with one pump "coming soon"; additionally four festival ciders plus the usual options of Ruddles and GK Abbot. An ok what it says on the tin 'spoons with some interesting features and the usual mixed clientele, but worth a look and the beer was in good nick too.