The Talk of the Town (JD Wetherspoon), Paignton

Looks like an old-school 'spoons, with dark furniture and decor and gloomy lighting away from the front and back windows, but the conversion from two shops (themselves converted from a pair of villas) was undertaken by a previous pub operator before its acquisition in 2010. The central bar area is raised slightly above the seating / dining areas by the front doors and along the rear section (which has a narrow patio terrace beyond). My hopes weren't raised too much by seeing Dartmoor Jail Ale alongside Ruddles, Doom Bar and Abbot on the first bank of four handpumps, but the other set featured Salcombe Lifesaver, Jurassic Gas Tank IPA, Long Man Copper Hop and Vale Gravitas which certainly exceeded my expectations, especially as they were all just £1.99.

Paignton's second Spoons dates from 2010 and is a lot closer to the seafront so is likely to attract the tourists rather than locals. Inside it's a roughly square open plan, split level room with the bar on the right and a low ceiling that makes it rather dark. I was here on a sunny but breezy May Saturday so it wasn't being overrun. This one only has eight hand pumps which had the JDW Trio Of Doom, Dartmoor Jail Ale, Marston's Old Empire, Wild Weather Go Man Go, Hanlon's Firefly and Hambleton's Stallion Amber. I went for the Old Empire (£2.65 but marked at £2.79) which was excellent. This one seemed OK to me but I could imagine it being a nightmare on a sunny day during the school summer holidays. The other Spoons is much more of a local one and better.