J.J. Moon's (JD Wetherspoon), Kingsbury, NW9

One of Timbo’s earlier outlets (1988) and I doubt too much has changed in the last 30 years. Fairly small compared to the later openings and it feels fairly pubby, with light wood panelling, some booths and pillars and a raised area to the rear. Three guest ales but my Spidey Senses told me that the cask wasn’t shifting and to be sensible, so I had a rare sighting of bottled Tusker. Menu very depleted – none of the craft cans and a chunk of breakfast items greyed-out on the app. A fairly genial hubbub at 11am on a Thursday morning, including a chap happily wittering away to himself. Perfectly decent Spoons on the one hand, with supply issues on the other.

Just a few doors down from Kingsbury tube station, this is an old-fashioned Wetherspoons pub that was one of their first establishments when it opened back in 1988. Like a lot of ‘Spoons from the period, it’s a relatively small branch set in what looks like two adjacent shop units with a row of large partitioning wall segments running from front to back, showing where the divide would’ve previously been. The left-hand side of the pub has some decent bench booths down the side wall, with some nice partitioning screens between bearing smart etched glass panes. Standard tables and chairs fill the rest of this carpeted space, which extends into a raised rear section with a skylight on the ceiling and a few more booths under a large bookcase. The servery is down the right-hand wall, surrounded by patterned floor tiling and with a traditional dark wood panel counter front and mirrored bar back. More basic table and chair arrangements fill the front part of this side of the pub, under the large windows with their coloured glass inserts, whilst high tables and stools run through the centre of the room, opposite the bar. Décor throughout includes lots of attractive full height wall panels, a few plain mirrors, TV screens showing muted rolling news coverage and plenty of local history information boards. There are two banks of six hand pumps on the bar, but these were doubled up, offering three ‘Spoons regular ales and three guests. I opted for a pint of the Flack Hedge Hop, which poured pretty flat and was a less than inspiring brew. One particularly odd feature, that I don’t recall seeing in a ‘Spoons previously, was that the barman was wearing a recording devise on his chest, which captured audio and visuals of everyone he served, which didn’t bode well on a peaceful Saturday afternoon visit. I don’t really mind these early ‘Spoons pubs, as they tend to have a bit more pub-character than some of the larger, more modern pubs that followed. This place was doing a pretty good trade and were the beer not in better nick, I think I could’ve stayed a bit longer. Not really one to go out of your way for, but these London suburbs are seriously lacking in cask ale, so it’s a default choice if you’re in the area.

This is not the first J J Moon's that I've been in, but it may be the best of the two. It's a typical 'spoons of course - cheap beer, cheap food and the usual mix of furnishings (normal tables and chairs, tall tables/tall stools, and booths) all crammed in. The walls and pillars all have attractive wood panelling on them, and the typical prints and photographs of local interest are displayed. Apparently the famous aviatrix Amy Johnson plied her trade/hobby from a nearby airfield. In summary it's a standard 'spoons, and good for what it is.

Extraordinarily dark when I went in, with none of the ceiling lights on and the arrays of lager fonts being just about the only source of illumination inside. I assume that this was some kind of temporary electrical failure rather than a normal occurrence, but it certainly created an unusual and slightly creepy atmosphere. Although there are 12 handpumps on the bar, many of these were doubled up so the choice was Ruddles plus five festival ales (e.g. the curious Tom Woods Vanilla Orchid at a very reasonable £1.69) and a draught cider.