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Disappointment of the week with Real Ale Ray
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The Moon on the Hill (JD Wetherspoon), Sutton
Sutton
SM1 1DZ
Pub Type
J D WetherspoonReviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Moon on the Hill (JD Wetherspoon)
This was a busy and vibrant Spoons on our early Friday Eve visit. Luckily for us we got Twickenham Azacca 4.6% for £2 a pint. The pub was mainly full of blokes on our visit for some reason and the majority of them looked quite thirsty and were keeping the bar staff very busy. We got a high table near the bar, which was excellent for spotting some of the unusual and interesting characters that this Spoons attracts. Well worth a visit, just for the entertainment and cheap beer. If you're trying to find the gents toilet, it's up the stairs and on the right, difficult to see the sign as some sculpted tree is in the way.
On 30th November 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3382 recommendations about 3381 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
custodian 42 left this review about The Moon on the Hill (JD Wetherspoon)
Slightly better than the Grapes owing to the choice of real ales. Bar to right side with a lower level of seating on the left. Otherwise a standard Spoons outlet.
On 14th January 2018
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1693 recommendations about 1691 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Moon on the Hill (JD Wetherspoon)
Fine-looking building with an innocuous extended split-level level interior behind the original frontage. However, the fair amount of window space front and back helps the daytime ambience. A small patio area at the rear is also optimistically branded a 'beer garden', but there is another small area to one side and some tables out on the front pavement. Not a bad selection of nine real ales from the two banks of five handpumps, with local offerings from Wimbledon and Twickenham, but I opted for the Everard's Pitch Black stout (£2.29). Overall, the better of the town's two 'spoons.
On 5th November 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8086 recommendations about 8086 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Moon on the Hill (JD Wetherspoon)
The Moon on the Hill is one of two Wetherspoons pubs in Sutton's pedestrianised town centre, set in what looks like a former commercial premises, in contrast to the nearby Grapes, which was a pub long before Wetherspoons moved in. The fact that this particular 'Moon' is on a hill is reflected in the pub's multi-level interior. You enter into the main bar area, with the servery midway into the room on the right hand side. A small seating area to the front has the benefit of large windows for people watching purposes, but this area is otherwise fairly bereft of seating, opting instead for ample standing room around the angular bar counter and part mirrored bar back. To the rear there is a raised seating space with loads of standard tables and chairs and views out to a surprisingly green rear patio garden. This is where I always used to sit when I semi-regularly visited this pub ten or so years ago, but I noticed that I'd never explored the lower section in the front left quadrant of the pub, so I took my drink down there to see what it was like. In many ways, this is the nicest part of the pub, with a few high tables and stools giving way to regular chairs and some decent banquette booths along the far wall. The steps down into the room are flanked by a couple of odd looking tree people, the significance of which was completely lost on me, but I quite liked this random quirk. The whole pub is carpeted and boasts some good wood panelling and stained glasswork throughout, helping to give it a bit of the character provincial 'Spoons so often struggle to capture. Several TV screens were doing their regular duty of keeping punters up to date with the latest news.
There are two banks of five handpulls on the bar and these had a remarkably good ratio of seven guest ales and three 'Spoons regulars. I tried the pun-tastic Yeastie Boys Nerdherder Pale, served by a no-nonsense barman and in pretty good shape. For all of this, my overriding impression on this visit was of a rather tatty pub with unclean tables and fraying fittings and the staff didn't help matters by being chaotic and disorganised during a fairly quiet post-lunchtime period.
When I used to visit this place a decade ago, we kept coming back as it was the most reliable pub in Sutton town centre. Remarkably, ten years later, the same still seems to apply. As much as the place could do with some investment to spruce things up a bit, it remains perhaps the best bet for a good pint and cheap bite to eat in a town content to let the real ale market flourish down the road in Carshalton.
On 13th July 2016
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Moon on the Hill (JD Wetherspoon)
Visit 02/01/2015
On my visit today there were four beers that I could have gone for, Clarence & Frederick's Smoked Red, Jaipur IPA, Westerham Audit and Twickenham Naked Ladies. I declined the Naked Ladies (so to speak) and tried the other three (£2.95 for the Jaipur and Audit and £2.50 for the Smoked Red) and they were all in very good condition. It's a bit expensive for a Spoons but it appears to be well run and has a good selection of ales. The score remains at a very solid 8.
Visit 12/12/2013
Following my summer visit I arrived here today to find the Bingham Vanilla Stout (£2.45) and Jaipur IPA (£2.89) in superb nick. I have to up the score to 8 as a result.
Visit 14/06/2013
This is a huge square shaped area with more typical a Spoons look than the nearby Grapes. It's on a corner so there are windows down one side. I would guess that it was originally some sort of office rather than a shop, but I may be wrong. Like the Grapes the beer selection was above average and I went for the Kissingate Chennai IPA at £2.29, a brewery that is completely new to me. Unfortunately it looked like it hadn't had time to settle properly as it was quite hazy and had a yeasty flavour.
Not the best Spoons but certainly not the worst and worth a look on the off chance of finding an unusual beer.
On 3rd January 2015
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The Moon on the Hill (JD Wetherspoon)
A typically large Wetherspoons with the bar area being split level stepping up and down, large windows to the front, rear and side give welcome natural light, some windows have coloured glass inserts. The usual crammed in seats but there are a number of booths around the edges. The upper level to the rear is overlooked by a pair of unusual tree-men figures forming a kind of arch across the divide to the main bar area. Outdoor seating to the rear with a few "jumbrellas".
Unusually for a 'spoons they have bar stools here, I cannot recall seeing them in any other branch, they were fully occupied on Friday with drinkers completely oblivious to the needs of people waiting to be served and needing to see the pumps.
I managed however, a pretty decent range too, I reckoned on eight guests plus the usual Ruddles etc, Maulden's Yellow Adder, Bragdy Conwy Surfin' IPA, Otter Admiral, Cairngorm Red Rye IPA, Hanlon's Half Moon, Growler Hell Hound and Celt Dark Age; One escaped me as the large gent sat in front fully concealed the pump!
The range is possibly as good as it gets in a JDW, Crosse Keys maybe excepted, perhaps I was lucky, possibly this is standard. The pub certainly seems to have improved no end looking at earlier reviews. Ditch the bar stools though please.
On 27th April 2014
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1707 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Moon on the Hill (JD Wetherspoon)
As well as the usual suspects, the real ales on were Welton’s Heatwave; Arkell’s Moonlight; Naylor’s Original Brewer’s Choice; and Independence Ale, which is apparently brewed specially for Wetherspoons by one Tonya Cotter of the Bend Brewing Company, of Oregon USA. As it was 4 July, and the clip sported an arresting image of Uncle Sam, I just had to go for the Independence Ale. It was pretty much as I expected an ale brewed in the USA to be – light in colour and very well hopped. But I thought it was an excellent addition to JDW’s stable and an innovative idea getting an ale from the USA outside their biennial beer festivals. Not bad at £1.89 a pint (or £1.39 for me with my newly acquired CAMRA vouchers).
Anyway, this pub has certainly upped its game since Roger’s visit last October (but there was clearly considerable room for improvement). Gone were the unseemly odours, and the tables were all clean and clutter free. But I was in there at 11.40 AM on a Saturday morning. Even then it took 10 – 15 minutes to get served and it may be that when it gets very busy the staff will be overly stretched. It’s a typical Wetherspoon’s pub (but unusually on two levels), with the usual range of high stools/tables, sofas, normal tables and chairs, and booths. Based on my one visit, it’s not the worst Wetherspoons I have been in – just typical for the brand, which means that it is somewhere where you can get excellent ale at reasonable prices.
On 4th July 2009
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john mcgraw left this review about The Moon on the Hill (JD Wetherspoon)
Large Wetherspoon's just off the main High St.Has seperate drinking ares and a few guest beers.
On 26th June 2009
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2044 recommendations about 2025 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Moon on the Hill (JD Wetherspoon)
A spacious but has a rather formulaic Wetherspoons with all the usual characteristics however for all the defence that I can normally muster up for Wetherspoons, this is one of worst I have experienced. The first thing that hits you is that the bar smells like the world spewing championships had been held there during the afternoon. Trying to find a table not piled up with dirty dishes was nigh on impossible on my visit and with only 1 guest beer (which wasn't up to the usual high Wetherspoons quality) selection was pretty poor. Throw in a generally down market crowd and it all adds up to one of the most unappealing Wetherspoons I have encountered. I thought I may have just called on an off day but having read of the pub's reputation elsewhere, it is clear that the problems are an intrinsic part of the pub and not a good advert for the management. This one really does give Wetherspoons a bad name.
On 27th October 2008
- rating: 3
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]