The Angel (JD Wetherspoon), Basingstoke

According to the JDW directory this is still a Lloyds and has the tell tale Landscape printed menus rather than the normal JDW Portrait format. It is also listed in the JDW directory as Lloyds No. 1 bar rather than the Angel and according to the JDW web site closes at 23:00 every night of the week. Whether this is a standard JDW or a Lloyds is a mystery. I got here just before midday on a Friday and there were certainly no plastic glasses, just a load of mainly older locals and family groups who had come in for something to eat. As noted below it's modern and is part of a cinema complex. It's smaller inside than it looks from the outside consisting of a roughly rectangular room with a mix of synthetic tiles and carpets. Their are some weird looking modern chandeliers, some idiotic abstract paintings on the walls and the ridiculous exposed ventilation ducts that some clown thought was a good design feature. There are only a handful of tall tables at the right side of the bar. It was much busier than their other town outlet. The bar has a 3-4-3 formation of hand pumps but the sets of three were both taken up with GK IPA & Abbot and Doom Bore. This left only four worthwhile options, Moorhouse Pride of Pendle, Dark Star Hophead, Longdog Lamplight Porter and Loddon's Ferryman's Gold. I went for the Gold (£2.49) which was slightly hazy but perfectly drinkable. I didn't think this place was a disaster but isn't one of their better outlets. Is it a JDW or a Lloyds? I don't have the faintest idea!

Official site of The Angel (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Angel (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Happens to stay open very late - even on a Monday night.

Busy, noisy, dark, full of slappers, poor beer served in plastic glasses so don't come here for the beer. Big screens showing music videos and the news. Bizarre mix of seedy business men, a few middle aged locals and the aforementioned slappers. On the plus side the service was a big quicker than the usual JDW/Lloyds standard.