Wetherspoons: Beer Weathervane?

We mused, as we walked to Hailsham on the Cuckoo Trail, whether there would be decent beer to be had when we got there.

There was an indication that one place (which we'd never previously heard of) that appeared to be promising in terms of interesting beer - so that's where we headed when we arrived.

There was one sorry pump of Doom Bar in evidence so we performed our best disappointed about-face and went to the place that is consistently in the GBG:  a Wetherspoons.

As we went through the door, I have to admit my heart sank a little since it was the usual range of clientele and cheap food cooking smells.

The beers on the front bar were not familiar and yet I kinda knew that they wouldn't be exciting.  We saw more pumps around the other side so we crept around with hope in our hearts to be met by ... Abbot Ale and Ruddles (there may have been a token Doom Bar as well for full effect).

So I went with the more interesting of the other beers (Sadlers, something or other) and the boy stuck to cider (which was, thankfully, proper bag in a box sort of a thing).  The Sadlers was a good rendition of a premium bitter and in very good nick, at a good temperature.  But it wasn't really what I wanted, was it?

As we sat in the pleasant garden we both recounted tales of the days we (separately) enjoyed Wetherspoons for its ability to showcase beers we hadn't heard of and supply interesting styles.

We wondered whether this is, in fact, that the beer/brewery scene in the UK has improved so much and excites so often that it's no longer possible for the chain to acquire really interesting beers from young breweries and sell them at the ridiculously low prices that is their USP.

I hope so.

And far from deingrating them as an organisation (political leanings of the owner aside) - they do a thing and they do it to a specific standard.  It's not my bag of spanners but I get to choose whether I use their services and so does everyone else.