If you’re hoping to pay a visit to the smallest Wetherspoons in the UK, you might want to limit your rounds – or face a desperate dash to toilets situated 150 yards away outside the venue.
Tucked away inside London’s Cannon Street railway station is The Sir John Hawkshaw – officially the tiniest Wetherspoons in the country.
With just 41 tables, it’s a far cry from the sprawling pubs the chain is usually known for.
The venue is so tiny that there aren’t any restrooms, with customers having to dash across the concourse to use the station’s public toilets.
Opened in December 2014, the pub is named after engineer Sir John Hawkshaw, one of the co-designers behind the original 1866 station building.
The pint-sized pub still delivers classic Wetherspoons charm, including a mix of high tables and regular ones and one single copper-topped bar.
There’s even a veranda outside where you can sip your drink while watching commuters rush by – though, technically, you’re still inside the station.
One rather quirky addition is a screen nestled in a corner that displays train arrivals and departures in real time, so punters will never have to miss their train whilst enjoying a cold beer.
Tucked away inside London’s Cannon Street railway station is The Sir John Hawkshaw – officially the tiniest Wetherspoons in the country
The pint-sized pub still delivers classic Wetherspoons charm, including a mix of high tables and regular ones and one single copper-topped bar
There’s even a veranda outside where you can sip your drink while watching commuters rush by – though, technically, you’re still inside the station (pictured)
For history geeks, a blue plaque at the veranda offers information into the site’s fascinating past – including stories of Roman ruins and the 1666 Great Fire of London.
Punters sitting at the veranda, or from tables located near the window, can watch trains arrive at their platforms just metres from the venue, as reported by the The Sun.
Taking to TripAdvisor, one visitor dubbed the pub a ‘great place to people watch,’ adding: ‘Whilst in London on a previous visit, we stumbled across this Wetherspoon.
‘With it being in a train station, we thought it would be quieter than most places and it was.
‘The toilets in Wetherspoons are generally quite a distance from the bar but here they are across the station.’
Another added: ‘This may have been the smallest pub in this chain that I have visited. There are signs informing customers that there are no toilets on site, so you use the station ones around 150 yards across the platform.
‘Having said that, there was the usual good selection of beers, a reduced food menu and staff were friendly enough. We stayed for a couple of pints and people watched the commuters.’
A third noted that they were left ‘pleasantly surprised’ after visiting the pub, as they hadn’t expected to stumble across a Wetherspoons in a rail station.
With just 41 tables, it’s a far cry from the sprawling pubs the chain is usually known for
Only three core beers – Greene King Abbot, Greene King IPA and Sharp’s Doom Bar – are available on tap, plus three rotating guest ales
Taking to TripAdvisor, one visitor dubbed the pub a ‘great place to people watch’
However, they added: ‘My only niggle was it was super cramped inside and they didn’t have any toilets.’
Meanwhile, a couple have completed their mission to visit every single Wetherspoons in the country – visiting all 900 of the chain’s venues in eight years.
Alan and Agnes Forbes, 63 and 46, became addicted to finding Wetherspoons pubs wherever they went to check out the beautiful architecture of many of the buildings -with their highest number of branches visited in a day being eight.
But it’s the carpets that the couple say are a ‘massive pull factor’ with each Spoons having an individually designed pattern to complement the building, the area or the person the pub was named after
