I liked the concept of "old man bars" - tough a lot of UK pubs would fit that description, but not really a "spoons" pub
Experienced this outside of York, more country side.
I hate spoons. It's the worst of the corporate world (race to the bottom, conformity, lies, undercutting family businesses) sold as "what the working-classes really want". It's the McDonalds of alcohol and tabloid-culture, with a Scrooge-like owner to match.
Here's a thread on Reddit discussing the former in Edinburgh:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Edinburgh/comments/6g422z/best_old_...