A firm fan of the J D Wetherspoon pub group, I am delighted that this enterprising company has at long last arrived in Oxford city centre. It has taken over the attractive George Street premises once occupied by Yates's Wine Lodge and later the Slug and Lettuce, neither much mourned, if mourned at all.

The new name, The Four Candles, comes from a celebrated comedy sketch that everybody remembers by the Two Ronnies — you know, the one where Barker tries to buy fork handles. It is a very appropriate choice since the late, great comedian's school days were spent just along the road at the City of Oxford High School for Boys, and his first tentative steps on the stage were made a couple of hundred yards away at the Oxford Playhouse (see Page 2 today).

He held dear his memories of the Oxford he knew in youth. On the one occasion I met him late in his life he spoke with great affection of the various characters he had known from The Oxford Times. I suspect he would approve of the Four Candles, not least (as an antique dealer) for the way it celebrates the city's past with a wealth of photographs and other memorabilia about its walls.

Some readers might be surprised to find me approving of the place — at any rate as a venue for eating — in the light of my supposed taste for up-market establishments. In fact, my taste is for the best and, when this can't be afforded, for the best value. I dislike the mediocre, plenty of which is to be found in the various chain operations elsewhere in George Street.

My regular use of Wetherspoons' places goes back three or four years, chiefly in connection with my work as a theatre critic. The theatres I regularly visit in adjoining towns (including High Wycombe, Cheltenham and Milton Keynes) all have one of these well-run pubs handily placed for a pre-show meal.

A few weeks ago, I was pleased to find myself in Northampton when there was a cheap curry night at The Moon on the Square (as there is once a week at all JDW pubs). I enjoyed small portions of chicken pasanda, beef dhansak, lamb Kashmiri and chicken tika masala, along with basmati rice, onion bhaji, vegetable samosa and naan bread. This all cost just £6.09, with a gin and tonic thrown in. Since the annual JDP wine festival was on, at which the whole range is available at house wine prices, our party was able to share a bottle of excellent Chablis from J. Moreau & Fils for just £7.69 — a good tenner below what you would pay at any other restaurant.

Last week, the meal detailed in the bill on the right was the first of three consecutive nights on which Rosemarie and I ate with the chain. On Tuesday (before reviewing at the Playhouse), I was at the Four Candles for my favourite five-bean chilli (butter, kidney, haricot canellini and pinto beans in a rich tomato sauce with bulgar wheat and Quorn veggie mince, served with basmati rice and tortilla chips). Rosemarie had cottage pie, chips and peas. The two cost £7.19 as part of a two-meal deal.

The following night at Stratford's Golden Bee, before David Tennant in Love's Labour's Lost, I had the bean chilli again, while Rosemarie switched to sausage, beans and chips. The cost was £8.19 this time (JDW prices vary from place to place according, one supposes, to rents).

After saying so many nice things about JDW I now have to point out that Monday's test meal (which preceded a viewing of Brideshead Revisited with all its Lucullan feasting) was not especially good. My rump steak was tough and cooked considerably beyond the "medium" I had specified. There were no complaints, though, about the jacket potatoes, grilled tomato and mushroom that came with it. The side salad was good, too, with its cherry tomatoes, cucumber, mixed leaves, creamy dressing and (most flavoursome of all) strips of raw beetroot.

Rosemarie's beef and Abbot Ale pie, also suffered from tough meat, probably because it was from a cheap cut and insufficiently cooked. The portobello mushrooms were enjoyed though; ditto the pastry; the rich oxtail-soupy gravy, and the freshly cooked carrots and broccoli.

Her chocolate fudge cake went down well, though it had more of a sponge pudding texture than the gooey, shiny calory-laden confection she expected.