BTW, I "rode" on a Brooks for the first time today. The LBS that is 2 blocks from my office finally put a Brooks into their test saddle rack. They have about 30 saddles mounted on seat posts and have both a men's and women's bike on trainers in front of the rack. So you can help yourself and pop seat posts in and out to compare saddles.
I've compared saddles there a few times before. Today I was in looking for an accessory and saw they had a B17 on the saddle rack, so I "rode" it for about 5 minutes, then tested 4 other saddles and came back to the Brooks for another 5 minutes. It was more comfortable than I expected. It wasn't brand new, but had only been in the rack for a couple of weeks.
For a five minute ride the saddle that was the most comfortable was this big ol' cushy spring saddle from Planet Bike. It wasn't super cushy, like a Velo Plush that I once tried and regretted, but it was pretty cushy. It employs the old "web spring" design up under the saddle. For a simple 5 minute "ride" it was so comfortable that you almost forgot it was there.
http://ecom1.planetbike.com/5002.html