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Category: JD Wetherspoon

Maidenhead – The Bear (JD Wetherspoon)

The pub stop en route from Cardiff to Luton was the JD Wetherspoon operated The Bear in the fine town of Maidenhead. This was all rather appropriate because this is where Liam grew up, although he didn’t take up drinking until he became friends with me, I suspect I drove him to it. But, anyway, this pub is also listed in the Good Beer Guide so that’s another box ticked.

It’s quite a spacious arrangement and using the chain’s history notes about the pub name, which is one of the few that they haven’t named themselves.

“The name of this historic inn was perpetuated when it became a Wetherspoon pub in 2010. The Bear has been on this site since 1845. Previously, it was at the corner of Park Street and High Street. The Bear is recorded in 1489, when the landlord charged ‘an unlawful price for provisions’. In the early 19th century, it was one of the town’s main coaching inns, but was converted into a private house in 1845.”

The real ale selection and there’s a couple of interesting options there, as well as the Greene King IPA for those who want something to clean their shoes with or something.

My now obligatory carpet photo.

I was slightly surprised that this pub is on the cheapest price band for the chain, I thought being on the Elizabeth Line into London they might have gone for some premium pricing. There are our drinks on the screen and these were made promptly, but not served before the food arrived. As we were sitting by the counter I asked if we could possibly just take the drinks as the food arrived, with the team members helpfully facilitating that.

This might have been the third day in a row that I had this…. Well, actually, it was the third day in a row, but I like their steak pie and especially so when it’s just over £7 including a drink. The included drink is the Eye of the Tiger from Wilde Child, a very agreeable beer which had a taste of marshmallows and chocolate, certainly verging on decadent.

As it’s a JD Wetherspoon pub, I feel the need to look at the online reviews and this venue is rated around average for the chain.

“On the 8th Nov 2025 I attended the rememberance day in maidenhead as I am a veteran with 24 years service. My partner was away so I brought the dog with me. There where lots of veterans outside the weatherspoons so i decided to buy a pint there. I had my medals and could be clearly identified as a veteran. On buying a pint I was then approached by a staff member and told that I would not be served as my dog wasn’t a service dog. I wasn’t even allowed to stand outside with a drink which i offered to do. The staff where very polite. Mr Weatherspoon, if it wasn’t for veterans then your pub wouldn’t exist or you would now be serving German beer. Shameful, stupid rules Mr Weatherspoon. You should be ashamed.”

Just about every JD Wetherspoon pub is littered with reviews about why they should be exempted from their dog ban, including how well behaved it is, how quiet it is, how it wouldn’t cause any trouble. They’ve made it simple by just banning all non-assistance dogs, I’m not entirely sure why Tim Martin should be ashamed.

“I recently visited this pub and unfortunately had a poor experience. After ordering and paying for a drink, I was informed that dogs were not allowed on the premises due to pub regulations. While I understand and respect their policy, this information was not clearly displayed, leading to an unnecessary purchase and inconvenience. Furthermore, the pub’s cleanliness left much to be desired. I recommend they make their dog policy much more visible at the entrance to prevent similar situations for other customers.”

In fairness, there isn’t a sign out the front about this, or there wasn’t when we visited anyway.

“Ordered a Stella for £4.37, poured half and then left me for 5 minutes to change the barrel and then brought the warm half a pint back and proceeded to continue to fill. I asked for a fresh pint and he wasn’t pleased that a customer could do that!!! Cheap pub but don’t expect a great experience”

I suspect quite a few pubs would be surprised that a customer would ask for a keg beer to be changed in such circumstances. I’ve removed the unnecessary comment about the team member…..

“Ordered food and had it delivered @8.30 only to be told by the doorman that we needed to leave by 9pm because we had children. The manger was unsympathetic and said half an hour was ample to eat food! When asked if he had children he said no!! To which I replied how do you expect children to eat within half an hour especially those with additional needs! No compensation received”

It does sound ample 🙂

“Absolutely disgusting service from the male server and manager on shift this evening. I ordered food through the app – I asked if the server could provide me with allergen information regarding the side salad sauce (I have coeliac disease and this is not on the allergen menu) the server refused to help me in any way, saying that it’s “company policy” to not give out any allergen information. I then approached the bar where I heard him bad mouthing me to the manager who said “well I’m not going to give her any information either”. In the end I asked to see the sauce bottle and the manager acted as if this was a huge inconvenience rather than a simple task. Ridiculous.”

It’s not on the allergen information charts as it’s not an allergen, team members aren’t going to be easily able to give advice on this and that seems to me a very sensible and responsible company policy.

“Unfortunately its hard to give a good opinion on this pub as it’s damaged in reputation for losing its lively atmosphere and hosting a good night out.”

I suspect the chain quite liked losing its lively atmosphere to be fair.

“Slow service but the beer used to be good at this Wetherspoons pub. Tables never too clean, and always a bit sticky. Now that it lost its good beer guide place 2018 no point to bother. Go to Coppa Club, it is only up the road.”

At least it’s back in now 🙂

Anyway, I digress once again. I rather liked it here, it was busy, the team members were friendly, the service was efficient, the prices are firmly towards the lower end of the scale and the beer range was entirely acceptable. All quite lovely.

December 2, 2025
Pontypridd – Tumble Inn (JD Wetherspoon)

Next stop on our little expedition was a flying visit to Pontypridd and Wikipedia tells me that this station once had the longest platform in the world. That’s something I’ll have to investigate at some point, I like a bit of railway excitement.

We were visiting The Tumble Inn, a JD Wetherspoon operated pub which is also listed in the Good Beer Guide. The chain explains the pub’s history on their website:

“In Victorian times, this area was known as ‘The Tumble’, from the horse-drawn carts which often overturned as they journeyed to and from the pits. The Tumble, with its innumerable inns, was the heart of the town. The Half Moon, which stood opposite this site until 1989, was said to be the most frequented bar in Wales. The New Inn is also well remembered. A farmhouse in the 1730s, the New Inn became a post house and then a famous hotel, until it was demolished in 1982.”

We were celebrating our bravery at abseiling, me with a beer, Richard with gin, Ross with a coffee and Liam with an orange & lemonade…. They know how to party. Incidentally, I had gone to take a photo of the carpet, as I’m like that, when my drink arrived and they wouldn’t leave it on the table until I came back and they could check that I was old enough. They seemed to decide I was old enough with alarming speed, but there we go.

The pub interior and the venue is on the chain’s lowest price band.

My new obligatory carpet photo.

As I’m a creature of habit, I had another steak pudding with a rather lovely craft beer of Son of a Beach from Tenby Brewing Company. The food and drink cost just £7 and the beer was hoppy, fruity and a little tropical. The venue had around seven real ales available as well as craft beer selections, all at their usual low prices.

The food tasted as expected, it’s not fine dining but it’s entirely agreeable. Richard went for a festive pizza as he’s very excited about Christmas with Liam going for a hearty meal of sausages and chips.

As usual, I feel the need to check the online reviews and the venue is about average in JD Wetherspoon terms.

“The last reason for visiting here has gone. San Miguel has been taken off and replaced with a very inferior Poretti. There is now no decent premium lager.”

Each to their own, but both are technically premium lagers and neither set the craft beer scene alight shall we say.

“Me & my friend come into Weatherspoons we ordered our food. I went outside & I did talk about making a joint. But I didn’t it was just words. Then the manger came over & asked n me to leave which I understand even though I ain’t done nothing. She knows me from before & is judging me & my friend on my past. I have worked hard to be clean off drugs. I am clean 18 months now.”

One of the more personal reviews that I’ve seen….. But not many JD Wetherspoon pub managers are going to let customers stay in their venue that have made it clear they will be rolling a joint.

“Called in for a fish Friday lunch and was told the menu had been changed so no longer providing the “healthy fish” option.”

This is a very old review, but I forgot that they offered this option until early 2017. I’m sure that they had good reasons to get rid of this, but I always thought it was a sensible idea. Not that I ever ordered it, which is likely the good reason that they stopped doing as no-one wanted it.

Anyway, I digress. The pub was busy and we were perhaps fortunate to find a seat, the team members were friendly and the food and drink met my expectations. The value was excellent and I’m glad that the Good Beer Guide directed us here.

November 18, 2025
Cardiff – Gatekeeper (JD Wetherspoon)

Our final pub of the evening was the Gatekeeper, a JD Wetherspoon venue which is also listed in the Good Beer Guide. In terms of the pub name, the chain notes:

“This pub is near the site of one of the five gateways through the medieval city walls. Originally called Wales Gate, it became known as Blounts Gate after a former gatekeeper. A blue plaque nearby indicates the location of the gateway to the Town Quay. Although the nearest water is now more than 200m away, until 150 years ago, the Taff flowed along what is now Westgate Street and, until the end of the 18th century, the quay was Cardiff’s main outlet to the sea.”

They don’t mention that the building was originally constructed as a theatre and it was more recently used as an auction house.

I was pleased to see that the Plum Porter from Titanic was on, but this was apparently unavailable, as was the Old Peculier from Theakston. I wasn’t entirely sure that I understood why they didn’t turn the pump clips around.

I instead went for the Time Travelling Taxi from Brew York, a competent pale ale which was hazy, juicy, fluffy and entirely acceptable.

My obligatory carpet photo. The online reviews are in keeping with the national chain’s average and I always feel the need to have a little look at them. I never claimed to be interesting…..

“got kicked out for no reason, abit ridiculous really, no warning loads of us kicked out for no reason? wouldn’t recommend. Wheelchair accessibility Not available no space no help or support”

The venue is accessible, but I wonder how I’ve never been thrown out of any pub but some people get kicked out for “no reason”, it’s a mystery….

“Absolute moronic decision by the so called “manager” to change channels on all TVs on Saturday 9th November from Liverpool vs Aston Villa to the hugely representative France vs Japan Rugby game (must have been 1 French supporter in the whole of the pub) – the bar staff had promised the game would be on but old incompetent “manager” decided to take a unilateral decision to satisfy one person.”

I think this is why some venues just decide not to show sports at all…..

“Watched some guy complain about women using the men’s toilets from what I gather nothing was getting resolved and he protested by entering the women’s toilet found this quite interesting as within seconds there were doormen there to throw him out not very professional run place and not very considerate as women should not be using the men’s as that guy was right. The man actually complained to a member of staff cleaning the gents at the time who did nothing to resolve it very untrained staff and the managers attitude was he didn’t care very rude staff all doormen the same attitude I felt like saying that the guy who got thrown out had a point because there were women in the men’s toilet on several occasions even a female member of staff at one point to sign the check board don’t think I’d like it if my partner had to do that or my daughter as part of her job role.”

I’m not sure entering the female toilets as part of a protest was perhaps the best thing to do here….

“Manager gave away our table and stole our drinks because we didnt tell every staff member we were going out for a cig, told two obviously not enough refused to give is a refund or a new drink.”

Hide them behind a menu, job done.

“Ripping people off yesterday with big price hikes just because the Foo Fighters were playing Cardiff. The place was packed , they would have made plenty of money anyway”

A couple of people have noted this, I wasn’t aware that JD Wetherspoon were engaged with hiking prices for certain events but that feels a little underhanded if true. Unless there’s some minimum pricing required for certain events which might explain it.

“Never got to enter as it’s impossible to park your car anywhere sensible”

I’m not sure that’s entirely fair on the venue to leave them 1/5 for not being able to park.

Anyway, I liked it here although I’d rather they turned the pump clip around to show what beers they didn’t have. The service was friendly, the venue was pretty clean and it felt safe and welcoming, so all really rather lovely.

With that, it was off back to the hotel via an Uber booked by Richard. A really rather lovely day.

November 17, 2025
Banbury – The Exchange (JD Wetherspoon)

The first pub stop en route to Cardiff was The Exchange pub in Banbury, operated by JD Wetherspoon. Using the chain’s text to explain the pub name and history:

“For almost 50 years, countless letters and parcels were brought in and out of this building. Banbury’s former head post office was built in 1936, on the site of an earlier 1877 post office. The new building, and the telephone exchange giving this building its name, was designed by Henry Seccombe of HM Office of Works. It was opened on 15 December 1936, by Colonel A Heenage, MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Postmaster-General.”

As usual, I have to applaud the chain’s efforts to explain the history of the local area, there are tens of these boards across the pub. There’s a photo of when this venue was a telephone exchange at https://telephone-exchanges.org.uk/exchanges/banbury-exchanges/.

My now obligatory photo of the unique carpet.

The entrance and lower area of the pub, the main bar is on the raised area to the right.

And another photo looking towards the bar. There were around six real ales available, all at the usual low prices. For anyone staying late and wanting to go to a club at the weekend, the nightclub Fever is located literally behind the venue.

The pub is on the chain’s lowest price band, so this meal and drink were a grand total of £7. The steak pudding is OK, it’s not packed with the finest quality steak, but that Hazy Jane is a pint bottle and so that seems like excellent value to me. Ross went for the Christmas wrap as he loves this time of year and Liam I think went for the all day brunch or similar. The drinks and food all arrived promptly and were at the appropriate temperature, so everyone was happy.

This leads me seamlessly onto my having a look at the online reviews of the venue, which are about average for the chain.

“The “chef” kept coming out to the eating area in her grubby uniform and dancing all over the place.”

I’m with the customer, there’s no need for frivolity, it’s bad for the soul.

“My daughter, 18 today, tried to enter this establishment 30 minutes ago, with her approved photographic I.d. And was turned away for being underage, because she had to be 18 years old and one day, this is in contravention of the current licensing laws.”

That does seem a bit harsh, the excitement of turning 18 and being told that you should wait another day. Although it isn’t a contravention of the current licensing laws.

However, this is back in the day when venues were allowed to respond and they did.

“Your daughters ID showed her as turning 18 on 10/08/2019, so until 00:00:01 on 10/08/2019, she would not have been able to enter the premises. We are open until 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, which technically is the next day, so if she had come in between midnight and 01:00 she would have been allowed entry.”

A rather different story and I like that they would have let her in for one hour after midnight, that’s quite a classy response.

“Very disappointing experience where the rude staff member wouldn’t even consider looking at my son’s valid electronic Australian drivers licence as ID. We had already been served once? I was rudely told when the staff member was talking over me that it was company policy to see a physical document. We had no issue is Bristol. I guess Banbury isn’t used to seeing many international visitors”

As it stands, despite the Government planning a change to this, a pub can’t accept a digital ID. So that’s a 1 star review as the venue refused to break the law to serve someone…..

“Very disappointed,got to be the worst Wetherspoons I’ve ever been in.No fish and the Wiltshire ham was almost see-through with chips I could almost count on two hands. Usually I would have made a big fuss for being ripped off but it was my birthday and my wife talked me down. Safe to say I’ll never frequent this branch again OR RECOMMEND IT.”

Complaining should be allowed on your birthday…..

“Dreadfull , ordered a starter , main all arrived at once starter was cold and clearly not cooked , main pizza arrived 2 small pizzas as they had run out of large bases , just poor service , nasty nasty”

That feels sub-optimal, sending two pizzas to make up for not having a larger base. However, I felt the need to think about this and JD Wetherspoon offers 8 inch and 11 inch pizzas. I went to https://www.omnicalculator.com/food/pizza-comparison and it seems that the customer got a better deal here in terms of the area of pizza…. I think I should probably get out more….

“I think your staff need to brush up on the laws of photography within a public place.”

Goodness knows what the back story is here but the interior of a pub is not a public place. If the chain wants they could be as ridiculous as Sam Smiths and ban all photos.

“Widely regarded as being one of the worst in the chain.”

Not judging by Google Reviews.

Anyway, I digress and I rather liked this venue. In an ideal world they might have been clearing tables a little faster, but it was clean, comfortable and seemed to be decent value for money. The team members were friendly, the prices were cheap and that’s another outlet in the chain visited.

November 16, 2025
St. Neots – Weeping Ash (JD Wetherspoon)

Richard and I stopped off at the Weeping Ash in St Neots following the LDWA Local Groups’ weekend. It had been a successful few days, although it was fair to say that I was now getting quite tired.

Here he is enjoying his coffee. The pub was relatively quiet, but everything felt clean and organised.

I went for a pint of the Moose River from Hop Union Brewery, a hoppy, light, fluffy and bouncy beer. Eagle eyed viewers will note that Richard hid his ginger biscuits when he went to explore the pub, he was nervous that someone would scoop them up when they were walking past.

As for the pub itself, for the rest of this post, I’m going to copy and paste some text from a previous visit, which Liam and I made after I was brave going zip-lining in Wales.

The pub’s own text about the venue’s history:

“This former post office stands on part of what was once a much-admired Victorian garden belonging to the house across the road – the home of William Medland, an important man in St Neots. Bank manager and town commissioner, Medland died in 1872 in his late 60s. His widow lived in the house until the 1890s, when it was bought for the Conservative Club, which is still there. Medland’s garden was well known for its many fine trees and shrubs, particularly for its ‘magnificent weeping ash’.”

I have no complaints about the pub, it was clean, well managed and sizeable. The reviews on-line are a little less impressive, with the usual sneering type:

“It’s full of lads in white trainers and white socks that are really excited but have no idea what their excited about and badly dressed girls”

Fortunately, we didn’t have white trainers or white socks to avoid clearly offending this customer.

“They gave me a empty coffee cup without saying I needed to go and fill it up myself like I’m supposed to know this”

I do see this occasionally, often when the empty coffee cup is traipsed half way across the pub by a staff member, and then the confused customer has to traipse the same distance back to get their drink.

I find simple things entertaining, so was very excited to see a new type of coffee machine at a JD Wetherspoons. Now, I accept that I should get out more rather than spend time writing drivel like this, but it pleased me. For £1.20 for unlimited hot drinks, a complete bargain as far as I’m concerned. [I’d add that it’s now £1.81 since I wrote this with the coffee machine no longer being new]

It was a little early, but I did get a quick half with my hot drink, just so I could comment on the beer quality. I’m very dedicated to ensuring beer quality, but I do it for very selfless reasons of course. I went for the Jemima’s Pitchfork from the Glamorgan Brewing Co, a not particularly interesting beer, but at least well-kept.

The very keenly priced avocado muffin, my new go to breakfast option since the recent price hikes on the traditional breakfast. [I wrote that a couple of years ago As an aside, this menu item isn’t available in many JD Wetherspoons which is sub-optimal from my perspective.]

Anyway, I’ve visited here a few times, not least my latest visit with Richard this week, along with the food visit with Liam a couple of years ago. It’s towards the lower end of the online reviews for JD Wetherpoon outlets, but it’s always felt well managed when I’ve been before.

November 13, 2025
London – Southwark (Borough of) – Sun Wharf (New JD Wetherspoon)

A new JD Wetherspoon has opened at London Bridge station in what was formerly the London Dungeons. The entrance here is the former way into the London Dungeons, which was here between 1974 and 2013. This venue is a considerable project for the pub chain and it’s open for long hours, between 06:30 and 00:30 every day of the week.

As usual, I’ll take the pub’s history from their own website:

“Next to London Bridge station’s entrance, 48–50 Tooley Street are distinctive brick arches. Until 2013 (almost 40 years), this had been The London Dungeon. The arches were occupied by importers and provision agents, whose livelihoods depended on the warehouses opposite. Many have survived (Hay’s Wharf, now Hay’s Galleria). Fenning’s Wharf and Sun Wharf were replaced (in 1984/85) by the huge No.1 London Bridge complex. During that site’s redevelopment, a Bronze Age burial mound was unearthed.”

The bar which is bright and open.

Some of the brick arches and I can see why this was a suitable place for the London Dungeons. The rooms flow into each other, I like this sort of quirky thing.

The new coffee machine and there’s only hot milk, with no jugs for the cold milk.

There’s a bank of three coffee machines.

The unique carpet.

There’s a display about the carpet and why they’ve designed this one in this manner.

The menu.

Part of the support elements that I assume stop the building from falling down. The trains are evident running above both by noise and also because things vibrate a little.

This feels like a really well designed building, there is a choice of seating styles including low and higher tables. There are quieter areas, open-plan areas and plenty of power points. The team members seemed engaged, helpful and I saw numerous positive customer service interactions. As a conversion into a pub, this is one of the best that I’ve seen.

Although the venue has only been open for a few weeks, I thought I’d see what the few online reviews posted are like so far.

“Had had a lovely evening here but sadly the dessert menu isn’t clear enough – says “vanilla ice cream” as if it’s plain but it actually comes with sauce and the staff member wouldn’t switch it for plain despite asking. It’s a scoop of ice cream! Don’t argue the toss just switch it hahahah. Sauce was horrible by the way”

The printed menu and the online menu both mention toffee sauce and Belgian chocolate sauce. And then to give the venue 1/5 after a lovely evening….

“Told off for bringing in a fully wrapped Greggs Muffin.”

Probably best not to bring in a Greggs…..

No-one has complained yet that they can’t bring their dog in, but I imagine that’ll be coming soon. Anyway, this is a large venue that has lots of little smaller areas, something forced upon the chain by the historic nature of the building. It all felt well managed to me, spotlessly clean and evidently already popular with local office workers. All rather lovely.

November 12, 2025
London – City of London – Sir John Oldcastle Pub

As I had a couple of hours spare in London before my train from Farringdon, I thought I’d pop into the JD Wetherspoon operated Sir John Oldcastle which is at the end of the street. It’s not been one of my favourite pubs as it’s often very busy, but matters are more sedate on a Sunday early afternoon.

As usual, I’ll use the pub chain’s own history of the pub name:

“Named after The Sir John Oldcastle Tavern, which stood in the former grounds of Sir John’s nearby mansion, this was already long established by 1680. Oldcastle is thought to have been the model for Shakespeare’s character ‘Falstaff’.”

Not a vast amount has changed with the street layout here in the last 150 years, the pub is located just above the “EET” of Charles Street. The ward of Saffron Hill has now gone, which originally took its name as saffron grew around here. It’s also where Fagin’s den was located in Oliver Twist.

The bar area and coffee machines and today it was the £1.81 unlimited hot drinks that tempted me in here rather than beer. It all seems functional enough and it felt well managed.

Carpets in every JD Wetherspoon venue are unique, although this one isn’t necessarily the most decadent in terms of its styling.

The online reviews are pretty decent for a JD Wetherspoon venue, despite the challenges they must have here with having a small site and limited space in terms of facilities.

“I was so surprised when the staff said to me I can not paid by 50 in cash. No explanation why. The answer was “not because not”. This is absolutely disgusting and ridiculous. I asked about manager to explanation me this situation. He didn’t show up to speak with me. I will never back to this place. Higley not recommended.”

Disgusting that a venue won’t accept a £50 note? Hmmmm. Seems quite reasonable to me given the number of forgeries.

“I’ve just been kicked out of here, because I had the audacity to bring a Costa Coffee in; even though I’d just ordered and paid for breakfast. They’d rather refund my breakfast purchase; than let me have a Costa with it. If their machine coffee was better; I wouldn’t have had to in the first place.”

Why not just bring in your own food as well?

“Good interior. Ordered porridge. I went to the toilet and when I came back some waiter had taken it away. I hadn’t eaten any of it. I found it was thrown away! Another diner’s beer was also taken away by the same waiter undrunk.”

Very efficient service, it’s good to keep the tables clean.

“If you want to sit and read a paper or a book, this is the place for you. If however, you want to have a laugh and giggle with friends, go to the castle pub instead.”

I’m with the pub, this group sounds needlessly frivolous.

“Leffe. £3.49 a pint in most Wetherspoons. John Oldcastle £5.49 some might say different location BUT McDonalds do not have this issue.”

It feels inevitable to me that a pub in central London will be more expensive than one in Swindon.

“Asked to leave when we were causing no trouble…”

I suspect another side to this story….

Anyway, once again I digress. I thought the pub looked relatively clean, although the toilets probably need more rebuilding than cleaning, with the team members seeming friendly enough. And the coffees and other assorted hot drinks tasted as expected, so a rather peaceful couple of hours.

November 2, 2025
London – Hackney (Borough of) – Baxter’s Court (JD Wetherspoon About to Close)

I’ve trawled to see what old photos I’ve taken of Baxter’s Court, a JD Wetherspoon pub that they’re closing this week. The venue notes about its history:

“This pub stands, more or less, on the site of an old alleyway, known as Baxter’s Court, which dates from at least 1700. Jerusalem Square also dated from this time, but both were swept away when Valetta Street (once Jerusalem Passage) was developed.”

They add:

“This Wetherspoon pub takes its name from a “lost alley” approximately on this site. Sir Thomas Marsh’s White House, also stood here until it was pulled down around 1869. In the late 17th century, Marsh used his house as an academy for training nonconformist ministers.

The bank next door occupies the former site of the Hackney Pavilion, an ornate 1100-seater cinema built in 1914. Defeated by television, it closed in 1973.

The building immediately to the south was at one time used by the Salvation Army, whilst next to that is the former Methodist Central Hall, opened in 1925.

Hackney’s first council housing was built in 1902 in Valette Street, which runs behind this pub. Valette Buildings, dating from 1905, stands on the site of the former Jerusalem Square, a development dating from around 1700.”

The chain has been making a large investment in more substantially sized pubs, including some new openings at railway stations in London.

The chicken bites basket with Mexican rice that I acquired here in 2022. I can’t remember what it was like, but I’m sure it was entirely adequate.

This is the Session IPA from Three Sods Brewery, a local set-up which closed in August 2022, a few weeks after I purchased this beer. I say purchased, it was given to me by the pub as they had started to pour it and realised I had ordered on the app the BoHo Bitter from the same brewery. I liked this arrangement.

ø;

Deep in my digital archive, here’s a little throw back from the pub from 2012. Coffee back then was served by the staff, this was before the self-service unlimited hot drinks arrangement which I very much like. As I like things such as this, I had a look at how much this costs today in the pub:

Eggs Benedict – £5.29

Regular Cappuccino – £1.81

Large Pepsi – £2.05

So, a total of £9.15, which isn’t too much of an increase from the £6.24 of 13 years ago, especially as the coffees are now unlimited. Anyway, I digress, so I thought I’d have a quick look at the reviews of the venue and they’re quite low for the chain.

“Very bad … They Refused to serve me because I had a dog.. Dogs are not allowed which is okay But… Why I couldn’t Even drink my beer Outside? It doesn’t make sense at all!!!”

The obligatory complaint from a dog owner and the policy makes sense to me, they don’t want dogs in or out of the pub.

“I really struggle to give it 1 star. I went in there on Saturday 11/12/21 and manager tried to fiddle me. She overcharged me for a mixer for a whisky (I didn’t want or have) and when challenged asked me if I supported ‘Black lives Matter’… When I replied ‘no’ was told I was barred…. Watch out for her guys…. Still have receipt with date and time on!!!”

Without doubting the story, there must have been more to this exchange than just this.

“Horrible table service.. I ordered two glasses of wine at 5:00 pm it came to my table at 5:20 pm. I give them a negative 10”

This is the entirety of the review because two drinks took twenty minutes to arrive at the table….

“Absolutely disgusted just been in and ordered a pizza and asked for no chilli peppers as I’m allergic to them, sent the pizza back as they still came out with them on, new pizza arrived they just took them off and missed a few, staff didn’t care either when I took it back even when I explained I was allergic to them”

This is a bit sub-optimal….

“This establishment refused to accept a Clydesdale bank £5 note.”

They don’t have to….

“No John Smith what’s going wrong with this pub”

No wonder the place is closing if they couldn’t get that right….

Below is the sales document, it seems that the building has been acquired for over £2 million.

Sales Document Download

The pub has been trading as a JD Wetherspoon venue for around 25 years, I suspect that it’ll be missed by the local community, however many faults it might have had.

October 31, 2025
Bournemouth – The Parkstone and Heatherlands

I was en route to Bournemouth Airport and so I thought that I’d visit a JD Wetherspoon venue that I hadn’t been to before. This is the Parkstone and Heatherlands and I’ll use the chain’s history of the pub name:

“This building is better known to Winton’s older residents as the long-standing Co-op, the original of which (on this site) was a branch of the Parkstone and Heatherlands Society. Following a public meeting attended by 100 people, in May 1903, the society’s new store opened for business the following September. Molesworth House, as the store was then called, was replaced by a high, domed building, which became a familiar landmark. The dome was later removed and the building refaced.”

It’s a relatively small venue from JD Wetherspoon opened a large number of venues like this around twenty years ago.

This is from the other end of the pub, with the bar being located on the right hand side. I ordered at the bar and was served in turn by a friendly team member, so positive first impressions.

I only went for a coffee here, although they had around six real ales available at the chain’s usual low prices. The new signage telling people not to have multiple hot chocolates was in place, although not enforced.

As I like to have a little look for JD Wetherspoon venues, the online reviews for the pub are towards the lower end of the scale for the chain.

“Bad food cooked by unqualified people. Scruffy staff that need tidying up. Seems that certain staff dictate to the manager who they like & don’t like. Ban men for looking at the opposite sex, but when I’m not there men chat my girlfriend up & she doesn’t complain”

Hmmmm.

“Called in for a couple of pints on the Saturday evening. Bell rang for last orders, didn’t even make it to the bar within 60seconds to get my last drink of the night before being told no more serving. Was told within two minutes of that to drink up. Other obvious regulars given plenty more time to savour their last drinks of the evening. Will choose a better establishment to drink in with more patient staff from now on. Would rather pay more for my pint and enjoy it than pay cheaper and be rushed to empty my glass”

Julian the elder is the expert on this, it’s a shame he wasn’t there, but he seems to know exactly what to get and when to avoid annoying bar staff. Well, generally.

“Customers generally not adhering to social distancing with lots of handshakes.”

The venue gets a 1 out of 5 review for this. May these days never be repeated….

“The food and service was great. However within half an hour or so I thought I was in a kindergarten. There were no less than half a dozen women and screaming children who took the place over. Not somewhere I would go for a coffee and a chat, couldn’t hear myself think!!”

I’m very tolerant of course, but I can feel this person’s pain….

“Have just come in to the Parkstone and Heather lands with my 13 year old son one of the members of staff have told me my son can sit how he was. Which was lent over basically with his head in his phone like most teenagers. im absolutely fueming. Disgusting behaviour. Usually this pub if fine I’m literally shocked”

I’m not sure that I even understand what’s happened here.

“Terrible, table next to us ordered food and they gave it to us instead, we ate it as anyone would do and then said you either have to pay or leave! Your fault you ordered it to the wrong table.”

No, nearly nobody would eat the food that was put on the wrong table.

“It’s cheap and not chearful, only place I know where they make you pay up front.”

I feel that someone might be new here.

“Worst wheaterspoons pub ever”

Interesting spelling. But, I digress and in terms of the cost, the price point here was the same as their two more centrally located pubs in Bournemouth.

There are also about twenty reviews complaining that the chips are being microwaved and numerous photos of soggy chips. Seems a bit odd. Anyway, I rather liked the pub although it feels more old-school Wetherspoons in the way their smaller pubs outside central London used to feel. They were a bit more focused on serving regulars and more wet-led, but this pub seems to be an important part of the community.

And I got several coffees (and obviously no hot chocolates as I don’t want to break the law) for £1.81 so that was rather lovely.

October 23, 2025
Bournemouth – Thomas Shelley

The Thomas Shelley is the second JD Wetherspoon venue in Bournemouth, located nearby to the Moon in the Square. They used to operate the Christopher Creeke on Holdenhurst Road, but that’s now closed, although I did visit it when I was in Bournemouth in 2018.

As usual, I’ll take the history of the pub name from JD Wetherspoon:

“St Peter’s churchyard contains the grave of Mary Shelley and her husband, the romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary, author of the novel Frankenstein, died in London in 1851. Her body was interred in the family vault at St Peter’s by her son, Sir Percy Florence Shelley, who lived at nearby Boscombe Manor (which later became part of Bournemouth and Poole College).”

I’ve written about this situation already and I’m still marginally annoyed.

The pub was busy, this is one of the few tables that was briefly unoccupied. It’s a large venue and there are numerous different seating areas, with the bar in the centre of the whole arrangement. There were about eight real ales available and the drinks, as usual, were keenly priced. I ordered at the bar and it was all efficient and organised, with only a minimal wait.

Working through a little more of the JD Wetherspoon beer festival, this is the JDW Young Henrys Newtowner which isn’t particularly well reviewed on Untappd. I rather liked it though, it was light and citrusy.

Ross ordered Coors and I’m not judgemental at all about beer, but I know others in the pub might be, so I hid it in case anyone said anything.

The next half pint was the Root and Branch from Oakham Ales, which is a black IPA. It has an interesting flavour, roasty and quite complex.

The carpet.

As usual, I feel the need to look through the reviews as it’s a JD Wetherspoon venue and it’s quite well reviewed online.

“Popped in to get a quick whiskey and to see if I could get some ice to take away. Not a problem but had to pay a pound for the coffee cup to take it away in. Was interestingly informed by the barman serving me that it was good ice cos it’s hard and lasts ages. Information for barman, ice is ice and it lasted no longer than any other ice.”

Wetherspoon does have good ice I suppose, but seems a bit harsh to charge £1 for a takeaway cup….

“I came on steak Tuesday order a sirloin steak chips. The steak did not taste right like a sirloin. Also asked for normal peppercorn sauce and they don’t have it, ask them to make it they don’t make the sauce fresh its in a bag!”

I like the idea of the team member in the kitchen quickly making some fresh peppercorn sauce….

“During my Son’s Stag we ordered food & did not receive what we paid for. The upset member of staff took it away. He later returns and said that it was paid for anyway and dropped the 2 plates onto the bar and when I called the manager / team leader to explain and complain about he’s action I was told that she will not deal with it as I was being rude. They then refused to sale any drinks to the party of 22 people. I was told we can stay but can’t order.”

You can stay, but don’t order anything probably isn’t what a stag group wants to hear….

“Was appalled to see England supporters being told to cover up their shirts. Thought this was an English pub in an English Town in an English County where democracy exists.”

In a democracy, pubs can ask customers not to wear football shirts. Although the chain has changed their mind on this numerous times, it probably is a bit unfair on customers to work out what their current policy is.

“Didn’t stay for a drink as the men’s toilets were so far away downstairs it was like a punishment! Might be a good pub but I don’t want a marathon to the toilet”

They’re down one flight of stairs…. Anyway, the exercise is good for the soul.

“Most of the staff here are horrible.”

They’re probably not….

“Still trying to uphold some vague restrictions . Doesn’t suit virtue signalers or those that want normality . Just the usual really, pretend to be doing something for some woke points and inconvenience everyone whilst actually doing nothing of use…”

Perhaps it’s that woke Tim Martin.

Anyway, I’ve digressed once again. All seemed in order at the pub, it was clean, organised and the team members seemed friendly. It was useful to tick a couple more beers off from the real ale festival that they’re having nationally and Ross was pleased with his pizza.

October 12, 2025