TOPIC:

"irish_goat":3fa9rgd5 wrote: There is never an issue with quality of the ale in Derry and I'd say most other places as well. There's a reason they get awarded the Cask Marque in so many of their pubs.[/quote:3fa9rgd5]


exactly, even in pubs where quality has been poor, good cellarmen are rotated in to improve things and poor cellarman are retrained, i've never had an actively bad beer in spoons,theres been some i've disliked and others tired but none that needed tipping away

"Stephanos":2sxgvleg wrote: exactly, even in pubs where quality has been poor, good cellarmen are rotated in to improve things and poor cellarman are retrained, i've never had an actively bad beer in spoons,theres been some i've disliked and others tired but none that needed tipping away[/quote:2sxgvleg]

Last time I was in 'spoons the barman tried to sell me a pint of line cleaner.

Most important question is was it good the line cleaner?

IMO with all chains there are some good and some not so good venues. Though i hope they don't suffer from NIMBYism as i think it could shake up things.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out. Especially if other players come into the market too.

Was in Manchester on Saturday and popped into a Wetherspoons. Souless has been generally used to describe their pubs and I'd agree with that. Big, open plan type pub with very little in terms of atmosphere etc. Service was terrible, staff unfriendly. I'd rather pay a lot extra for my pint to drink it in a comforable pub served by friendly knowledgeable bar staff.

I've been in some good 'spoons, enough that I am looking forward to any shake-up they can bring to the scene here.

Whilst I've never been in the Derry one, the Bridge House in Belfast is good from a craft and cask POV, hard to grumble if we got a few like that.

However, I'd be surprised if they have multiple casks on for Dublin branches- I really would. I could see some craft in the fridge, but several casks... Not yet I think. They'll probably focus a lot on a cheap menu with lots of deals / bargains.

I'm not sure what people mean when they say a pub is soulless, not just because I don't believe in souls. But suppose that the Wetherspoons pubs visited by commentators on this forum have lacked that ineffable 'je ne sais pas'. Surely, 90% of all pubs lack that x-factor. Surely the x-factor for Tom differs from the x-factor for Dick and Harry. People look for different things in pubs as well as beers so of course you can't please everyone. Wetherspoons pubs I have visited are reliably good at things most people would rank highly in pubs. They're great for beer. They're great value. They're great for food. They have clean toilets. You can have a conversation in them. They're not sleazy. I am definitely looking forward to their arrival.