The Angel Hotel (JD Wetherspoon), Whitby

As noted below this is one of their chain of hotels. I missed the upstairs area but on a February Wednesday afternoon it may not have been open. The downstairs area is small for a JDW and consists of an L shaped room with a stone tiled floor and modern fixtures and fittings. I noticed that the Chicken Club was more expensive than average here at £8.49. There are eight hand pumps downstairs but with a cider and the JDW Trio Of Doom with Abbot & Doom Bore doubled there were only two viable options. These were Whitby Abbey Blonde & Smugglers Gold. I went for the Abbey Blonde (£2.69) which seemed in good nick but was wholly unexciting and more expensive than I'm used to in London JDWs. I'm guessing this place may be better outside the Winter months or at weekends but I wasn't impressed with it on my visit.

Reasonable hotel Spoons. Large, airy and light. Unfortunately Abbot the strongest ale available, but I did get some cans for the train back to Middlesbrough.

Old quayside inn, refashioned as a Wetherlodge and thoroughly refurbished inside. Although not obvious at first, it has separate bars on two levels. Also has a reasonable front patio area. Eight handpumps downstairs plus ten more at first-floor level, and despite a lot of duplication there was still a fair choice including the Hook Norton Special Dark Mild (£2.95) that caught my eye. Happened to visit during the annual Goth Festival so there were plenty of unusual characters about the pub and town.

The Angel Hotel page at the Wetherspoon site - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

The Angel Hotel page at the Wetherspoon site - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

Finally reopened after extensive refurb, must have been in a really bad way! Now a Wetherspoons Wetherlodge hotel. The bar area is on ground and first floor, the rest is the hotel. Firstly its not what I expected. With Whitby still being a traditional place with many old, traditional buildings I suppose I expected it to be oldey worldey. But, whether its just because it needed so much work or they felt the need for something different, or even cost, this is a sleek modern interior with only small flashes of the history of the building. After the initial shock of this I actually found it quite comfortable. Very busy downstairs, the upstairs is perhaps still new enough to be a little quieter and there is a separate bar at this level. And the views over Whitby harbour are excellent. I think there were about 6 real ales, and the quality was good. Extensive Wetherspoons menu, not on their usual standard leaflet so maybe more specific to this location. Fish Friday. Wetherspoons in Whitby was only a matter of time and they are surely onto a winner here, but hopes are it doesn't become complacent and too easy. This won't be everybody's cup of tea, but I found the place nice and different. No, wouldn't come here all the time, but good.

Re-opened 28.3.13 as a 'spoons.