Lloyds No.1 , Nottingham

As with most lLoyds its standard spoons come day, dick head central slum come night. Not to mince my words this place with its cheap prices and super loud music attract some very rough and ready customers. There is no carpet, all hard floors unlike most spoons and a rare floor area that this cleared of tables in the evening. the pub is set over two levels with the main bar on the ground floor that is square and serves from all sides. Surprisingly it is quite well stocked and has over a dozen ales and at good prices and not inflated spoons prices as you get in some central city spoons. Beer is served in plastic in the evening but I just nabbed it before is swapped over and enjoyed a very passable Kellham island Easy rider at a wallet friendly £2.15. In the daytime this is a passable place with decent ales at good prices but is strongly avoid coming here in the evening especially on a weekend. the six strong tea, of bouncers should tell you all you need to know.

Imposing banking hall conversion, much larger inside than the Carlton Street frontage would suggest, featuring an island bar, side room and a mezzanine floor at one end. Reasonable selection from ten handpumps, including Maid Marian from Springhead (£1.99).

This is a large 'Spoon's bank conversion which looks pretty spectacular from the outside, but is remarkably devoid of character within. Split over two levels, the ground floor is a rather soulless room with a big square island servery towards the rear and a lot of open, empty space peppered with large marble pillars with decorative capitals. There is the usual mix of seating options, albeit mostly confined to the rear part of the room under the back windows in what is not a particularly cosy spot. A side room has floor to ceiling frosted windows with a decorative motif, bare floorboards and some mirrors on the wall, with standard tables and chairs but again not much in the way of character. Stairs to the front and rear lead up to the small first floor bar with a hand pump free servery and some decent views down into the main room. The upper level is basically a carpeted seating area with a small raised front section looking out to the flagpoles on the front balcony, plus another side room furnished exactly the same as the one below. A door in the rear left corner of the ground floor leads out to a garden area, although I didn't get around to exploring on this occasion. I counted ten handpulls across the bar with four Spoon's regulars and six guest ales. I opted for a pint of the Black Hole Cosmic, which was a bit below par but good value as you might expect at £1.99. The service was slow and the barmaid wasn't the cheeriest, although this seemed quite in keeping with the pub's general glum demeanour. I found this place very hard to warm to and though it felt like a bit of a work in progress. I found the upper floor to be marginally better but with so many good pubs in the city centre, I wouldn't venture here again unless I was looking for some cheap food.