The Bowling Green (JD Wetherspoon), Otley

The Bowling Green is a stone built Spoons which was converted from an older pub. Once inside the front area is quite comfortable being carpeted and having normal tables and chairs,there was a very large open fire roaring away to the right,so i had to sit near that once i had got my drink,the middle area looks more like a covered courtyard with a glass ceiling,the bar is to the rear and runs the width of the pub,the seating in this area is tall tables and chairs. There was a good choice of real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Moorhouse White Witch which went down very well sat next to the now really roaring fire,the other beers that i noted were Moorhouse Blonde Witch,Springhead Moustache Meg,Marstons Oyster Stout,there was one more beer from Springhead plus the usuall Spoons regulars,Ruddles Best and Doom Bar. I thought this Spoons was much better than most i have been in. Pub visited 8/11/2014

Built in 1767, originally as a court house, before converting to pub use in 1866, this is now Otley's branch of the Wetherspoons chain, having been converted in 2010. Previous landlord Trevor Wallis ran the pub for over 30 years and seems to have been an interesting character, wearing fancy dress behind the bar and filling the pub with all manner of crazy items including a stuffed crocodile. Inevitably, that has all been consigned to the rubbish dump, and we now find an smartly presented pub with an interesting layout. You enter into what I presume was the original extent of the pub - a carpeted room broken up slightly by a few pillars with plenty of seating throughout, a few old pictures on the walls and that essence of 'pubiness' lacking in so many 'Spoons houses. There are nice fireplaces at either end of these room, which weren't lit on my visit, which was a shame as it would be a very appealing spot to congregate around in the winter months. The pub extends into a most unusual covered courtyard with a glass roof and stone floor, filled with standard tables and chairs and in turn leading into an open ended second building to the rear. The servery is located in this rather dark and gloomy space, boasting a 'Bowling Green' mirror on the bar back which I assume is a survivor from the pub's previous incarnation. To the right of the courtyard there is another opened ended room with bench seating and a large photo montage on the wall, whilst to the left, a door leads out to the remainder of the courtyard, now the refuge of smokers and al fresco drinkers. There is a particularly large seating area outside the front of the pub as well. I noted three hand pumps set aside for 'Spoons regulars such as Ruddles, although all three were off on my visit. Five more pumps were used for guest ales, although one of these was also out of action. I plumped for the Saltaire Hazelnut Coffee Porter which was sublime. Each operational handpull had a small glass jar in front of it full of a sample of the corresponding beer, allowing customers to gauge the beer's style from its colour. I also had a bite to eat here and whilst the food was the typical Wetherspoons pre-prepared fayre, I at least found the service to be very prompt and friendly. I thought this was a pretty good Wetherspoons which has clearly been carefully thought out so as to fit nicely into this charming town. Whilst it's a shame that the eccentric pub that preceded it has now been lost, at least the place has reopened as a pub, which was apparently far from certain at one point. A good start to a crawl around town.

not as good as it used to be called in last week to find the beer to be not well kept and found the staff uninterested our food was of poor standard

A smallish JDW made from two buildings with a glass and steel roofed edifice joining them together. The bar counter is in the rearmost building and has five handpumps with Deuchars but no Greene King ales, the others being from smaller breweries near and far. Amongst them was Leed's celebration, very cloudy but still drinkable and not bad. There is a big front yard which is well patronised and not just by smokers. The staff were more on the ball than most JDWs but there weren't that many customers indoors, just a few fat women resting from shopping. It's more upmarket than some market town 'spoons but still popular with the usual spoons demographic.

This was the first stop during an afternoon in Otley with a mate of mine. It is one of the smaller JDW pubs I've visited, and features an unusual sort of conservatory-type arrangement in the middle, connecting the bar area and the front lounge. As to be expected, it was busy, and there were seven handpumps displaying festival ales. Pints of Flying Dutchman and Moorhouses Pendle Witches Brew were extremely welcome. I don't go in a lot of spoons pubs, but this struck me as one of the more sympathetic examples of their recent development and I particularly liked the collage of the local area on one of the walls.

This is a new Wetherspoons pub, opened on 9th July 2010. I called in on the evening after the opening day and found it packed. The customers were overflowing onto the area outside the pub on a nice warm summers evening. Due to the crowd in the pub it was difficult to have a good look round but it appears to be a good sized pub with the usual Wetherspoons good range of well kept ales at reasonable prices. I think this pub will take a lot of trade from the other local pubs in this small town of Otley which tend to be overpriced and many in need of a good smarten up.

Official pages of the Bowling Green - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

Official pages of the Bowling Green - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk