Waterfront Inn (JD Wetherspoon), Merry Hill, Brierley Hill

Enjoyed our visit to this JDW on the canal. Chose Dorset Durdle Door and Loch Lomond Lost in Mosaic both of which were fine.

Quite a small spoons in a retail unit with a generous front terrace for external drinking/smoking/watching the canal traffic.There are high tables to the front,the bar runs down the left side with more usual dining tables to the rear.Quite featureless.The 5 handpumps had regulars GK Abbott and Ruddles Best leaving guests Hook Norton Amarillo Gold,Orkney Dark Island and a very decent Sadlers Peaky Blinders Black IPA.Good to see some dark options,this is a functional 'spoons but the friendly welcome and efficient service was worthy of an extra point.

Canal-side 'spoons with a plain rectangular bar / dining area, and with the front patio overlooking the water being the only point of note. Also, with just four of the six handpumps in use, the choice of Ruddles, Abbot, Exeter Old Bitter from Exe Valley and Banks & Taylor SOS was limited too.

Official site of Waterfront Inn (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of Waterfront Inn (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Small spoons with decent outside seating alongside the canal. The service is always good and a choice of 2 beers as a rule plus the usual's.

Located on a fairly modern business park complex close to the retail hell of the Merry Hill shopping centre, the Waterfront is a compact Wetherspoons pub with modest views across the Dudley Canal. The pub has a very simple, almost anti-Wetherspoons, single rectangular room layout which is carpeted throughout and has the servery running along the left hand wall. The bar has a plain wood counter which is broken two-thirds of the way down by a large pillar. High tables and stools run alongside the bar, followed by five rows of standard tables and chairs through the centre of the room. The right hand wall offers the best seating options, in the shape of a few decent bench booths – the only privacy you’re likely to get in such a cramped venue. A series of pillars through the middle of the room help to break up sight lines a little, but there is no escaping the fact that this is just a pub-in-a-box. The walls have been decorated with a few old photos, some plain mirrors and some modern art prints of debatable quality. A TV screen on the rear wall was showing muted Six Nations rugby which seemed to be a draw for a small number of customers and a board on the rear wall gave details of upcoming ‘Meet the Brewers’ evenings which are presumably aimed at those working in the nearby offices who must be the only regulars the pub gets given its odd location. The pub has made its way into the recent Good Beer Guide despite the relative lack of handpulls compared to other branches of this chain. There were just two guest ales to choose from on this visit, along with two ‘Spoons regular ales and one unused pump. I ended up with a pint of Backyard Gold which was nice enough but didn’t really stand out in terms of quality when compared to some of the fine beer I enjoyed elsewhere around the Black Country. I thought this was an unusual ‘Spoons suffering from a lack of character and what, to an outsider, seemed like a very unpromising location, especially given the position of the Abraham Darby at the other end of Merry Hill. Decent beer, friendly service and a passable waterfront location just about elevate this to a worthy visit but it’s unlikely to stay lodged in the memory for long.

The Waterfront is a small modern Spoons in part of a leisure complex not far from the Merry Hill shopping centre. It consists of a bland rectangular room near a canal with the bar on the left and fairly typical fixtures and fittings. It was fairly busy on my early Tuesday afternoon visit but soon started to empty out. Being a smaller JDW there are only five hand pumps which had Doom Bore, GK Abbot, Precott Hill Climb & Track Record and Ringwood XXXX porter. I went for the Porter which was in excellent condition. It's not a bad little Spoons and is GBG 2017 listed.