The Green Man, Bank, EC2

This is an unusual split level Wetherspoons pub in the heart of the City, just down the road from Bank station. Entering from street level, you’ll be surprised to find yourself in a remarkably small bar by Wetherspoons’ standards, with the servery down the right hand wall. The room is carpeted with a tile walkway from the entrance to the bar, fringed with border tiles bearing the pub’s name. The bar counter is curved and has a nice frontage and a typical marble top whilst the bar back remains decidedly unremarkable. The room has been fitted out with smart wall panels, large windows and some restrained art deco features, including some rather groovy light shades. High table and stool seating predominates, mainly down the left hand side of the room, where a slightly isolated, screened off area can be found to the rear, with a bookcase to one side. A huge screen near the entrance was showing muted news coverage and to one side there is a grand staircase with what I took to be a Green Man image above, descending to a far larger basement bar. This large rambling space was much bigger and busier and far more in keeping with what you’d imagine a city centre Wetherspoons to look like. At the bottom of the stairs there is a fairly narrow space with banquettes in a couple of nooks and a good deal of standard chair seating. This soon gives way to a spacious area with a marble drinking ledge down one side and a mix of standard and high tables under fairy lights and wood panelled walls. The bar appears to your left and also has a lovely curved counter plus a modern bar back with plenty of vertical drinking space opposite. At the far end of the room there is a raised bare boarded area with some extremely comfy looking banquettes and chairs under some nice decorative glasswork and another TV screen. Beyond the bar there are a few more tables plus an exit into what looked like some sort of shopping arcade or office building. A large map of London on one wall picked out the locations of all the London based breweries that supply the pub, which is the sort of feature you don’t really associate with Wetherspoons. The top bar had three guest ales, four ‘Spoons regulars and one unclipped pump and my ignorance of a ground floor bar meant that I ended up picking Wimbledon Tower from this selection, which meant that I missed out on another four guest ales and two real ciders downstairs. My pint was priced at £3.60 on the pump clip, £3.29 on a price list to the side of the bar but £3.45 in reality – let’s hope the Bank of England up the road are better with figures than this lot. The pint was in pretty good shape, if perhaps a little warm. This is quite an unusual Wetherspoons that had a very different feel to many in the chain, perhaps as the result of a self-selected customer base. I thought the place looked smart and clean with a pretty good ale range at prices that can’t really be topped in the City and therefore makes a decent option when visiting this part of town. (Visited 9th May 2017, prior to pub's reported closure).

I failed to locate the pavement level entrance to this place (I must have walked right past it!) and had to resort to going into the basement of the hideous shopping arcade that this is part of. The basement bar is the main one and is a wholly uninspiring low ceilinged barn. On the twelve pumps there were 2 GK IPAs and Abbot, three ciders, the inevitable London Pride and Doombar, Thwaites Lancaster Bomber and three from the recent festival. I went for the Strathaven Claverhouse Red (£3.05) which was in very good nick. The service was not that great despite it being only midday. I wouldn't return as it's such a horrible building and it's easier to dive into the Central Line and head East to find better and cheaper Spoons.

Probably one of my favour pubs in the city. As a 'spoons' pub the interior is far better then the Cross Keys which is just around the corner. Service is usually quick at the downstairs bar (don't use the upstairs bar) even on a Friday evening. A friendly atmosphere for a quiet drink after work describes at a decent price is how I see The Green Man. As a lager drinker I am really not bothered by the range of ales but some seem to think this is all 'spoon' pub are about.