The West Quay (JD Wetherspoon), Brighton

The West Quay is a large Wetherspoons with two downstairs bars and an upstairs dining area with a third bar and balcony access. I did not venture upstairs. The two downstairs bars support ten hand pumps between them as well as a selection of standard and premium keg products. The usual Spoon’s food menu with various deals is available from 9am when breakfast is served. There is an extension until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Out the front is some seating with views over the marina, but I imagine the vista is better from the balcony. Unfortunately the rules dictate that plastic drinking vessels must be used when drinking al fresco. During my visit on Wednesday evening last week I found the young barman that served me to be extremely polite and friendly. I would usually point out that this is unusual for a Spoon’s, but in my opinion this is becoming the norm. I found the West Quay to be the best watering hole in the marina complex and would enjoy returning for a few more jars.

Official site of The West Quay (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The West Quay (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

I arrived at Brighton Marina on the 7 bus with no map and had forgotten the name of the pub! I remembered what I was once told that Spoons like to open pubs where there is a McDonalds so headed for that and then up a staircase spotted the name I recognised the West Quay. I was delighted to discover that this place was built by Scottish & Newcastle (aka Star Pubs and Bars) as the Jackson's Wharf, but gave it up to JDW after just five years. What a useless bunch they are! It's very different to a normal JDW; although it is very modern they have fairly successfully tried to make it look older with the use of wood and stippled painted walls. There are two floors but I stuck to the lower one. This is a long narrow room with a bar extending down the right side and opening out at the end with a panoramic view over the marina. This is where most people chose to locate themselves. There were two banks of five hand pumps, an interesting one as you enter and a boring one right down the other end of the bar. The boring one had GK IPA & Abbot, a cider, Doom Bore and Bombardier. The (almost) interesting one had another cider, Brakspear Oxford Gold, Arundel Sussex Gold, Daleside Monkey Wrench and Dorking Northdown Bel. I went for the Northdown Bel (£2.60) which was in good nick and cheaper than I expected. I would return if in the area but it's in such an obscure part of Brighton that seems unlikely.