Hunters Hall (JD Wetherspoon), Galashiels

Official site of Hunters Hall (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of Hunters Hall (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

This branch of Wetherspoon's is the star attraction amongst Galashiels' pubs. It is located on the main High Street and was easily the busiest of the pubs I visited. This branch occupies an old chapel. It is on a split level with an area at the front overlooking the High Street and the bar itself up 2 steps to the rear where the pub opens out with a high ceiling and some exposed stone walls. Elsewhere the colour scheme is red and cream. A TV was showing a news channel without sound. There are games machines and toilets can be found upstairs. The bar can be found on the right-hand side. Regular beers are Greene King Abbot & Belhaven 80/-. Guests for my visit were all from Stewart - Pentland IPA, Jack Back, Big Red-Emption & Edinburgh Black. Alcohol is served from 11am and I also arrived just in time for a Scottish breakfast. This was not bad value, but very poor quality. It was only afterwards that I spotted signs on the bar stating that fried eggs were unavailable. I did somehow get one but it could probably have injured somebody if I had hurled it across the room! With freezing temperatures outside and my final pub not opening until late afternoon, I spent a few lazy hours here working my way through the beers and watching the goings on. All the beers I tried were of good quality and staff all seemed to be friendly and chatty. One customer seemed to believe he was part of the staff, constantly getting up and down to clear and clean tables, re-organise the dirty mugs and glasses in the washing area and organise the pub's deliveries. He's obviously a regular, as the staff weren't in the least bit perturbed that he was getting involved. It certainly provided me with some entertainment during my extended stay. This is easily the best option in town.

A very typical Wetherspoons, standard set up, it is what it is. Right on main street, parking appears a little difficult

Being a typical J. D. Wetherspoon conversion, this commodious establishment had the customary impressive variety of beer, lager and cider fonts on the lengthy bar-top, including five hand pumps. Unfortunately, due to "a problem with the gas," none of them was actually working, so I was offered only bottled beer, which I declined. It was nevertheless busy, with people both eating and drinking, on the Friday night I called in. Obviously, the gas problem was a temporary one, so it would be unfair to mark it down on that basis and I'll rate it on the assumption that the draught beer was on.

From the outside this one looks like a converted church but inside it's a fairly typical JDW. It had previous owners other than the church so may have been a shop or something prior to them coming along. It's a Lloyds bar but there are no lights and no idiot booth so just the unbearable racket late on a Friday and Saturday. Inside it's a rectangular split level room with all low seats at the front, the bar area up some steps to the right and another low seating area behind that. As this has a wooden floor it seems likely that this becomes the Lloyds Disaster Area at the weekend. There is a small patio at the rear left and a couple of tables and chairs at the front. The bar has just five hand pumps which had one available soon, one unused, Broughton Hippopotamus IPA & Dark 'N' Cloudy and Abbot. I went for the two Broughton beers, the Hippopotamus wasn't that great but the dark one was OK. Both were £2.09. This isn't the greatest of Spoons but is probably the best bet in a poor town for real ale.