The Friar Penketh (JD Wetherspoon), Warrington

An open plan circuit Spoons with understated modern decor. Pretty rubbish interior that I couldn’t settle into though it was full on a Saturday afternoon. Slow service, dead wi-fi, it just felt a bit of a waste of time. The archaeological feature is the only thing of interest here.

Intriguing modern building with a central glass turret. Fairly well broken-up over two levels, nice and light inside. Apparently a bit of the old friary runs through the pub and is visible under some glass flooring by the main bar but I certainly didn’t spot it amongst the throng, my main mission was to bag the final free table underneath the stairs and get the app out. Weirdly this was the calmest pub in town, very genteel despite being almost full and especially funny when all of the guest ales were fighting strength. Talking of fighting strength, my Phoenix Wobbly Bob was in good nick (NBSS 3.5) and went down nicely with the final Xmas pizza of the season. Perfectly serviceable Spoons and I’d be happy to call in again, should I ever feel the need to revisit this tourist hotspot of the UK.

This is a fairly large Wetherspoons in what appears to be a relatively modern building that stands on the site of a 13th Century friary and takes its name from a former Friar who was mentioned in Shakespeare’s Richard III. The pub has a large, single room interior with carpet throughout much of the space, dark painted walls, lots of big windows and the servery along the back wall. The bar has a very plain counter and bar back which are very much typical of this chain and have no particularly distinctive features. There is seating in plentiful supply throughout the room, including high tables and stools around the bar area, standard tables and chairs over to the right and some nice comfy tub chairs on a raised platform close to the entrance, which was the best place to bag a seat, as far as I could tell. A smart staircase in the middle of the room, sweeps up to a nicely furnished first floor area which offers plenty more seating. Several TV screens were visible around the pub, but the were all unusually switched off, despite a pretty large Saturday afternoon crowd. The usual ‘Spoons local history boards were here in great numbers and covered characters as diverse as Bonnie Prince Charlie, Joseph Priestly and George Formby. Perhaps the pub’s most striking feature is a section of glass flooring which allows you to look down into an excavated section of the old abbey’s foundations. I was a little surprised to find as many as fourteen active handpulls on the bar, dispensing five ‘Spoons regulars, seven guest ales and a couple of ciders. The Wetherspoons Beer Festival was in full swing, which perhaps explains the wide selection, and I tried the Ballistic Beer Co IPA, which was a pretty decent pint and perhaps one of the better festival ales I’ve chanced upon in recent years. This seemed like a pleasant enough ‘Spoons, typical of the chain and only really standing out from the crowd by virtue of the archaeological site it stands atop. The wide beer range would perhaps tempt me back for a second look, but Warrington has several better pubs which would serve you well for a longer session.

Just a small correction to my previous review, I was back earlier in the week and noticed there are in fact three banks of five hand pulls, making 15 in total. Abbot and Ruddles were duplicated and there were four real ciders on the pumps too. The ciders were more expensive than the guest ales for some reason - ranging from £2.69 to £3.19 a pint - so not outrageously expensive but dear for Spoons standard compared to the ales.

Visited yesterday (Tuesday) around 5:30pm or so. This feels a bit more "old school" Spoons to me than the nearby Looking Glass and felt more like the "barn" that people often describe Wetherspoon pubs as. Two banks of five hand pulls at the bar, one offering the usual three (albeit one unavailable) plus Wainwright and Wobbly Bob. The other bank had the guests including two by Peerless, two by Wily Fox (including Karma Citra), and Phoenix Arizona. My Oatmeal Stout by Peerless was nice enough and was priced at £1.89 a pint or 95p for a half. The Friar Penketh seems a bit less studenty than the Looking Glass, at least at the time of my visit, with more of the after work drinking crowd and single old men. It also felt a bit grubbier with sticky tables and piles of uncollected glasses. Can't knock the beer selection or the prices though. On my way to the gents (upstairs, naturally) I noticed there was another bar upstairs. This had the Spoons trio and Wainwright on. I didn't take to this pub as much as the other Spoons in Warrington, but the beer selection in here seemed better on the day, so all in all they're probably about even.