The Welkin (JD Wetherspoon), Liverpool

Situated in Liverpool's Cavern Quarter, this is a branch of Wetherspoon's that undoubtedly attracts a large amount of visitors to the city, especially in the evenings and at weekends. It's not a 'spoon's that we go to too often. On a Thursday morning, nursing a hangover from a heavy afternoon, evening and night of drinking and with our usual breakfast place having no available tables, it served a purpose. The Welkin always seems popular for breakfast, with the clientele mainly being locals preparing for a day's shopping (or perhaps drinking). The two old ladies pottering around who eventually sat on an adjacent table having ordered a bottle of wine at 10:45 in the morning, being a case in point. There are 2 floors. The ground floor is fairly uninspiring and I've never really explored upstairs. The usual Wetherspoon's beers were on - Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar. Guests were both dark beers - Rudgate Vanilla Mild & Elland 1872 Porter. There was no real cider, that I could see.

Smaller than most this was a busy JDW and we managed to get seats - normal tables - and we chose Brewsters Aromatica and Green Jack Waxwing which were fine. A decent selection here as there were beers from Redemption, Wimbledon and Beer Studio as well as the usual.

I was in Liverpool on Sunday with the family and called in to the Welkin, however it is quite a small Spoons and was pretty much full other than a couple of tall drinks tables towards the back which would have been no use for a family having a meal. Had a look at the real ale selection as we were passing through but nothing jumped out at me so I didn't feel I was missing out too much by having to abort the visit. There is an upstairs area but no sign of any lift, so we didn't investigate this further but I can only assume it was just as busy as downstairs. Would be happy to give it a go another time.

I walked in to use the gents and examine whether it was worth staying for a swift half - as always it felt cramped and soulless so moved on rapidly. it's a typical, maybe below average Spoons so hooray if you like them, if not the White Star is round the corner if you fancy a decent pub experience in close proximity to the shopping drag

This looks to be a relatively new build 'spoons, with one entrance on the main shopping street, and another at the back in the Cavern Quarter. When my companions and I were in there looking for breakfast at around 9.45 AM we had to struggle to find a table(s) to accommodate us. We were at that time unaware of the additional seating in a much quieter and less busy area upstairs. As 'spoons go, this one is OK. It obviously has as many furnishings crammed in as possible, but there were enough normal tables and chairs to keep me happy. In fact it was very busy on the three mornings I was in there for breakfast, but maybe it's quiter in the eveings when the shoppers have gone home? Maybe not. The ale selection was well up to the 'spoons standards, as was the breakfast. If you like 'spoons you will like this one.

This is a rather oddly shaped Wetherspoons pub that straddles the Cavern Quarter and the city's main shopping thoroughfare. I entered from the Whitechapel entrance, which sees you pass through a long, narrow room with rows of seats either side of a central walkway before you reach the bar at the far end, where the room dog-legs to exit onto Button Street. The bar area sees the servery run along the back wall with a row of high tables and stools directly opposite and some limited tables and chairs either side of the servery. The whole ground floor space felt very cramped and the long seating section was particularly gloomy, especially towards the middle, where daylight seemingly cannot penetrate. A staircase opposite the bar leads you up past a couple of quite pleasing astronomical themed sculptures in honour of the 'Father of English Astronomy', Jeremiah Horrocks (Welkin is apparently an old word for 'sky' and was seemingly felt to be a better name for the pub than The Jeremiah Horrocks) into a much needed first floor overspill area. There is another bar up here, tucked away in the far corner and on this occasion, staffed by just one barman who wasn't too impressed when his colleagues downstairs sent a hen party of around 12-15 women who were complaining about the queues, upstairs to get served. The room has views down to the main bar area and offers three banquette booths and several rows of standard tables and chairs. There were a few nice drawings of Liverpool streets on the walls, but decor was fairly muted throughout the pub. The clientele seemed pretty lively and whilst the upstairs area was certainly more peaceful, I was rather amazed when the young girl sat alone at the table next to me polished off an entire bottle of wine in the time it took me to drink my pint. I expected this place to be one of those city centre 'Spoons with a limited ale range, but there were just the two 'Spoons regulars on the handpulls compared to six guest ales, with Coming Soon clips for two more guests on the remaining pumps. I ended up with a pint of Everards Midland Red, served to me by a cheerful, wisecracking barmaid which was drinkable if not exactly in prime condition. This is certainly a lively pub that seems to attract as varied a customer base as you're likely to find in any Wetherspoons. It's a shame the place is so gloomy and unwelcoming, as a decent ale range, pleasant service and great people watching could make this a winner. Worth a look if you need to escape retail hell for a while, in which case head upstairs for some relative comfort.