The Three John Scotts (JD Wetherspoon), Hull

This is a large Wetherspoons venue in the Old Town area, set inside what used to be the city’s General Post Office building. It’s quite a grand edifice, now opened out into one single, huge room. The servery runs along the rear wall with the usual high table and stool seating arranged opposite where a row of pillars under some large ugly ventilation pipes separate the bar from the front section of the room. Here you will find comfy banquettes formed into booths under large arch-shaped front windows. To the left is a large open area with a single partitioning screen through the middle, where ample standard tables and chairs have been positioned in a carpeted area with a fireplace on the end wall and a patio garden can be viewed through folding doors to the rear. Meanwhile, the right hand side of the room has similar seating options with various screens acting as dividers for an area that feels a little less opened out than the rest of the pub. Various bits of contemporary art can be seen around the room and I’m also fairly sure I spotted a dartboard, but the place can’t quite shake off the fact that it is a rather impersonal space. It was pretty busy when I visited on a Saturday evening, with an unfortunate echoey effect making it very noisy, but not so crowded that I couldn’t grab a table and order some food. The crowds at the bar made it tricky to see what was available, but I think I counted five guest ales, three ‘Spoons regulars, one cider and a Coming Soon clip. I sampled a beer from the Wold Top Brewery, the name of which I forgot to note, and it was pretty good without being quite on top form. The staff were doing a pretty good job of managing the crowds at the bar and the food arrived promptly as per usual and was good stomach-lining stodge to set me up for the remainder of my evening’s crawl. I thought this ‘Spoons was going to be a real winner thanks to the fine building it has inherited, but it was a bit of a let down, feeling more like a 90’s drinking barn than a characterful conversion. Having said that, the beer was okay and I much preferred it to the Admiral of the Humber at the other end of town. Not a bad one to include on an Old Town pub crawl but far from the highlight in an area blessed with some fine pubs.

This is a huge rectangular room in an old building. As noted below the interior is somewhat marred by aircon ducts but presumably the alternative would be a false ceiling which might have needed planning permission. The bar has two sets of five hand pumps which had one unused, the JDW Trio Of Doom, Old Peculier, Black Horse HBB 1874, Old Speckled Hen, Oakham JHB, Dorset Yachtsman and Wold Top Angler's Retreat. I went for the Yachtsman (£2.15) which was in good nick. I thought this was the best of a poor bunch of three Hull Spoons. The William Wilberforce is a Lloyds and the Admiral of the Humber saw fit to blast out a meaningless football match across the entire pub despite only a handful watching and people still eating there.

A ‘grand building’ JDW conversion (this one an old Post Office), the interior has not been done well as noted below. Smaller than expected, modern in decor, not much original interior but some cornices remain. The aircon ducting pipes are visible which is rarely a good look and so it is here. Two bonuses were the nice decorative bar front, plus a general air of clean and tidy. Ale-wise, two banks of five, seven guests all seemingly on before midday, a Spoons record? My Salopian Darwin’s Origin was fair. Amusement value came via the barmaid trying (and failing) to wake up a customer who was comatose (before midday as well). I doubt I’d feel the need to do this one again, it’s just too dull.

The coffered ceilings and six arched windows where the only main features here. If you like heavy industrial air vent ducting, there was certainly plenty of that. The art work around the walls was very drab and quite depressing looking and had no connection to the former Post Office. The bar counter was black granite and the bar front was art glass with sections of timber panels with steel hoops attached. Ten ales on pump, I went for the Everards Yakima.

A former building owned by The Post Office,it looks grand on the outside but this is a poor interior conversion by spoons with vast ducting pipes around the ceiling distracting and dominant.Artwork adorns the walls but seems of little artistic merit and the furniture is standard and boring.Little has been made of the internal space although the serving bar does have some metal and glass decoration of note.There are two banks of five handpumps with guests on the five to the left offering a range of their festival ales on my trip.I had a Brouwerij'tij Amsterdam Blonde brewed at Banks's which was fine .Not sure that I would include this on a pub crawl list next time in Hull,it's functional but dull.

Large 'spoons housed in an imposing building, with the ER cypher above the doorway suggesting that this might once have been the main post office. Large bar with various seating areas and a high ceiling. Patio area out back. Total of 10 handpumps, with a reasonable selection including Wold Top Mallard at £2.05 (less a 20p Camra discount).

This is a large Wetherspoons and it is only a short distance from another spoons. Once inside there was one large room with lots of different drinking areas and this was decorated in the usuall style for this chain. There were about six real ales on the bar i had a drink of Wooden Top Pirates Gold and this was a decent enough drink i car'nt remember what the other beers were.