The Wye Bridge House (JD Wetherspoon), Buxton

Impressive old building on the northern outskirts of town, mostly opened out by still leaving separate areas on each side of the main space around the bar. It also benefits from some large windows, including several bays, plus front and side patios from which to observe the world go by. Although there are two banks of five handpumps, the choice on my visit was restricted to Ruddles, Doom Bar, Abbot, Ghost Ship (£2.15), Forty Niner and a cider (although the range is probably bigger in normal times).

10 hand pulls split across two banks, one of which is partially obscured by some decorative feature on top of the bar. On offer was Old Rosie cider, Ruddles Best, Doom Bar, Abbot Ale (duplicated across the two banks), Boon Doggle and the rest were more interesting guests including something from Conwy brewery that I had. Guest ales priced at £2.15 a pint (£1.08 for a half). I didn't find the bar man to be especially friendly. All the cask pumps had a glass tankard on the handle which initially led me to wonder if the beers were all off, but it just appears to be some kind of fiddly gimmick. There is a nice beer garden / patio outside but it was raining at the time of my visit this lunch time so was not being utilised. Not a bad Spoons despite the surly service, and also worth noting that the toilets are on the ground floor.

Official site of The Wye Bridge House (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Wye Bridge House (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

This is an opulent JDW compared to many set in what was once a hotel. I could see no evidence of the upstairs being used so presumably this would be a candidate for a conversion to one of their hotels. Inside it's a wide room with the bar at the back and extending down further at the sides. There is a large patio area that on a fine summer Saturday afternoon was responsible for keeping plenty of room available inside. A downside of this place is that they serve you with a stupid dimple jug by default so I kept having to ask for a straight. Although there are ten hand pumps the beer choice wasn't that good consisting of the JDW Trio Of Doom with Abbot & Doom Bore doubled, Robinson's Trooper doubled, Thornbridge Jaipur & Wye and one of those International collaborations. I tried the Thornbridge Wye (£3.05) and the biggest "Why" going through my mind was "Why's it so expensive?". It's an undistinguished (for Thornbridge) 4.7% golden bitter. I looked at the menu and the standard guest price was listed as £2.49. The Trooper which should be the standard guest price and the brewery have watered down from 4.8% to 4.7% was priced at £2.75. I ordered some food and made sure that the "free" drink was Jaipur at £3.20. The food prices were not unduly expensive. It's a shame that the beer choice and prices let this place down as apart from that it seemed a good Spoons.

Decent enough Spoons where I had breakfast on Friday morning and returned at night. There was Jaipur on hand pump which was in good condition. Would return.