The White Swan (JD Wetherspoon), Solihull

This is a spacious Wetherspoons pub in a modern row of shops, close to the town's railway station. The pub takes its name from a former coaching house that once stood further down Station Road, now long since demolished. The pub has a fairly modern interior with bright carpeting throughout, café style folding front doors and a warm colour scheme. There is the usual mix of seating options, although the front section is dominated by a vast amount of standard tables and chairs arranged between several structural pillars with drinking shelves. An unusual wood block pattern on the walls is an interesting design feature. The servery appears halfway down the right hand wall, opposite which there is a high ledge with lots of plants on it, again helping to brighten the place up somewhat. The seating here is mostly high tables and stools with some very smart curved padded bench booths along the left hand wall. Some interesting pieces of art, presumably from local artists, line the walls and I think several were for sale. The rear section of the room is bright during daylight hours thanks to the large doors to the rear which lead out to a garden area. Various TV screens throughout the room were showing looped promotional material, rather than the usual rolling news channels. There are ten handpulls in total, but my mid week visit saw three of these out of action, leaving four 'Spoons regulars and three guest beers available. I tried one of the US collaboration ales - Coronado's Mermaid's Red - which was very good and I would've liked to try more but sadly had to dash for my train after a quick half. The staff were very friendly which helped to offset the particularly glum looking clientele. I've visited this pub on several occasions over the years and always found it to be a good spot for a reliable pint and pretty good service. It's not going to get anyone too excited, but it's a pretty solid option which is handy for a quick pre-train pint and I believe it makes a positive contribution to Solihull's pub scene.

An exceedingly bland Wetherspoons (the Assembly Rooms is much nicer) but well looked after and with the best beer range in central Solihull. I had a Purity UBU (£2.30) on my recent visit.

Very dull and uninteresting. The beer range was very poor for a beer festival. You would be better off going into Birmingham for a decent pint.

Standard Wetherspoons by numbers layout in row of 70's style shops with flats above there is nothing appealing about the interior or exterior. However, it does seem well run and cared for and if you like Wetherspoons you should enjoy it here. 6 beers available, though this included local Silhill 3.7 and it was very well kept. Also had the Beer and burger offer which was ok, certainly value for money though the Ruddles that came with it wasn't as good as the Silhill. All together pleasant if nothing extraordinary