The William Dampier (Lloyds No 1), Yeovil

Winner of the Daily Mirror "Britains Ugliest Pub" list in 2022. A touch harshly. There are much worse. Identikit JDW. Couldn't bring myself to force my way past the smokers by the door.

As noted below this is a large wide room on the ground floor of a hideous mid 20th century building. Most of the seating is low. A raised area at the far right does little to break the monotony. The entrance is on the corner of Middle Street and Central Road so it MUST be bang in the centre of Yeovil. The bar is on the left as you enter with the Lloyds Disaster Area opposite to the right along with lights, speakers and Idiot Booth. Unusually for a Lloyds this has two sets of six hand pumps and one of four in between. The set of four is reserved for ciders, although only two were on and anyway they were stored in a chill cabinet over to the left. The remaining twelve had three unused, the JDW Trio Of Doom with Abbot & Doom Bore doubled plus Blindmans Maverick & Mine Beer doubled. I went for the Maverick (£2.19) which was in good enough nick but pretty unexciting. I went off to visit the nearby Palmers pub but returned to try the Steak Club which was good value at £6.99 and also the Orchard Pig Hogfather cider, even better value at £2.55. One plus point here is that the toilets are not up several flights of stairs. It wasn't the unmitigated disaster I was half expecting but it's not that great a Spoons.

] Well described by BF, below, I would add that the bench seats were also sticky and unpleasant, making it more desirable to stand than to sit down. It's a former carpet shop and supermarket, named after the local privateer and homo eraticus who first explored bits of what is now Australia. The staff were quite friendly, though inefficient (with the exception of the hard-working manager, who is doing well to hold it all together), and most of the undesirables were too comatose to make a fuss when we arrived. The beer selection was unexciting, Plain Ales Hooker being the only exotic brew available on the 15 handpumps on the counter. The other ale choices were Abbott, Doombar and Ruddles, one pump had a cider on, the rest had 'available soon' clips. Certainly not JDW's best, and I wouldn't make an effort to explore this one.

This has to be one of the worst of the Wetherspoons empire.Housed in an awful 60's building,you enter into a vast space with a mismatch of pine furniture,a slate and scuffed wood flooring,no internal features,no heating on a cold day and a very poor selection of real ale.It was dirty,tables sticky and looked run down .The mixing desk to one side and large speakers hanging down indicate this Lloyds no 1 might be lively with the young in the evening,and may account for the general condition.The only saving grace was a raised area at the back ,where you can escape the monotony.All day drinkers were dotted about the interior. There are a total of 16 handpumps from three ranks with GK Abbott,Ruddles Best and Doom Bar doubled up.4 handpumps were unclipped,a further 4 were offering real ale and cider "available soon" leaving guests of Dorset Brewing Knob and Chocolate Orange Porter (flat,£2.10). Truly terrible.