The Kings Head Inn (JD Wetherspoon), Salisbury

In a prominent building on Bridge Street adjacent to the bridge over the Avon, the Kings Head is a Wetherspoons with a central L-shaped serving counter that supports nine hand pumps that were drawing the usual three plus GK Old Speckled Hen, Flack’s Black Jack, Rye River Brewing’s Brogue Irish Red Ale, London Pride, Oakham’s JHB, and Sambrook’s Pump House. There’s a mix of seating up the left and in the front right corner is a coffee and tea station adjacent to seating that sits under a mezzanine with more seating. This is a good location with passing trade from the train station into the city centre, so it wasn’t surprising to see it filling up at a great rate during my short stay not long after 11:00. Thankfully I beat the rush so was served promptly by a very friendly barman. Much like almost every Spoons in the land I wouldn’t go out of my way to revisit, but I had a perfectly acceptable experience on this occasion.

On approach this is a very impressive building and if approaching from the North also has the famous spire of the Cathedral as a backdrop. But the experience inside doesn’t live up to the exterior. The first challenge is to enter the building, as there are several doors but only one which is used round by the riverside. You enter onto a small section of the bar which has three handpumps supporting the usual Trilogy of Doom, and you have to walk round the other side of the bar to find a more interesting 6 pumps, which had Fullers London Pride and Old Speckled Hen, being joined by Oakham JHB, Sambrook Pumphouse, Rye River Brogue Red ale and Flack Manor Black Jack Porter. The interior is the usual formulaic ‘spoons set up with several separate areas on the ground floor and then a staircase to a mezzanine level that also housed the toilets. There’s no standout features here, or anything I could see that gives it any local feel. But that wasn’t putting off the locals and at 11.30am on a Friday it was already packet out and I had to go up onto the mezzanine floor to find an empty table that wasn’t covered in the previous occupant’s detritus of plates and glasses. But it did give me a good view of the long section of the bar so that I could watch the queues form behind the one member of bar staff who was actually serving anybody who had the nerve to try and get served at the bar. Fortunately, all the ales were on the Wetherspoons App so I could order my all-day breakfast and chosen half without having to move. And in fairness the wait was minimal from the kitchen, despite how busy the place was.

Set in a large and impressive building, it's actually a quite poor Wetherspoons with the expected usual suspects and only a couple of festival guests, more off putting was the single file queue of around fifteen people and the lone server on a Saturday Afternoon. I didn't queue or stay.

Official site of The Kings Head Inn (Lloyds No 1) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Kings Head Inn (Lloyds No 1) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

This is a very large city centre Wetherspoons pub and hotel with a sprawling interior and pleasing riverside location. Entering via the riverside path, you enter the spacious main bar area with the servery down one side and an abundance of seating through the rest of the room, which retains enough partitioning to create a few separate feeling areas. Seating is the usual mix of high tables and stools near the bar and simple tables and chairs elsewhere, plus a few comfier padded benches around some of the fringes. The bar has a coloured panel counter front, broken in a couple of places by large pillars with low wood panelling and mirrors. The bar back is mostly a functional affair, but has an unusual coloured glass centrepiece with a large integral clock in the middle. One unusual feature of this large room is the positioning of the slot machines, which occupy prominent central locations rather than the usual dark recesses. The pub extends to the rear down the left hand side of the bar, passing through a split-level carpeted space with lots more table and chair seating under half panelled walls with a few interesting features here and there, such as a large bookcase and a few decorative artworks. The windows down this side of the pub have a few nice little stained glass inserts, which help give the room a bit more character than you might otherwise expect. A staircase opposite the bar leads up to a wide U-shaped mezzanine area with carpet throughout, plenty of additional seating, some wonderful patterned leaded windows, a fireplace and loads of ‘Spoons info boards. Outside, there’s a small riverside garden area, with picnic benches and a small shelter, but it has a bit of a tradesman’s entrance feel to it and isn’t quite as idyllic as you’d hope. The hand pumps offered the three regular ‘Spoons ales alongside two guests and two real ciders. I wasn’t that enamoured with any of the options, ending up with the Adams Mosaic Pale Ale for £1.99 - a beer and hop variety I’ve not enjoyed in the past, although I found this one quite drinkable. I also had a bite to eat here and thought the food was its usual cheap and cheerful self and that the service was very friendly and attentive, including that rare ‘Spoons’ sight of an attentive table cleaning team. I thought this was an above average Wetherspoons, with a bright and airy interior, several nice seating areas, especially up on the mezzanine, and some friendly and attentive staff. The pedestrian ale range was a bit of a let down, but the conditioning was good and I may have just caught it at the wrong time on that front. It’s not a top tier Salisbury pub, but it’s still a good pub and is well worth including on any city centre crawl.