The Rann Wartha (JD Wetherspoon), St. Austell

Walking up and down the local streets I passed a group of three lads twice before one of them asked me where the Spoons is, I explained that I didn’t know but I was also looking for it, so we joined forces on our quest to find the allusive Rann Wartha. To be fair to us it is somewhat hidden away in the winding backstreets so there’s no shame here. Steps lead up to the entrance where high tables run to the L-shaped counter at the rear that wraps around to the right where it faces open plan seating. There are two banks of five hand pumps with the usual three on both, so the guests were Even Evans Brewery’s Wild Coast, GK Blood Hound, Townshend Brewery’s Dinner Ale and Urban South Brewery’s Who Dat. This was by far the busiest pub I visited during a recent midweek late afternoon wander around town, I guess the prices and something different from St Austell brewery beers draws them in.

Bizarrely located JDW up a small and winding side alley, Google gets confused and I spent a good 5 minutes trying to find it. Rather tidy inside, the entrance and right side have log cabin style wooden walls with a red, yellow and blue trim running through. To the left is a larger more open space, brightly lit. No guest ales (a Cornish speciality it seems), so decided on a Doom Bar which was in decent nick if very underwhelming as per usual (NBSS 3). I rather liked this Spoons as a venue but the lack of guest ales means it isn’t getting above a 5. At least the Hain Line in St Ives had the excuse that it was on its final few days of operation.

The Ran Wartha is a Wetherspoons pub that is set on a steep hill. Once inside the bar faces in a roughly L shaped room which has different areas,the floor is carpeted and the seating is the normal Wetherspoons type. We had a drink of Skinners Lushingtons which went down well on a Tuesday morning visit,the other real ales i noted were Keltec King,Doom Bar,GK Abbot and Ruddles Best. We were happy enough having a drink in this pub. Pub visited 15/8/2017