The Dolphin & Anchor (JD Wetherspoon), Chichester

This is a decent sized Wetherspoons pub, blessed with a great location opposite the cathedral. You enter down an unusual sloped floor, into a spacious bare boarded area with high tables and stools to the right and lots of basic tables and chairs to the left. The room has an impressive ceiling with lots of decorative friezes and features, whilst the walls have been painted in neutral shades and decorated with plain mirrors, paintings of the cathedral, local history boards and a bunch of promotional posters. A couple of TV screens were showing muted Olympics coverage and there's a large fireplace to the right of the entrance with a massive mirror above. The bar is along the right-hand wall, about halfway into the room, and has a simple counter with quite a grand bar back topped with a Wetherspoon sign and a small skylight above. More seating can be found through the carpeted space opposite the bar and to the rear, broken up by various sections of partitioning wall. Perhaps the best space to grab a seat is down the left-hand side of the room, where some nice banquette booths can be found, along with access to a beer garden out the back. Not the widest ale range to be found here, with the three regular options on alongside three guests. I tried the Glamorgan Jemima's Pitchfork, which was in pretty good nick but not the most memorable pint I've ever had. The staff weren't the sharpest bunch, so we had a bit of a wait to get served, despite the modest Sunday afternoon crowd. I thought the best thing about this pub was the location and that bagging a window seat with a view of the cathedral could be a great move, but that aside, it struck me as a pretty mediocre branch of this ubiquitous chain. I'm not too familiar with Chichester's pub scene, but I imagine there are a fair few others you'd prioritise before settling on this place. Date of visit - 11th August 2024

We tried visiting this city centre branch of Wetherspoon's on our last visit to Chichester on Christmas Eve, 2017. On that occasion, we walked in only to find an empty pub with staff not serving due to a flood (I believe that was in the cellar). Back again on a sunny Sunday afternoon, the pub was much more lively. It's a typically large Wetherspoon's with seating in various sections. Its bar stocks the usual 'spoon's staples - Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar with 4 not particularly local guest beers - Purity Mad Goose, Lancaster Black, Ringwood Old Thumper & Redemption Big Chief. There was no real cider that we could spot. This pub's location opposite the magnificent Chichester Cathedral and within easy reach of the city centre shopping area, along with its range of cheap real ales and mass-produced food will always draw the masses, but I found it below par by Wetherspoon standards.

Nice exterior but bog standard Spoons inside, a generally mediocre beer lineup was saved by Oakham JHB, It wasn't enough to make me want to return though.

Spoon's in a splendid Georgian building, but the interior is hampered by a central staircase so feels smaller and a bit poky. A fair range of mainly local ales alongside the usual offerings, otherwise pretty predictable.