The Bank Statement (JD Wetherspoon), Swansea

Opened in 1998. A Wind Street Spoons is always going to be loopy on an early Saturday evening and Mad Max would have had second thoughts about venturing in, I certainly did. Absolutely rammed with not a spare table so couldn’t make much out, except that the ceiling and bar back are both impressive. Thudding music (so this must be one of the final Lloyds No.1s) and uncleared tables with more discarded glassware going begging than the local bottle bank after Festive season has concluded. Using the dark arts of an experienced pubman I managed to grab myself a Titanic Plum Porter (NBSS 3) after only 5 minutes wait, possibly to the annoyance of the less professional punters. I suspect that on a quiet early afternoon that this place would be alright but on a Saturday night? Forget it.

As might be expected from a bank conversion this is a fairly grandiose Spoons but is rather let down by only having six hand pumps. The area at the front has a high decorative ceiling while at the back the ceiling is low and it is rather gloomy. The bar is on the right and on my visit had one unused, Abbot, London Pride, Doom Bore, Great Newsome Frothingham Best and Mumbles Gold. I went for the Mumbles Gold (£1.79) as I had just had a pint in the bar next door and thought it would be interesting to compare them. As far as I could tell they were identical apart from the price! I also came here the next day for an early breakfast which was fine. I can't help thinking this would be so much better if they got rid of the Lloyds branding and increased the beer choice. It is GBG 2015 listed.