The Midland, Wrexham

This ex-Wetherspoon pub reopenes as "The Midland" (02/12/2023 at 8.00am) It has taken the name as its former use as a Midland Bank.

Wetherspoon's conversion of an old bank. It's an impressive building, both inside and out, especially the window light with its stained glass. With such a high ceiling, it can be quite noisy inside with sound echoing around. TVs were showing horse racing, but the big screen mentioned previously was not in use. The high ceiling also means that it is a bit of a trek up a few flights of stairs to the toilets. As luck would have it, my visit coincided with the early days of the Wetherspoon's real ale festival. So, the guest beers here were perhaps slightly more adventurous than normal. Greene King Abbot & Ruddles Best are the regular beers. Guests on this occasion were Mad Giant Autumn Amber, Shepherd Neame Rebel Flame & Thornbridge Hopton. Ciders were Weston's Old Rosie & Gwynt y Ddraig Black Dragon. This is one of two branches of the chain in Wrexham and although I haven't been to the Elihu Yale since 2013, there's not much to choose between them. If anything, the North & South Wales Bank slightly edges it.

The North & South Wales Bank is a large open plan Lloyds No 1 with a bar counter on the right wall that supports standard and premium keg alongside five handpumps. These were drawing Ruddles, GK Abbot Ale, Butcombe Gold, Wychwood’s Hobgoblin and Portobello Brewing’s Central Line Red. The JDW food menu is available. A huge projector screen on the left wall was showing a Champions League game via BT Sports. In the very high ceiling are a couple of leaded stained glass edged sky lights, but there’s nothing much else of interest to look at. The curt service from the young moody barmaid capped off a miserable visit, I’ll not be returning.

Pretty standard bank conversion which seemed to be pretty popular. Otter Amber and Wadworth Bishops Tipple alongside the usual's. Not a bad pub.