The Carron Works (JD Wetherspoon), Falkirk

This is Falkirk’s sole Wetherspoon’s, located in the centre of town, not too far from Falkirk High station. The pub feels very basic, with a simple single room layout which is carpeted throughout and sees the servery run much of the length of the back wall. The bar has a fairly featureless long counter and a bar back lit in red with a large mirror in the centre bearing the pub’s name. A single row of high tables and stools runs opposite the bar and the rest of the room is filled with regulation tables and chairs. Two raised seating areas to either side of the room have nice tartan banquettes along the end walls and plenty more standard chairs in support, but the whole pub is relatively open-plan, with no obvious spots to get a bit of privacy. A few old pictures have been dotted around the place and the ubiquitous TV screens showing muted rolling news coverage were present and correct. Unusually, there was a modern fireplace over on the left-hand wall which had been lit on this cold Winter’s morning, which I’m guessing was to the satisfaction of the large number of old boys who turned out on this Monday morning. A friendly lone barman was doing a manful job of fielding all the food and drinks requests on his own. I noted two ‘Spoons regulars and two guest ales on the handpulls, with a real cider also available and an unclipped pump making up the numbers. It being an early morning visit, I swerved these and opted instead for the ever reliable ‘Spoons breakfast and a mug of tea, which was the usual, good value fayre. This was the only pub I managed to visit on my whistle-stop visit to Falkirk and I would hope that some of the others offer a better experience than this place. Whilst there was nothing inherently wrong with the place, I found it pretty dull and dispiriting and was happy enough to eat my breakfast and make tracks.

From the outside the pub looks like it has promise but sadly not as I found it very dull and featureless. There was 10 hand pumps on the bar but 4 of these were available soon.

This is a cinema conversion but not a very good one as the low ceiling means it could be any old building. It's just a square room with toilets upstairs and all the usual furnishings. The bar here has two sets of five hand pumps which had five devoted to festival ciders and the beers were Phoenix Wobbly Bob, something called Alpine American Ale, Doom Bore, Abbot and Marston's Old Empire. I went for the Wobbly Bob (£1.95) which was in good nick and as an Ultra Premium guest very well priced. This seemed like a decent Spoons to me.