Castle in the Air (JD Wetherspoon), Trafford Centre, Manchester

Castle in the Air looks more like an airport terminal building than a castle, however there is a castle art piece that hangs from the ceiling. The open plan interior is short and wide with a bar counter along the rear wall that supports standard and premium keg alongside two banks of five hand pumps. These were doubled up drawing the three usual suspects as well as Wolf Brewery’s Howling Wolf and Brightside’s Time Bandit. The Wolf was OK, as was the service. This pub is too far out of the way to warrant a revisit.

Located some distance away from the main Trafford Centre in an area with various recreational attractions (including Dino Falls Adventure Golf and iFly indoor skydiving). Plenty of windows along the frontage so quite light inside, and the space is subdivided so it doesn't feel too cavernous. Also has a few tables out front. Duplicated selection of Greene King IPA, Doom Bar and Abbot plus Cairngorm's Trade Winds (£2.19) and the Blueberry bitter from Coach House as guests - on the two banks of five handpumps.

As has been noted, unless you are making a special trip of wanting a meal or a drink after being at the nearby Chill Factor-e place, there isn't much to make this stand out as a destination pub. I've been in a few times on and off, at different times of day and on different days, and never found it to be what you would call busy. That said, it is a huge hangar of a building so probably never actually feels full. Two banks of pumps on my Monday visit, with Coach House Blueberry Bitter duplicated across the two, Hope & Glory also by Coach House (may also have been duplicated), and the usual Spoons suspects of Ruddles etc. There was also a cider which despite being clipped on one of the hand pulls is actually dispensed from a box in the fridge. I went for this, Elderflower by Temptation Irish Cider, despite the £3-odd price marked on the pump, but was pleased to be charged more in line with the real ales. Whether the price on the pump was a mistake, or whether there was a promotion on resulting in a price reduction, or whether the server made an error and undercharged me I do not know, and I did not care to query it! From previous visits there are usually a couple of guest ales on but not always the most interesting selection. I'd hazard a guess that the location of this venue does not lend itself to a high turnover of real ale and so the selection probably has to be kept small. The cider I had was very pleasant, and a nice change for me. Service can be a bit hit and miss, there was a sign saying "use any till for food" but there seemed to be a queue of people waiting to place food orders at one till, leading me to believe there was a single queue for everything, as only one member of staff could be spotted. Then a couple of chancers waited further up the bar and an additional member of staff appeared like Mr Benn and served them, instead of the people in front of me that had been waiting. I have eaten here previously during the Burns Week promotion when they have a couple of haggis options on the menu. On this occasion the mash was a bit hard and dry, as if it had been in the microwave a little too long. Not a Spoons to avoid, but probably not worth a special visit.

This is an odd place as it is situated in a sports complex that is completely separate from the Trafford Centre. There are no adjacent houses or shops and even the nearest buses are at the Trafford Centre Bus Station about half a mile away. Unsurprisingly the place was very quiet on a Thursday afternoon. Although there are two sets of five hand pumps the beer choice was limited as there were festival ciders and doubling up. Beers on were Mobberley Boom Juice, Exmoor Gold and Coach House Clippety Hop. I went for a festival cider (£3.29) which was expensive considering the beer prices here are rock bottom (guest ales from £1.85). As I was going to sit down I noticed some writing on the floor saying "look up to see a castle in the air". Indeed there was an art installation above but I couldn't help thinking a giant inflatable White Elephant would have been more appropriate.