Lime Kiln (JD Wetherspoon), Liverpool

After the previous three Spoons being a bit disappointing this one was a revelation. It's a Lloyds No. 1 and a fairly unattractive building with air conditioning stuff all over the place. It is roughly square with a smaller bar upstairs. On my Saturday afternoon visit it was fairly quiet but picked up a bit as the time wore on. The bar has two sets of six hand pumps which had Brewster's Aromantica, Spitfire, Peerless Project 366, Triple Blond & Storr, Old Hooky, Ruddles Best, Chequered Flag Prescott, Liverpool Craft American Red & Rye Pale Ale, Phoenix Pale and Moorhouse Summer Yarn. I tried the Peerless Triple Blond which was in superb condition and cost just £1.65. I was so impressed I also went for the Project 366 and the Storr which were just as good. I also had a Tuna Mayo baguette which went down a treat. The scouse barmaid was very friendly, the poor service in a lot of Spoons is often because they are just too busy to cope. The standard guest price here is £1.45 but that apparently only applied to the Summer Yarn. Ruddles is £1.25. I thought this was a brilliant Spoons, the only let down being the rather dull building (not that important) and the fact that it's a Lloyds which effectively rules it out after 21:00. I would definitely return here as long as it was before that time. I could happily have stayed here to try the two Liverpool Craft beers but there was a danger of my day in Liverpool becoming a Spoons only event.

Ten handpumps in operation on this visit, three of which were from Blakemere Brewery, so I went for the Blakemere Cosmic, which was in good shape. The area around the main bar had blue and red neon strip lighting, which gave this Lloyds more of a nightclub image. We called in mid afternoon where we found an older set of drinkers along the bar.

Lime Kiln page at the JD Wetherspoon site - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

Modern building of a similar colour to the neighbouring old warehouses. 'L'-shaped layout, with a substantial mezzanine and some extra seating on a lightly raised dance floor what that's not in use. Just three handpumps, which is poor even for a Lloyds No 1 bar, but my pint of Cotleigh Golden Seahawk was fine (and excellent value at £1.85). Good value food too. (NB - Review dates from August 2011.)

Lime Kiln page at the JD Wetherspoon site - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

A Wetherspoon pub located on Fleet Street and very close to the other clubs in Concert Square (Reflex, Mood, Walkabout etc). During the day it like most wetherspoon pubs serves food which when I have visited has tended to be of good quality, the drinks are also of a good range and price. During the day the atmosphere is calm, relaxing and very welcoming, during the night especially on Friday's and Saturday's the bar tends to get very crowded, loud and there are the occasional problems with people who have had too much, however this is offset by the provision of doormen (note: they are more interested in looking at the scantily-clad girls than doing much security work! This was evidenced when I visited on the 21st of January 2011). Toilet facilities are very clean, modern and a little posh to be honest, the pub has a nightclub style theme as opposed to the old style pub for the local and cater's somewhat to the student's of the Universities but also the 30-40' locals who want to feel young again. Overall a decent enough pub with a few minimal problems.

A Lloyds No1 Bar (J D Wetherspoon)