The Angel & Royal, Doncaster

The Old Angel is a large open plan Wetherspoons pub with a curved bar on the back wall. High tables and stools are set away from the bar and conventional seating stretches around the exterior walls. Stairs to the right lead up to a seating area that overlooks the bar. I didn’t feel the need to venture up during my recent Saturday afternoon visit. Standard draught is available and I counted ten hand pumps that were drawing Spoons stalwarts and some guests. The usual cheap prices are in place for both pub grub and drinks. The only distraction from drinking and conversation is a lone plasma screen that was showing muted rolling news. This is an average JDW that I would pop back into if passing, but I wouldn’t go out of my way.

This is a large, purpose built, open plan pub currently operating as a Lloyds No 1 bar. You enter into a spacious main bar, with seating along the two front facing walls and the servery running around the angle of the back wall. It has a real ‘drinking barn’ feel to the place and I imagine it gets packed on a Friday night, with plenty of space for vertical drinkers in the carpeted area opposite the bar. Things were fairly sedate on my lunchtime visit – a real contrast to the packed Red Lion Wetherspoons just up the road. I didn’t really warm to the big, open spaces of the ground floor, but an impressive staircase on the right hand side of the room, promised further seating, so I climbed it to find a nice mezzanine area to the left with big U-shaped banquettes arranged along the wall underneath a large painting, giving good views down to the bar below. To the right is a second bar with a limited ale selection and some standard tables and chairs which were proving popular with diners. The staff all seemed very friendly and I found the ambiance in general a lot more pub-like than downstairs. I noted ten hand pumps on the main bar, only four of which seemed to be in action – a really disappointing proportion, especially considering the fact that three were clipped with interesting guest ales that were either not yet ready or, in the case of the Osset Big Red, went off when I ordered it. I eventually ended up with a particularly tasty pint of Acorn Sybilla, which was very enjoyable, even if a 5%+ ale wasn’t quite what I was looking for before lunch. This place was a bit of a mixed bag and I came away a little unsure how much I’d really enjoyed myself. As Lloyds bars go, I thought it was pretty good and the beer quality certainly helped in that respect. Probably the weakest of the six Doncaster pubs I visited recently, but one I’d still be happy enough to return to.

Called in around 6pm on a Thursday after a good day at the races.However the music from the speakers was deafening so we did a prompt U turn and retreated to the more sedate Red Lion.

The original Old Angel was situated on Frenchgate,and was one of the towns best coaching Inns,with James The First staying there in 1603.The present Old Angel was built in 1997 on the site of a parade of small shops.This is a smart two tiered pub with a grand staircase leading up to the balcony area,and a few booths on the left as you enter the pub.There wea quite a good range of cask beers available on my Tuesday morning visit,and found the Nijinsky 1970 a very palatable drink.