The Bulls Head Hotel (JD Wetherspoon), Manchester

The Bulls Head was very busy with all the tables taken during a recent midweek late afternoon visit. The bar counter up the left-hand wall faces some high tables before a large carpeted seating area that is broken up by the layout as to not feel like a barn. The ten hand pumps were drawing GK Abbot, Ruddles, DBC Jurassic, Goddards Brewery’s Fuggle Dee Dum, Lough Gill Brewery’s Andersons and Bulls Head Hotel’s Raging Bull, which is probably GK IPA. Out the back is a large patio with lots of seating, including some AstroTurf patches in the rear corners where it is no smoking. The service was friendly and they’re certainly doing something right to be so busy midweek, worth a punt if only for one.

Visited on a recent Wednesday around 2:30pm and the Bulls Head was very busy. You could easily walk past this pub and not realise it is a Spoons, it definitely feels more like a traditional pub than some of their establishments and this continues inside where it feels quite compact with tables feeling quite close together. There is a mix of high and low seating, and the décor is modern and pleasant. Despite being the first day of the Spoons Real Ale Festival there were only three guest ales on with several unclipped pulls. Even the Doom Bar had its pump clip turned round, leaving Abbot and Ruddles to prop up the other two corners of the Spoons holy trinity. It seemed to be full of mainly old soaks at the time of my visit and it was definitely unusual to venture into a Spoons that felt like a cosy locals' pub rather than a drinking barn. The two guest ales I sampled were fine and slipped down nicely, but I can't see me going out of my way to return here.

Substantial pub, rebuilt in 1895, and much later given the 'spoons conversion treatment in 2012. The interior has been opened out a bit, but various separate seating / dining areas remain, and now with temporary coronavirus screens in place it is quite difficult to navigate around the bar area. I didn't get to see all the handpumps, but six real ales were listed on the app, albeit with the Ruddles 'sadly' off, and Old Peculier was the pick (especially at just £1.99) of a fairly meagre bunch.

Official site of The Bulls Head Hotel (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Bulls Head Hotel (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com