The Mardi Gras (JD Wetherspoon), Manchester

The façade of the Mardi Gras has been designed to look like it has been plucked from New Orleans, but the interior is standard Spoons. The bar counter on the left-hand wall faces open plan seating, and to the right is a mezzanine level which was being closed during my midweek visit around 19:00. Six hand pumps are supported, one was unused and Frome Brewing’s Funky Monkey EPA was coming soon which left Bowman’s Swift One, Salopian’s Oracle, GK IPA and Sharp’s Doom Bar as the cask options. Not a huge choice, but the Oracle was on good form. The service was polite and this is a handy watering hole in the shopping centre, but it’s certainly not a destination pub.

As the name suggests, in the New Orleans part of the food / drink quarter, and the external appearance does make some effort to fit in with that. Nothing much to say about the interior, however, apart from it initially appearing smaller than expected (until you spot the mezzanine seating area). Modest choice from the two banks of three handpumps: Greene King IPA and Abbot plus Bath Ales Gem and Jemima's Pitchfork from Glamorgan (£2.49).

I'm sure this was reported to be on Wetherspoon's "for sale" list a couple of years back, but it's still here. Only two guests on at this Spoons, and as far as I remember this has always had a bit of a reduced selection compared to some others. However on my most recent visit, both beers I had by Bridegehouse were perfectly fine, and it was a convenient enough location to relax and take a break from shopping. Not really a destination pub to seek out, but if you happen to be in the Trafford Centre it's probably your best option for real ale.

An interesting looking shopping centre Wethers. As its in the 'New Orleans' part of the Trafford Centre the exterior is done out to resemble a deep south Huckleberry Finn kinda place. The inside is made up of two floors with a bar on each floor. Lots of Southern States bumpf dotted around plus, bizarrely, Happy Mondays and Oasis pictures. Just the six handpumps and, as noted, a pretty awful selection. The beer may be expensive for a Wethers but I got a pint of some 5% international guest beer for £2.29 on my Wednesday afternoon visit. The place isn't great but like Mr Lung I too wasn't expecting much.

This is a shopping centre Spoons so expectations were low. All the High Street food and drink chains seem to have been all slung together in this area of the Trafford Centre where it's on the first floor. The whole thing has a New Orleans theme inside and out. It's a rectangular room with the furnishings not as crammed in as usual and another area upstairs that I didn't visit. It wasn't that busy on a Thursday afternoon and it didn't look as though anyone was just in for a drink. I noticed some of the prices here are sky high, eg Fish Friday £10.75 and Green Devil 500ml Bottle £4.65. The beer choice was pathetic as three of the six hand pumps had festival ciders leaving Abbot, Doom Bore and Ticketybrew Golden Ale. I went for a festival cider which was a whopping £3.85. I didn't take to this place or the Trafford Centre and won't darken either of their doors again.

The Mardi Gras opened in Feb 2011 in the French Quarter of the Trafford Centre,after spending just short of a Million pounds converting the site of the former Dexters Bar and Grill.The walls have images of New Orleans jazz artists, Mardi Gras face masks and other oddments of memorabilia from the deep south. The pub has 2 floors with a bar on each,and although i only visited the lower floor found the cask choice slightly limited.A fine job has been done on the outer facade,and found the inner ok but thought if the balcony rail could have been made from wrought iron in the New Orleans style rather than a plain wooden one, it would have given the place a far more authentic feel to it.