The Cooper Rose (Lloyds No.1), Sunderland

This town centre branch of Wetherspoon's is now open again. It is a split-level pub with gents toilets conveniently and unusually (for this chain) located on the ground floor. I was in for breakfast and a swift half on my Wednesday morning visit. You tend to know what you're going to get with the breakfasts and everything was as expected. In terms of real ales, you know what to expect too. Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar were all on. The 3 guests were Orkney Red MacGregor, Brewster's Hop A Doodle Doo & Maxim's Anderson's Best Scotch. There is no real cider in this branch. Being a bit hungover from the previous day's exploits, my Red MacGregor didn't go down as easily as usual, but it was in reasonable condition.

Enjoyed our visit to this 2019 Good Beer Guide JDW Lloyds bar. Chose Wolf Granny Wouldn't like it from the guest ales available and it was fine.

This isn't that large a JDW going by the room downstairs but the addition of the upstairs area makes it a fair sized one. It's a square room with a huge light rig dominating the centre of the room and giving the game away that it's a Lloyds. This is a multi floor outlet that actually has a full blown lift available, only the second one I've come across with this facility. The upstairs bar has three hand pumps two of which are the GK ones whereas downstairs has two sets of five which is good for a Lloyds. However there were three available soon and the IPA variant on the Trio of Doom leaving Mordue Radgie Gadgie, Sonnet 43 Abolition, the JDW footbore Defender beer and Big Lamp Sunny Daze. I went for the Radgie Gadgie as part of the Steak Club and it was not all that clear, too cold and generally poor. It would have been £1.99 the standard guest price here but the Steak Club was fine. Although it's not bad for a Lloyds as a JDW it's pretty average.

Large, two-floored JDW Lloyds outlet which was converted from an old nightclub. The downstairs is a fairly unremarkable dingy drinking barn. Upstairs has a bit more class and the large windows make a good spot for people-watching over the road as well as affording an excellent view of one Sunderland town centre’s few genuinely impressive buildings, the Sir John Priestman College Library. At first glance there looked to be a very impressive selection of guest ales; however inspection of the little labels in front of the pump showed that all bar two were off and my first choice died without even making halfway up the glass. Deciding that a 5.6% beer was a bit much for Thursday late morning, I reluctantly went for an Abbot which was in decent enough shape. Overall not particularly impressed, it could and maybe should be the best Spoons in town.