The Man in the Wall (JD Wetherspoon), Wimborne

Located in the town’s rather smart former Conservative Club, this is a branch of the Wetherspoons chain that seems to be hugely popular with the local community. Either side of the entrance, there are two nicely appointed, wood panelled rooms that retain a bit of a member’s club feel and have been decorated with old maps, local photos and the like which makes them arguably the best spot to grab. Further into the pub, the format is more recognisable as a Wetherspoons. The servery runs down the left hand wall of a large, open-plan space with high stools and a couple of small pillars through the centre and more comfortable seating along the right hand side and on through a narrower rear section. To the left end of the bar counter, there is a nice ‘man in the wall’ sculpture and you can find an information board in the pub which explains the origin of the pub’s unusual name. The doors to the rear lead out into a pretty decent rear patio with lots of quality garden furniture and a gate at the back meaning you can access the pub from the street behind as well. The place was doing a brisk Sunday afternoon trade when we visited and I came here once before on a Friday night only to find the pub operating a one-in, one-out policy, due to the popularity of the place. There were four guest ales, three ‘Spoons regulars and a couple of unclipped pumps on the bar on this visit. I tried a pint of their house beer called ‘Man in the Wall Bitter’, which is brewed for them by the local Sixpenny brewery. This was a lovely pint of bitter that slipped down very nicely and my father tried one of the guest ales which he also reported was in top condition. There was concern that the introduction of a Wetherspoons into a small town with a good stock of pubs like Wimborne could spell disaster, but it seems to have worked very well, as the ‘Spoons seems to always be packed and the other pubs are all still going, with a couple of micro pubs opening in its wake. It’s not the most exciting ‘Spoons but it seems to be a decent addition to the local pub scene and worth a look if on a crawl around town.

Decent 'spoons, housed in the imposing converted Conservative Club, albeit slightly odd as you can't see either the bar or the various seating / dining areas as you enter. However, having paused at the display explaining the pub's curious name, you find a conventional arrangement underneath a rear extension with a patio beer garden at the back. Not a bad selection from the two banks of five handpumps, but I went for the 'house' beer from Sixpenny Brewery (£1.35) which was first class.

Based in the former Conservative Club and a Grade II listed building this is one of the more grand JDWs especially compared to some of the 1990s London outlets. The tiled entrance rather resembles the lobby of an old hotel and behind it is the main bar area with the bar on the left. There is a room parallel with the entrance that has windows overlooking the main road. There are other smaller areas off this main bar area. Apparently the council would not let them build the toilets on the first floor, something I congratulate them on. I was here around 15:00 on a January Tuesday and school kids started appearing with their parents. One or two of these kids were being allowed to run riot so even posh Wimborne isn't immune from this problem. The bar has ten hand pumps which had two available soon, two ciders, the JDW Trio Of Doom, a Sixpenny Man In The Wall house beer, Woodforde Wherry and Ringwood Old Thumper. I noticed one of the ciders was a non-mainstream one called Joe's Cider (£2.65) and it turned out to be excellent. Although the beer here is expensive for a JDW (standard guest £2.79) I noticed the Steak Club was cheaper than I had seen before (£8.25) so decided to go for that having an Old Thumper as the "free" drink and it was all good. It's a shame about the pedestrian beer choice here as I thought it was a good JDW, certainly the best in the area. It's GBG 2017 listed.

An imposing building in a fine Georgian setting, once a splendid merchant's house and later a commercial venture. The front part of the pub is light and airy, the rear a much later structure, slightly gloomy by comparison but still large in feel. The staff are young but friendly and efficient. There is a carpark at the back, and a separate entrance for those who are disabled. Only three ales on, which was a bit disappointing, I had a pint of Blindman's Eclipse porter, a well-kept pint, served at the right temperature, but not my usual taste. By JDW standards it's quite grand, especially as the dosser quotient is lower than average here, and it is almost as good as the other, better pubs in Wimborne. Worth stopping in to use the CAMRA vouchers or a bite of monosodium glutamate.

The Man in the Wall pages at the JD Wetherspoon site - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk