The Kingfisher (JD Wetherspoon), Stockport

Official site of The Kingfisher (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Kingfisher (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

The Kingfisher is an original pub albeit a modern one. As such it has a car park and garden area with real grass as well as a paved patio. It's so modern that it's impossible to tell what is original and what has been tacked on by JDW. It's a large open plan room with the bar on the right and split into different areas. The most unusual feature is a visible cask cellar rather like a giant micropub one where the casks are all set up on stillage. One advantage of this is that if you see a member of staff pick up a cask and shake it to see how much is left you can tap on the window and administer a telling off. I assume they have done this as the existing cellar was inadequate and is just used to store the kegs. It was fairly quiet on my Tuesday afternoon visit but they seemed to be short staffed. The bar has ten hand pumps which had three available soon, the JDW Trio Of Doom with Ruddles doubled, Stockport 14 Arches Mild (which had gone and had to be sent back), Spitfire Gold and Woods Shropshire Lass. I had the Spitfire Gold as a replacement for the Stockport Mild and it was in excellent condition and a much better beer than I expected. Apart from the staffing issues and poor beer choice this seems to be a reasonable Spoons.

March 2015 Party of 13 Table reserved. Sometimes Weatherspoons can be hit and miss, busy periods with four or five deep at the bar and only two serving staff or food that can be culinary master pieces to lumps of indescribable mess on your plate. I can only vouch for what we found at this establishment in the positive. It was a Saturday evening 5pm when we arrived and were served quite quickly. Unfortunately, we had not been seated and found the 'free drink' deal at that point but it just meant most party members had two drinks with their meals. The whole traditional pub menu is covered (although Veggies may struggle for a wide choice) and the prices are very reasonable for the size of portion that you get. Food was delivered quickly and was hot and tasty and well prepared but delivery of deserts took a considerable amount of time. Drinks on offer were usual suspects with a lot of 'visiting' brews and specialty beers listed as well and prices were on the lower than normal side. If we are back walking in the area then I am sure we would pay another visit.

The Kingfisher opened as a Wetherspoons in December 2012 and is a bright one roomed pub with a modern interior and a standard selection of cask beers.