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Beer of the Week (w/e 26th April 2026) with Tris39
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Detail Pages
The Kings Head Inn (JD Wetherspoon), Salisbury
Salisbury
SP1 2ND
Pub Type
Lloyds No. 1 (J D Wetherspoon)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5½ of 10) see review guidelines
Strongers . left this review about The Kings Head Inn (JD Wetherspoon)
In a prominent building on Bridge Street adjacent to the bridge over the Avon, the Kings Head is a Wetherspoons with a central L-shaped serving counter that supports nine hand pumps that were drawing the usual three plus GK Old Speckled Hen, Flack’s Black Jack, Rye River Brewing’s Brogue Irish Red Ale, London Pride, Oakham’s JHB, and Sambrook’s Pump House. There’s a mix of seating up the left and in the front right corner is a coffee and tea station adjacent to seating that sits under a mezzanine with more seating. This is a good location with passing trade from the train station into the city centre, so it wasn’t surprising to see it filling up at a great rate during my short stay not long after 11:00. Thankfully I beat the rush so was served promptly by a very friendly barman. Much like almost every Spoons in the land I wouldn’t go out of my way to revisit, but I had a perfectly acceptable experience on this occasion.
On 2nd April 2026
- rating: 6
[User has posted 6626 recommendations about 6588 pubs]
Steve of N21 left this review about The Kings Head Inn (JD Wetherspoon)
On approach this is a very impressive building and if approaching from the North also has the famous spire of the Cathedral as a backdrop. But the experience inside doesn’t live up to the exterior.
The first challenge is to enter the building, as there are several doors but only one which is used round by the riverside. You enter onto a small section of the bar which has three handpumps supporting the usual Trilogy of Doom, and you have to walk round the other side of the bar to find a more interesting 6 pumps, which had
Fullers London Pride and Old Speckled Hen, being joined by Oakham JHB, Sambrook Pumphouse, Rye River Brogue Red ale and Flack Manor Black Jack Porter.
The interior is the usual formulaic ‘spoons set up with several separate areas on the ground floor and then a staircase to a mezzanine level that also housed the toilets. There’s no standout features here, or anything I could see that gives it any local feel. But that wasn’t putting off the locals and at 11.30am on a Friday it was already packet out and I had to go up onto the mezzanine floor to find an empty table that wasn’t covered in the previous occupant’s detritus of plates and glasses. But it did give me a good view of the long section of the bar so that I could watch the queues form behind the one member of bar staff who was actually serving anybody who had the nerve to try and get served at the bar. Fortunately, all the ales were on the Wetherspoons App so I could order my all-day breakfast and chosen half without having to move. And in fairness the wait was minimal from the kitchen, despite how busy the place was.
On 31st March 2026
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2340 recommendations about 2186 pubs]
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Kings Head Inn (JD Wetherspoon)
A old-looking building, although it was built as the County Hotel in two parts between the 1880s and 1908. Various seating / dining areas with a traditional look, including a mezzanine located up a grand staircase opposite the bar (and its ornate decorative features above). Riverside patio. On this first revisit since 2012, I found many more (albeit not very exciting) cask ales on handpump, with London Pride, Old Speckled Hen, Oakham JHB, Sambrook's Pumphouse, Exmoor Gold and DBC Jurassic (£3.32) in addition to the standard Ruddles, Doom Bar and Abbot.
On 30th March 2026
- rating: 6
[User has posted 9119 recommendations about 9119 pubs]
Moby Duck left this review about The Kings Head Inn (JD Wetherspoon)
Set in a large and impressive building, it's actually a quite poor Wetherspoons with the expected usual suspects and only a couple of festival guests, more off putting was the single file queue of around fifteen people and the lone server on a Saturday Afternoon. I didn't queue or stay.
On 28th March 2026
- rating: 3
[User has posted 2306 recommendations about 2269 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Kings Head Inn (Lloyds No 1)
Back again, it seems to have been done-up a bit is and more pleasant for it. Finally managed to get a decent real ale out the place by joining the codgers on the Ruddles (NBSS 3) but back to the usual dross with the guest beer, the Elgoods being tippable (1.5)…
April 2018
Both my visits since 2011 have found no change, sadly it’s still chaotic service, uncleared tables, bad beer and some shoddy parts of the interior. Timbo needs to get a grip on this one. Rated 3
November 2011
Two level ’Spoons housed in an attractive old building by the river. The interior décor is a slightly higher standard than the average JDW, what with the ornate leaded windows and attractive fireplaces, however some parts of it need tlc as it’s getting scruffy. At the bar, service was glacially slow (the queuing system didn’t help) and a load of the ales were off. When mine finally came it was a Thornbridge Brother Rabbit which in fairness was extremely good, however my companions Theakston XB was appalling. I won’t be making a beeline for this one next time given what else the city has to offer. Rated 4
On 30th January 2024
- rating: 4
[User has posted 6004 recommendations about 5984 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Kings Head Inn (Lloyds No 1)
This is a very large city centre Wetherspoons pub and hotel with a sprawling interior and pleasing riverside location. Entering via the riverside path, you enter the spacious main bar area with the servery down one side and an abundance of seating through the rest of the room, which retains enough partitioning to create a few separate feeling areas. Seating is the usual mix of high tables and stools near the bar and simple tables and chairs elsewhere, plus a few comfier padded benches around some of the fringes. The bar has a coloured panel counter front, broken in a couple of places by large pillars with low wood panelling and mirrors. The bar back is mostly a functional affair, but has an unusual coloured glass centrepiece with a large integral clock in the middle. One unusual feature of this large room is the positioning of the slot machines, which occupy prominent central locations rather than the usual dark recesses. The pub extends to the rear down the left hand side of the bar, passing through a split-level carpeted space with lots more table and chair seating under half panelled walls with a few interesting features here and there, such as a large bookcase and a few decorative artworks. The windows down this side of the pub have a few nice little stained glass inserts, which help give the room a bit more character than you might otherwise expect. A staircase opposite the bar leads up to a wide U-shaped mezzanine area with carpet throughout, plenty of additional seating, some wonderful patterned leaded windows, a fireplace and loads of ‘Spoons info boards. Outside, there’s a small riverside garden area, with picnic benches and a small shelter, but it has a bit of a tradesman’s entrance feel to it and isn’t quite as idyllic as you’d hope.
The hand pumps offered the three regular ‘Spoons ales alongside two guests and two real ciders. I wasn’t that enamoured with any of the options, ending up with the Adams Mosaic Pale Ale for £1.99 - a beer and hop variety I’ve not enjoyed in the past, although I found this one quite drinkable. I also had a bite to eat here and thought the food was its usual cheap and cheerful self and that the service was very friendly and attentive, including that rare ‘Spoons’ sight of an attentive table cleaning team.
I thought this was an above average Wetherspoons, with a bright and airy interior, several nice seating areas, especially up on the mezzanine, and some friendly and attentive staff. The pedestrian ale range was a bit of a let down, but the conditioning was good and I may have just caught it at the wrong time on that front. It’s not a top tier Salisbury pub, but it’s still a good pub and is well worth including on any city centre crawl.
On 21st February 2022
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3387 recommendations about 3387 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Real Ale Ray left this review about The Kings Head Inn (Lloyds No 1)
I didn't see any glitter balls or spot lamps dangling from the ceiling, or any DJ decks. So in my estimation this has turned back into a regular Spoons. The building this Spoons is housed in is quite impressive from the outside. The interior has a central gallery staircase, with the first floor sweeping around the central void. I especially liked the sand stone window openings, with William Morris design stained glass, maybe installed in the early 1900s, when this was the County Hotel. The main bar was modern in style with a Perspex marble design front, plus a large wall clock up high behind the bar.
Nine handpumps with only seven on, some of which were repeated. The selection of ales was pretty poor, so I settled on an International ale, Arcadia Session ale, which was good.
On 22nd May 2017
- rating: 6
[User has posted 3745 recommendations about 3745 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Kings Head Inn (Lloyds No 1)
This one had been more than well described below. The burning issue for me is whether it is still a Lloyds No 1. I could see no obvious signs but the recently updated What Pub entry and the older JDW directory say it is. I asked one of the barmaids but she didn't even know what a Lloyds was!
There were quite a few in on my Wednesday afternoon visit but it's such a big place there were plenty of seats. There are now ten hand pumps which had four available soon, GK IPA & Abbot, Box Golden Bolt (which may have been off) and three festival beers. The four available soon were all festival ales which is pretty poor considering it ended a few days earlier. I went for the bottled Green Devil instead.
I thought this was a pretty poor Spoons. It needs extra or more effective staff and to be fair probably extra staff.
On 5th April 2017
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The Kings Head Inn (Lloyds No 1)
A colossal place situated by the river in a marvellous old building, rambling inside and with two levels, unfortunately with no separate upstairs bar. Portraits of various kings hang on the upper storey walls. Some decent arched stained glass windows and the large floorplan means you can sit where you like and away from any botherers. 10.30am had a few in already on a Sunday. Bizarrely a queueing system at the bar, only once seen previously at a JDW in S London. Odd. My early hair of the dog was most welcome.
On 6th February 2017
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1711 recommendations about 1684 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Kings Head Inn (JD Wetherspoon)
There has been a Kings Head here since the 15th Century and whilst the current building looks pretty old with its Tudor style chimneys and oriel windows, it was actually built in the 1880’s as the County Hotel. Wetherspoons took it over in 2002 and resurrected its original name.
Situated in a prime spot next to the river, the large honey coloured exterior is quite impressive which makes the disappointing interior even more of a let down. The pub is split over 2 floors and, despite some ornate features (notably the fireplaces and paneled windows), it has been given a fairly modern makeover which is fairly tasteful but lacks any real character. The ground floor is broken up by numerous pillars and there are are several spots where you can sink into the background. An open staircase leads to a decent sized balcony bar where there is additional seating bookended by sofa areas but there is no upstairs bar so you may need to negotiate the stairs with a handful of pints. Note the unusual firplace that resembles an indoor BBQ. Outside is a large terrace overlooking the river.
The beers and food are as one would expect from the chain although the quality of my pint on my latest visit was quite poor. Service was also painfully slow with inadequate staff unable to cope with the Saturday morning breakfast crowds.
This is the only ‘Spoons in town and sadly doesn’t really live up to its expectations.
On 7th November 2011
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]