The Willow Grove (JD Wetherspoon), Southport

Visited this lunch time. A bank of five hand pulls in the centre of the bar hosts the guest ales, priced at £2.15 a pint (£1.08 a half). There are two further banks of three pulls, one boasting the Spoons trio of Doom Bar, Ruddles and Abbot Ale, and the other bank of three offering Doom Bar, a turned round Wainwright clip (Wainwright was also on the bank of five) and one pump presumably unclipped as it was obscured by a poster. This is a fairly middle of the road Spoons, not grim but not as upmarket as some. Toilets are upstairs, as is an additional (and quieter) seating area. So peaceful was this seating area that one patron was fast asleep at her (I think, hard to tell with head down) table with a half consumed pint of lager and a half consumed packet sandwich. Two entrances, one on Lord Street and one on a side street, with both offering some outdoor seating.

a decent Spoons in the very centre of Southport, with a second bar set up for some kind of best beer competition on my visit. service better than average. atmosphere standard Spoons, ie. none at all

A fairly standard JDW conversion with a good range of cask ales. Nothing to report on feature wise, but all pretty clean and tidy. We called in for a couple on the way back to our hotel and both the pints I had were well kept and served quickly.

Although this one appears as a Lloyds in the JDW directory I could see no sign of it and What Pub says it is now a standard JDW. As noted below it's a huge L shaped room spread over a corner site. It has fairly typical fixtures and fittings, a few alcoves and was not that busy on a Wednesday morning but people soon started coming in. I didn't venture upstairs. The bar has two sets of three hand pumps with an extra five in the middle. These had one available soon, the JDW Trio Of Doom, Parker Dark Spartan Stout, Peerless Full Whack, Thwaites / Marston Wainwright, Rudgate Ruby Mild, Lytham Blonde & IPA and Phoenix Wobbly Bob. I went for the Peerless Full Whack (£2.29) which washed a breakfast down a treat. As with most seaside or holiday towns the breakfast was a bit more expensive than normal. I thought this was a pretty good Spoons especially considering it started out as a Lloyds. It's GBG 2017 listed.

Large 'L'-shaped Lloyds No 1 Bar, with two main entrances from different streets. Unexceptional semi-modern furniture and decor throughout. Surprised to find a total of 11 handpumps, with a reasonable selection including the Saltaire Triple Chocoholic (£2.39). Also has another smaller seating area upstairs with its own bar (although not in use when I called in, but two handpumps with duplicate clips were noted).

Official site of The Willow Grove (Lloyds No 1) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Willow Grove (Lloyds No 1) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Southport's Wetherspoons part 2. Llyods bar thingy so you know the score. Not as good as the other one.

An L shaped, bland and rather featurless Wetherspoons on Southport's main thoroughfare with not much atmosphere about it,albeit they did have 9 cask beers on and is very handy for the bus.