The Potters Wheel (JD Wetherspoon), Swansea

Elongated 'spoons with a semi-modern, partly split-level interior. Very little to distinguish it from most other outlets of similar ilk. Fairly pedestrian selection of real ales from the two banks of five handpumps, but there were a couple of local(ish) selections including the Boss Blaze (£2.15)

This is a long narrow Spoons dating from 1996 set at what seemed the Western edge of Swansea's main shopping centre. I's a fairly typical older Spoons and was fairly busy on my Tuesday Evening visit. The ten hand pumps had two unused, the two GK beers, London Pride, Milestone Classic Dark Mild, Wild Weather Howling Gale, Long Man Copper Hop, Woods Chestnut Mild (priced at £1.29) and Bullmastiff Welsh Black. I went for the Welsh Black (£2.09) which was outstanding. Although it's a fairly dull building I preferred this one to the Bank Statement. It is GBG 2015 listed.

This is a decent sized Wetherspoons pub at the western end of the Kingsway. The pub takes its name from the local Cambrian Pottery and has a vague pottery theme throughout. The layout is slightly unusual, being determined by the way the building sweeps round from the Kingsway to Dillwyn Street, creating a very shallow but remarkably wide room in an arc shape. There are three distinct sections to the pub, with a raised seating area on the left hand side being my favourite spot. This area has a nice stained glass ceiling feature depicting various items of pottery as well as a cabinet full of Cambrian Pottery artefacts and information. Some dusty looking bookshelves run along the back wall near to the entrance and they help to give this section more of a cosy, pubby feel than in the lower main part of the room. The servery is on the back wall of the pub’s mid-section, with high tables and stools directly opposite and some padded banquettes under the large front windows, which I always hated sitting in front of as it felt like you were part of a shop window display. Beyond this, on the right hand side of the pub, there is a standard seating area, which I believe doubles up as the ‘family section’. The bulk of this area is filled with standard tables and chairs, although a few booths run down the side, partitioned by etched glass screens showing a potter’s wheel symbol. There is also a cabinet here near the door with various beer related items in including CAMRA certificates and various hops. A garish, eye-melting carpet runs throughout the pub and several TV screens were on showing the news. There are ten hand pumps on the bar, which were dispensing two ‘Spoons regulars, one cider and five guest ales, with the other two double clipped. Behind the bar, two more ales were racked on stilage with space for a third. I popped in here for breakfast and found the service to be pleasant with a few old boys supping an early pint on an otherwise quiet morning. The pub used to be very popular with students thanks to the proximity of several student-friendly nightclubs, but I suspect much business has been lost to the Wind Street bars these days. I think this is a well run, tidy ‘Spoons with a good range of well kept ales – not something that’s always easy to come by in Swansea. I prefer this place to the other ‘Spoons on Wind Street and would recommend giving it a look when passing through the city centre.