The Waterhouse (JD Wetherspoon), Manchester

A bit of a different Spoons in that it is multi roomed, far better than the formulaic canteen style affairs, to be honest I only came in here because it was open before anything else and was pleased to see Oakham JHB on the bar, one of their better efforts.

one of those enormous rambling Spoons with goodness knows how many rooms. of course it's preferable to the soulless open plan outlets but still suffers from the usual average service and non-atmosphere, being full of people that come here to avoid the social aspect of pubs. beer selection infinitely better than the Seven Stars.

Visited on a Saturday in November 2017 around midday and it was absolutely rammed. Just managed to get a table as there were two of us wanting a meal. I had a Coffee Hazelnut Porter by Elland Brewery which was very pleasant, if perhaps a little on the cold side. This is an unusual layout multi room Spoons but it works quite well, though can make finding a table a bit of a challenge having to investigate all the nooks and crannies. Very good selection of real ales at the bar, though the bar being crowded made it difficult to identify all of them. Didn't notice exactly how many hand pumps there were, but there were two or three banks spread across the bar.

This is an unusual Spoons consisting of a small bar counter with other rooms around it. Sadly I was here on a late Friday afternoon so I was lucky to get to the bar and served but couldn't see how many pumps there were or what was on them. I managed to get a Phoenix Black Bee (£2.75), a new beer for me and it was in good nick. I got the feeling that this is probably the best of the central Manchester JDWs but not so good on a Friday evening. It's the only one of the five I might bother returning to but at a quieter time.

A very rambling Wetherspoon's with many rooms; unlike an earlier review I did not think this was a very sympathetic conversion of an historic building and some parts are better than others. Usual mixture of low and high tables and typical furnishings. Reasonable range of beer and food ok. Adequate, but could be better.