The Trawl Boat Inn (JD Wetherspoons), St. Annes Town Centre, Lytham St. Annes

Just off the main shopping street, on a road seemingly full of bars and restaurants converted from large town houses, this is a particularly unmemorable Wetherspoons pub, itself converted from a former solicitors office. There is a nice, two tier front patio with stacks of seating, which should catch the sun for most of the day. This leads you in through the front door to a carpeted front bar area with the servery running down the right hand side, opposite which as series of short walls partition a narrow seating area filled with high tables and stools. The servery is fairly unremarkable except for the bar counter which has a row of unusual perspex panels fixed beneath it which is interesting, if not exactly very attractive. The room opens out a lot past the bar, where a large skylit area offers a bright seating space full of standard tables and chairs which extends a surprising distance to the left. Beyond this is a slightly partitioned raised rear space, also with skylights, although these are notably smaller than the large central one and thus this part of the room was gloomier than the rest. There are some banquettes running along the rear wall and the décor is something to behold, with an ambitious pink colour scheme acting as backing for a series of bright modern art prints. A couple of TV screens, one near the bar, the other in the rear left part of the pub, were showing England's Six Nations fixture against Wales to a few keen customers who had to make do without the commentary. The advantage this kind of featureless Wetherspoons has over similar pubs is its good selection of ales and there were ten hand pumps here offering seven guest ales and three of the usual suspects. I was keen to try something from the local Lytham Brewery and plumped for a pint of the Lytham Gold, but found myself with a very poor pint that I struggled to finish and should probably have taken back. I ate my lunch here as well and whilst the food was the usual cheap, processed fayre, the service was at least very prompt and friendly. This was a disappointing visit really, with nothing much sticking in the memory beyond the poor quality of the beer. The pub is in the 2014 Good Beer Guide, so I'm prepared to concede I got unlucky with my pint, but if you're in town with time to visit just one pub, ditch this 'safe' option and go to the nearby Fifteens instead.