The Bishops' Mill (Lloyds No 1), Durham

Whilst the Water House is the city's more traditional Wetherspoon's outlet, the Bishops' Mill is a more modern affair, located in an outdoor shopping centre amongst shops and restaurants. You enter the large patio area at the front by way of some steps down from the main passageway through the centre. Once inside, you instantly know you're in a 'spoon's. The usual suspects were on amongst the ale range - Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar. The 2 guest ales were Maxim Swedish Blonde & Hanlon's Citramas IPA. I chose the Citramas IPA, which is almost certainly a rebadged version of their Citra IPA. In addition, two real ciders were offered - Weston's Old Rosie & Gwynt y Ddraig Black Dragon.

Badged as a Lloyd’s, it’s in a modern leisure area of restaurants and such. Funny old shape inside  maybe a truncated U sums it up. Usual furnishings although more space than usual between the tables in most of the gaff, but not round the low tables at one end. Counter at the back with usual 5+5 pulls topped, tailed and divided by T-bars, handily the dross is at the left hand end with a reasonable choice at the right, fairly decent nick too. Toilets are on the same floor level, which is nice.

This large Wetherspoons/Lloyds pub is secreted away in a modern leisure development, surrounded by sundry restaurants etc. The main bar is a bit of a cavernous space, but there are a couple of separate side areas and a surprisingly-tasteful and comfortable 'library' area. The beers at time of visit were rather disappointing however, with a small selection of the usual national brands and nothing local at all.

This is by far the largest of the Durham JDWs but sadly it's a Lloyds and even before 11:00 on a Saturday morning there was background music. It also suffers from the triple Curse of Sky Sports, BT Sports and Racing UK. Happily in the morning none of this rubbish was on just the usual subtitled news. As noted below it's a large open plan single storey room in the middle of a modern leisure complex. The Lloyds Disaster area is on the right of the bar with all the usual trappings. On this visit alcohol was only served from 11:00 due to a protest by some groups of ultra right wing fruitcakes nearby banging on about something or other. The beer choice from the ten hand pumps was virtually non existent with two ciders, the IPA version of the JDW Trio Of Doom doubled, Shepherd Neame Redpoint Disco Macaw and the wonderful GK Rocking Rudolph. I went for the Black Dragon cider which was reasonably priced but I forgot to note what it was. This place is probably only worth visiting for an early drink and / or breakfast. I wouldn't return, the smaller Spoons nearer the station is miles better.

Quite a large place but sadly not a great choice of ale when I visited. Far better than the other outlets in the complex and given the other reviews I would return to hopefully find a better ale selection.

Official site of The Bishops' Mill (Lloyds No 1) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Bishops' Mill (Lloyds No 1) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

The Bishops Mill is a Wetherspoons that i thouth was well hidden within a new complex. Once inside thereis a very large irregular shaped room with the bar facing,the room is roughly split into three areas with the usual Spoons seating in each area. There was a very good choice of guest beers on the bar,i had a drink of Williams Black which went down very well,the other beers noted were Titanic Plum Porter,Bishops Prince Ale,Marstons irish Peated Ale,Banks & Taylor Little Sheff,O Harah's JDW irish,plus the Spoons regulars Ruddles best,GK IPA and Abbot. Background music was playing and the pub was very busy on my Saturday morning visit. Pub visited 19/3/2016

Lloyds variant of JDW in the brand new Walkergate leisure complex. A fair bit of cash spent here and it looks quite good internally, with a number of pillars breaking up the inside somewhat. Copper-topped tables, a colourful full wall frieze of Durham and a knave area with cathedral style wood panelling were of note. There's outside decked seating but no river view. Eight pumps but disappointingly only Rudgate IPA and Marstons Old Empire as proper guest ales. The Old Empire was a decent enough drop and at a quid for a half, can’t really complain.

A modern purpose built venue within The Walkergate complex of bars and restaurants centred around the Gala Theatre. It doesn't look too appealing, however once inside, not too bad really. Various interconnected areas with different styles rather than the usual spoons/Lloyds barns, the through fireplace looked good and was welcome on an unseasonally chilly and windy day. There was some rather nice framed bits of artwork on display from a local artist, centred on the nearby River Wear. I quite warmed to this place after initial misgivings and enjoyed a gammon and eggs lunch and a couple of pints of Big Lamp Lamp Light in here, beer at £1.49 after my CAMRA voucher.