The Isaac Wilson, Middlesbrough

now owned by Tees Inns

Despite there being quite a lot of people in on Saturday night, this Spoons is up for sale. It's a large place with the bar to the left hand side with the usual suspects on sale ale wise. I'm sure Tim knows what he is doing, but I quite liked this place and fear for its future.

Isaac Wilson was a boss of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and later the MP and Mayor of Middlesborough. The pub named after him is set in an old Law Court building. I arrived here towards the end of the lunchtime food trade and they seemed to be hopelessly short of staff. Inside it's a rectangular room with the bar on one side in the centre making the ends of it somewhat wider. The toilets are upstairs where there is quite a substantial empty space on one side of which is a dart board and a solitary tall table with chairs, most odd for a Spoons. The standard guest ale price here is £1.89 and the food prices generally on the cheaper side. Although the bar has twelve hand pumps the choice was poor with one available soon, the two GK beers, Rooster's Cream, Saltaire Pride and Lancaster Black all doubled. I went for the Saltaire Pride which was on special offer at £1.49 but it was poor. I was surprised to find this is GBG 2017 listed as I thought the Swatters Carr was much better.

Set in a rather grand looking red brick building which was previously used as the town's law courts, this is one of three Wetherspoons in the town centre, with this branch being the most convenient for the train station. The pub can be entered from both Wilson Street and Bolckow Street, but it is the Wilson Street side that has the fine facade that is well worth checking out. Entering from this side, you pass through a small front seating area with standard tables and chairs under the front windows which each bear the Wetherspoons logo. The servery is down the left hand wall and has a chunky curved dark wood counter and matching bar back. A few high tables and stools run in the narrow space opposite, but for the most part this area has been left empty for vertical drinkers and queuing at the bar, which was a welcome move when I visited on a busy match day. Skylights help brighten up this central section of the pub before you move into the rear half of the room, which has large windows to the rear and lots of standard tables and chairs filling the bulk of the space, with a few banquettes down the right hand wall and padded bench booths to the left. There are a lot of interesting old photos of the town dotted around the pub, focused in particular on the town's industrial heritage, but these have been complimented with a selection of contemporary art pieces. As with most 'Spoons venues, TV screens throughout the pub were tuned to a rolling news channel with the sound turned down. I counted four 'Spoons regulars and five guest ales plus one 'Coming Soon' clip across the ten handpulls. I decided to try a pint of the Daleside Stout, which set me back a mere £1.89 and it was a great pint to boot. The staff were particularly efficient on a match day, ensuring queues at the bar were kept to a minimum, but when I returned the following day the service was so slow that I nearly missed my train home after waiting to be served and then waiting again for my food to arrive. I thought this was a solid Wetherspoons with some good value, well kept beer marking it out as arguably the pick of the three in town. This pub must have been just about the only place to get a decent pint prior to the town's micro pub revolution and to my mind, it still represents a worthy addition to any Middlesbrough pub crawl.