The Soloman Cutler (Lloyds No. 1), Birmingham

Former Lloyds Bar. Spacious spoons in identikit style to many other modern city centre ones. Exmoor Gold at £2.57 was the highlight.

Called in here after visiting the Figure of Eight down the road, as I was interested to compare the two establishments. Only one bank of hand pulls for cask ale spotted, yet despite the smaller beer range I preferred this Spoons as it had a better atmosphere and was a bit more modern feeling. Pricing was the same at £1.99 a pint (£1 for a half) on guest ales. TVs on during the daytime, I think muted, showing a news channel with subtitles. Nothing to get too excited about, but far from unpleasant.

Official site of The Soloman Cutler (Lloyds No. 1) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The Soloman Cutler (Lloyds No. 1) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Impressed on our visit to this Lloyds No 1 with the choice of ales available. Before I made my choice I was offered tasters of the two I was interested in, and so purchased Orkney Celebration and Daleside Morocco Ale, both of which were fine. An unusual item here was the accessibility lift to enable disabled to get to the toilets on the first floor.

The beer choice and quality has improved in here over the last few months. On my last visit there was Roosters 25th Anniversary, Green Jack Jester and Dorset Durdle Door alongside the trio of doom. The 2 I tried were in excellent shape and great value at £1.99. Worth a visit.

This is a large Lloyds No 1 bar in a relatively new development opposite the Symphony Hall. The pub comprises a large ground floor room with the servery along the front part of the left hand wall. There is a big raised seating area to the front under some large floor to ceiling windows which let plenty of light into the pub. Lots of standard seating options have been arranged here along with some sort of contraption that resembled a large piece of industrial machinery. At the far right end of the room there are some sofas in front of a bank of screens showing the afternoon's live football fixture, with other TV screens throughout the room showing Six Nations rugby. A rail separates the raised section from the main bulk of the pub and there is a row of seating beneath this rail that quickly gives way to a large vertical drinking area which I suspect gets a lot of use on Friday and Saturday nights. High tables and stools can be found close to the bar and then there is a long row of regular tables and chairs along the back, extending further to the left once you pass the end of the bar. There are large windows back here too, again helping to light this side of the pub nicely, and promising elevated views out to the canals, although in reality there is a good view of 'Jimmy Spices' and a mere glimpse of the water. The pub is sparsely decorated and on an overcast day was surprisingly gloomy except in the seating directly under the window, with neon light strips in the centre of the pub not really helping matters. Stairs lead up to a carpeted second bar with the servery on the back wall, high table and stool seating opposite and standard chairs in two raised sections at either end of the room. More TV screens could be found here, also showing the football and it seemed a little quieter up here than in the busy ground floor bar. The pub had a disappointing ale range, with three 'Spoons regulars alongside one guest and one unclipped pump. The guest was Conwy Welsh Pride which turned out to be a fairly unmemorable brew in passable condition. I also had a quick bite to eat here and as always the food was reliable, unspectacular stuff. The bar seemed relatively understaffed given the Sunday afternoon crowds and queues were building up throughout my visit. Wetherspoons do have a habit at times of being fairly unmemorable, but this place will ironically stick in the memory for being perhaps the most unmemorable of all. There really was little to pick out here, with slow service, drab decor, poor beer choice and a large soulless interior combining to hopeless effect. Aside from the usual 'Spoons bonus points for cheap food and drink and a reasonably lively atmosphere, there wasn't much to draw me back to this one.