The Last Post (JD Wetherspoon), Nottingham

A fairly average Spoons - not a great selection of guest beers and they seemed to be having problems with the food, according to some friends who were waiting for a long time. Otherwise much as you might expect and beer quality was good enough. Elsewhere this might be a fair choice, but there are much better pubs in Beeston.

Last Post just away from Beestons main high street as the name might suggest was one the local Post Office. Now under the ownership of Wetherspoons this is their only outlet in the area where there are many good real ale pubs. But even with a choice as good as Beestons I suppose price elasticity is still a key pull factor as this was very busy on my Saturday evening visit. As you enter the pub is one long oblong shaped room with the bar running half was down the left hand side of the room . The décor is one of the worst I have seen as a spoon, even though there are lots of high windows that make the pub very light and airy the entire room and celling is completely whitewashed with a huge fan pipe in the centre of the celling. I thought this was frankly Hideous. The pub is all hard wood that is the comfiest in a spoons but a small room at the back does have some carpets. There were at my count 13 hand pulls on the bar but five were the regular Greene King/Doombar crap and three were real ciders leaving just five guests consisting of Hamberton Ales Amber stallion, Everards Sunchaser (£2.35) Maxim brewery’s Maximus (£2.65) Wild Weather Go Man Go (£2.49) plus another I failed to note. I wanted the Hamberton but was told it was coming soon so opted for a Guinness as it was a red hot day and sat and had some spoons food which was how you would expect. To say the beer prices are more than regular Nottingham spoons and the stiff competition I was expecting more from this place. At least the guest beer was slightly more interesting than usual Nott’s spoons offerings but overall pretty average. It’s a run of the mill spoons for anyone wanting a cheap beer but I would always go elsewhere when in Beeston as there are so many better options around

There are quite a lot of old Post Office conversions across the JDW empire and being functional undecorative buildings they tend to make rather dull outlets. This one is no exception and I caught it on a bad day as on arrival some of the staff were having to cope with the water from a flooded Gents upstairs coming through the ceiling. This had the effect of throwing the bar service into complete disarray as the staff seemed to be struggling. Inside it's a wide shed-like rectangular room with typical fixtures and fittings. The upstairs area was closed off due to the water problems. The windows look like they are the original ones for the building. The bar has three sets of five hand pumps with one devoted to cider and one of those available soon. The rest had three available soon, the two GK beers, Well's Bombardier, Nottingham house beer Last Post & Sooty Stout, Coach House Post Horn and Cairngorm Wild Cat. I went for the Sooty Stout (£2.35) and had time for a Post Horn (£2.50) both of which were in good nick. The range and quality of the beer and cider largely made up for the dull building and flooding problems.

Official site of The Last Post (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

Mostly in quite a barn-like structure, once the Royal Mail sorting office, but plenty of windows and an unusually light colour scheme help. However, the seating area in the two-storey former Post Office section at the front has a rather different feel. Surprisingly limited choice from just nine of 15 handpumps in operation, with the likes of Ruddles, Doom Bar, Abbot and Broadside supplemented by three Nottingham beers (e.g. Legend, £2.20), Milestone Green Man and A Fist Full of Hops from Falstaff.

Official site of The Last Post (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

The interior to this Spoons was bright and airy, which was a nice surprise. The entrance area was carpeted and had large casement windows, allowing plenty of light in. The large main lounge and bar had a high vaulted ceiling with timber trusses and exposed air ducting. The main room also had the original oak parquet flooring. There were 8 ales on, so we went for the Notts Brewery Last Post.