Lime Kiln (Lloyds No 1), Liverpool

The Lime Kiln is still arguably Liverpool city centre's best branch of Wetherspoon's. It's located in one of the main nightlife areas of the city. So, it invariably gets busy and lively in the evenings, especially at weekends. Our Saturday lunchtime visit was an altogether quieter affair. Although I was surprised to see them have the live football on with audible volume, but not too obtrusive. Set over a couple of floors, there are plenty of tables and its easy to get away from the TVs, if you choose. The real ale choice is generally good here. The usual ales were present - Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best & Sharp's Doom Bar. Guest beers were Portobello APA, Coach House Coachman's Winter Ale, Peerless Oatmeal Stout & Full Whack, Titanic White Star, Phoenix Black Bee, Purple Moose Glaslyn & Pheasantry Black Pheasant. Ciders were Old Rosie & Black Dragon. With 4 dark beers and 2 ciders, the Lime Kiln (despite all of its Wetherspoon failings) succeeded where our previous pub (the Red Lion) had disappointed. Indeed, my pint of Black Bee was very enjoyable. Being a Lloyds No. 1 establishment, the interior is fairly modern and unlike the more traditional Wetherspoon's. That does at least give it a bit of variety. Service was good too. Still a solid 7/10 from me.

great beer range as others have detailed. besides that, I don't like the place at all. dark and seedy feeling in the day time and just seems like it is waiting for the big crowds later on. file under: Lloyds circuit barns

Being a Lloyds No 1 bar in the heart of Liverpool's drinking barn quarter, visiting this huge Wetherspoons pub on a Saturday evening might not have been the wisest move, but the place pleasingly had a varied mix of customers all on their best behaviour, creating a nice atmosphere. A front patio with limited seating allows you to have a drink outside overlooking Concert Square, which probably makes for good people watching, but on a cold February evening, I was keen to get inside. The pub has a large ground floor area which is carpeted for the main part and has a long bar along the back wall. The bar counter has back-lit frontage and a mirrored bar back whilst high tables and stools have been arranged in the space opposite. There is a raised seating area to the right under the large windows, offering plenty of standard seating options, whilst over to the left, a series of bare brick banquette booths under various modern artworks provide a comfier spot to settle down. The pub is built on the site of a former warehouse and the pub ha retained something of an industrial feel thanks to the various exposed pipes and wires running around the ceiling and the steel framed kitchen serving hatch to the left of the bar. Stairs in the centre of the room lead up to a first floor bar with a similar servery along the back wall and loads of additional seating running front to back along the left hand side and left to right in the area past the right hand end of the bar. The decor up here includes floral wallpaper, more modern art and even a dartboard, making it feel a lot more pub-like than the contemporary bar feel of the ground floor. A large pull down screen in the main bar area was showing live Six Nations rugby to an appreciative crowd. The big surprise here was the ale range - not always a strong point in Lloyds branded pubs - but I think I counted nine guest ales in total, with just two 'Spoons regulars and one turned clip. That struck me as one of the best guest ale ratios I can remember in a Wetherspoons and I decided to try the Peerless Oatmeal Stout which was in great shape and absolutely flew out of the glass. This was a bit of a last minute addition to my crawl, so expectations weren't particularly high, but I found the place to be a strong Wetherspoons venue despite the underwhelming ground floor area. The good beer range and excellent conditioning would be the main reasons for me to revisit, perhaps making use of the 'pubbier' upstairs bar next time.

This JDW has a very good range of guest beers available, especially for a Lloyds. On the negative side, it's in a very bland building and it's also near Concert Square, so it's full of idiots later at night. We called in just before 9 p.m. and over the next 30 minutes everything in the area got slowly louder and the dipstick level doubled. My pint was in very good condition and Ms CAMRA enjoyed her single malt. The staff were efficient and friendly, despite the provocation from some of the clientele. I'd happily call in again, but we'd visit during the day next time around.

Beer wise the best of the Wethers in town. Hidden away off Bold St this place, though in testosterone central that is Concert Square it is the one that's least bothered by all the posing knobheads who prance around the area. Look out for sad bloke playing video games on his tablet.

After the previous three Spoons being a bit disappointing this one was a revelation. It's a Lloyds No. 1 and a fairly unattractive building with air conditioning stuff all over the place. It is roughly square with a smaller bar upstairs. On my Saturday afternoon visit it was fairly quiet but picked up a bit as the time wore on. The bar has two sets of six hand pumps which had Brewster's Aromantica, Spitfire, Peerless Project 366, Triple Blond & Storr, Old Hooky, Ruddles Best, Chequered Flag Prescott, Liverpool Craft American Red & Rye Pale Ale, Phoenix Pale and Moorhouse Summer Yarn. I tried the Peerless Triple Blond which was in superb condition and cost just £1.65. I was so impressed I also went for the Project 366 and the Storr which were just as good. I also had a Tuna Mayo baguette which went down a treat. The scouse barmaid was very friendly, the poor service in a lot of Spoons is often because they are just too busy to cope. The standard guest price here is £1.45 but that apparently only applied to the Summer Yarn. Ruddles is £1.25. I thought this was a brilliant Spoons, the only let down being the rather dull building (not that important) and the fact that it's a Lloyds which effectively rules it out after 21:00. I would definitely return here as long as it was before that time. I could happily have stayed here to try the two Liverpool Craft beers but there was a danger of my day in Liverpool becoming a Spoons only event.