The Mary Shelley (Lloyds No 1), Bournemouth

The Mary Shelley consists of an extended area on the ground floor of a corner building. The fact it is wide rather than long and has windows onto the street means at least in daylight it isn't gloomy. It is a Lloyds No 1 and the Lloyds Disaster Area is very obvious on the right of the building with several banks of lights but no Idiot Booth that I could see. The Gents here seemed wholly inadequate for a venue this size. It was fairly quiet on my Thursday afternoon visit. The bar has ten hand pumps which is better than usual for a Lloyds. They had one unused, one available soon, a cider, GK IPA & Abbot, Dorset Jurassic, Hawkshead Cumbrian 5 Hop and three festival ales. I went for the Adnam's Sloe Porter (£2.29) which was in good nick. It's better than most Lloyds outlets but pretty average as a JDW.

Previously Bar Med, now one of Central Bournemouth's three JDWs, this out-of-the-box pub opened in 2008. The interior is irregular, soberly decorated and rather dull; I was hoping for some sort of Gothic novel reference but was disappointed. There are the usual mute gaming machines, and the WiFi doesn't work. The staff ranged from the charming-but-useless to the rude-and-inefficient. Five ales on, I had Dales's New Dawn, which was a reasonable pint, kept at a decent temperature but probably at the end of its life. OK for the cheap beer and it's fine to hide in while the wife goes to Beale's but nothing much else to come here for.

The Mary Shelley page on the JD Wetherspoon website - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

The Mary Shelley page on the JD Wetherspoon website - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

Fair-sized Lloyds No. 1 Bar with modern furniture and decor around the various seating areas. Reasonable selection of beer, albeit let down by four of the ten handpumps being 'available soon', and nothing wrong with my pint of Ringwood Filly Drift (£2.49).