The Cherwell, Banbury

There are lots of poor pubs in Banbury and this is another.Once a 'spoons,now owned by Stonegate and appealing to a younger audience,it's large and devoid of character.To the right is a raised section with flashing lights and large speakers where a gagle of girls were attempting to dance encouraged by a DJ on my Saturday night visit.The main body of the pub is identikit 'spoons ,mainly 4 seater dining type tables with plastic menus,while close to the bar are some high tables.The various screens will show sports,with the grand prix qualifiers dominating the bleak surroundings on my trip.There were a lot of fruit machines too. At the bar the ale options were GK Coronation Ale (no doubt something awful rebadged),Wychwood Hobgoblin,Doom Bar and Bass (clear but lifeless,watery,NBSS 2) served by a female goth with a scowl ,I felt sorry that I had disturbed her.There were also four Lilly's real cider which maybe the pubs USP. Lots of benches outside but this pub felt unloved and tacky,I won't be planning a return.

Official site of The Cherwell - www.greatukpubs.co.uk

Official site of The Cherwell - www.greatukpubs.co.uk

This is one of the JDWs up for sale from the May 2016 list and given that it was virtually empty on my early Saturday evening visit it's hardly surprising. I didn't see any for sale signs outside but considering Banbury is in affluent Oxfordshire the town centre seemed rather run down. I could see no evidence of the former life as a Lloyds No 1 but the fixtures and fittings are not standard. While I was there they turned the lighting down and lit some candles. If these had been black I would have been concerned that a Black Mass was about to take place. It didn't manage to bring in an influx of customers. The pub itself is a single rectangular room, wide rather than narrow. I noticed a dart board in the right hand corner. The bar has two sets of five hand pumps which had one unused, one available soon, a cider, the JDW Trio Of Doom and unusually four Hook Norton beers. I went for the Old Hooky (£2.15) which was just as good as the one I paid £3.80 for in their tied Olde Reine Deer. It's not a great JDW but I preferred it to the mayhem of the Exchange.

Large, rectangular 'spoons (formerly a Lloyds No 1 Bar?) shop conversion with no real features of interest within or without. Initially appeared to offer a reasonable range of real ales from two banks of five handpumps, but the local Hooky and Old Hooky were off (with very small 'Coming Soon' labels) as was the Lapland Red Ale (but this annoyingly had no label to tell you this, and the solitary visible 'team member' had to turn to an apparently off-duty manager to confirm what to do, and this turned out to be switching a 'Coming Soon' label from the Old Hooky pump!). Having discounted the Ruddles and Doom Bar, and with the duplicated Abbot clips, the choice turned out to be Moorhouse's Pride of Pendle, Arkell's Kingsdown (£2.25) and whatever the 'guest cider' (with a hand-written clip) turned out to be. Poor.

Single space standard 'spoons with long counter on the back wall, 5+5 hand pulls most doubled up with Ruddles Best, Greene King Abbot, a perry, two USA brewers special collaboration beers and local Hook Norton Lion. Dreadful staff apart from the duty manager who should be in a better pub than this. An ok spoons, cleaner and clearer than some, decent beer quality if not choice. Vases of fresh lillies in places, very nice but smelly!