The W.G. Grace (JD Wetherspoon), Clifton, Bristol

Fairly typical medium-sized Wetherspoon's, which has a small low ceilinged part at the front but opens out into a nicer room behind. Tables outside at front also - one side smoking and one side not. Range of beers was passable if not over exciting but condition seemed good. Could generally be described as 'adequate'.

Another Wetherspoons on my crawl and another pre 11am opener. Once inside there is a long oblong shaped room which runs to the rear,the bar is on the right side and the rear are is up three steps,the room is bare boarded throughout which is unusual for Wetherspoons pubs. The seating was the usual layout of tall tables and chairs to the front and normal tables and chairs to the rear. I could not see all beers on the bar due to all of the people waiting to be served by one person,i had a drink of Bath Ales Special,which was a decent drink,the other beers noted were something called GWB,GK Abbot and Doom Bar. The pub was fairly busy on my pre 11am Saturday dinner visit with most at the bar wanting coffees or orange juice to go with their breakfasts,i would have prefered a decent pint of real ale. This is a decent enough Wetherspoons,shame that there is a lack of bar staff. Pub visited 4/2/2017

A fairly recent JDW this so not the normal decor from the 1990s. As described below it's long and narrow and was fairly quiet on my Wednesday afternoon visit which made the presence of a table of students drinking crap and yelling at each other all the more annoying. There are two sets of five hand pumps which had the IPA variant on the JDW Trio Of Doom, one unused, RCH Hewish Mild & Bitter, Butcombe Gold and others doubled up. I went for the Hewish Mild which was OK but not great. It had been raining for a while which increased to a deluge after I arrived which delayed me leaving. I sat at the back area and it wasn't long before a puddle started appearing from the rear which continued to increase in size and depth. It didn't seem to be coming in from the windows in the roof so the cloudburst outside must have been getting in somewhere and by the time I left they were closing the rear area down. This made what would have been a dull visit much more interesting but it's only an average JDW.

Official site of The W.G. Grace (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Official site of The W.G. Grace (JD Wetherspoon) - www.jdwetherspoon.com

Larger-than-it-initially-looks 'spoons, set back from the road a bit, and with an unexpectedly modern split-level interior. Very busy on a Friday night, mostly from the local student population by the look of things. Reasonable selection from the ten handpumps, including the Twisted Ale Rider (£2.70).

As JW has pointed out below, these premises have operated in various guises over the years. Hopefully now that Wetherspoon’s have taken it on it will have a little more stability. It’s quite a long pub extending back some way, and the rear area has a couple of atrium type windows in the roof which lightens up what might otherwise be a rather gloomy area. There is some very limited seating at the front of the pub, and the widows/doors also fold back opening up the whole front area in the nicer weather. Decor wise it’s a bit of a departure from the normal Wetherspoon’s look. There was no carpet, maroon paintwork or wood panelling anywhere and it had an all together more contemporary appearance than might be expected. Whether that’s part of a new corporate look, or just something that was felt suited this particular establishment I’m not sure, but I thought it made a pleasant change. Paintwork was a mixture of cream and light grey, and the flooring was mostly wood including an inset parquet wood floor at the back and some grey tiling elsewhere. A number of black and white photo’s were on the wall in the front half, with some colour artwork at the rear that depicted various Bristol landmarks such as the Suspension Bridge and rows of brightly coloured terraced houses. An plain brick wall at the back separated the pub from the kitchen, although there was a large serving counter through which you could see the chefs at work. A free-standing slate structure in the centre of the room looks as though it probably housed some type of gas fire, although I didn’t investigate this. Beers on tap were the usual Abbot Ale, Old Speckled Hen and Ruddles County, and these were joined on this occasion by Brain’s SA Gold, Bishop’s Finger, Kelham Island Pale Rider and one called simply Beer from Frome’s Milk Street Brewery. Ciders were Strongbow, Stowford Press and Thatcher’s Gold. All in all I quite liked this, and felt it made a pleasant change from the slightly bland, identikit feel you get in most of the company’s outlets.