The Six Bells (JD Wetherspoon), Lymington

Well described below, the 9 working handpumps were dispensing Ruddles, Abbot, Vibrant Flying Saucer and Chinook, one from Purple Moose and Doombar. The beers were actually in good condition, and the ambience was rather more pleasant than usual for a JDW. A good conversion, well run with pleasant staff and worth returning to.

The Six Bells is a modern airy conversion of a furniture shop. It was taken on by JDW in 2013. Inside it's a long split level room with the bar on the left at the upper level. There are some windows built into the ceiling of this area making it brighter than some of their older outlets. The flooring is a mixture of wood, tiles and a carpet at the rear. The bar has ten hand pumps which had two available soon, Doom Bore and Abbot doubled, Vibrant Forest Six Bells (probably rebadged Flying Saucer), Everard's Red Ale, Dorset Durdle Door and Ringwood Best. I went for the Six Bells and Durdle Door (£2.15) and then noticed Vibrant Forest Kaleidoscope on keg (£3.29) so went for that. I thought this was a good Spoons and is GBG 2017 listed.

The Six Bells is a Wetherspoons pub on Lymington’s main street. Behind the floor to ceiling glass frontage is a seating area. A flight of open stairs lead up to a long bar on the left side which faces seating that runs down the right hand wall to the rear of the pub. Here access can be gained to a large enclosed patio area that was cordoned off during my recent Tuesday night visit. On the bar ten hand pumps (3 off) sit amongst the usual array of premium and standard keg products. The JDW food menu is available with cheap prices and various meal deals. Being one of four customers meant that there was no atmosphere and the décor added nothing to the mix. I also found that the barman was more interested in letting me know when he shut and how much drinking time was remaining that he was of serving me. My visit was 30 minutes before closing. There are better pubs in town so I do not plan a revisit.

This former furniture shop was converted into a Wetherspoons outlet in Feb 2013 and takes its name from a former pub that used to stand next door, and was the headquarters of the bell ringers from the neighbouring St. Thomas's Church. This is a very modern, light and airy new build conversion and the entrance is through large floor to ceiling glass doors, flanked by six bells that look like they have come from past ships rather than churches. The entrance lead into a fairly large seating area, and then up several stone steps to the main bar service area, and then onto a partly covered, garden area beyond. As in a lot of Wetherspoons, many of the walls are adorned with old photographs of Lymington, including aerial shots of the river, especially the staircase to the upstairs toilets which has a large history board of the area. There are two banks of six Real Ale pumps and as well as the usual ‘Spoons house ales there was the seasonal Wychwood January Sale and three from the nearby Vibrant Forest Micro brewery, Citra, Cydonia and one called Six Bells, which I imagine is brewed for the pub. We tried all three of these and they were not bad. On the keg front craft offerings from Devils Backbone and Brewdog were available on tap. As Wetherspoons go this one is comfortable enough and at least has some decent local ales on.

Six Bells page at the Wetherspoon site - www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk