The Nine Arches (JD Wetherspoon), Earlestown, Newton-Le-Willows

a church turned into a very modern, long room Spoons, it was absolutely rammed on a Saturday morning. I imagine this one does very well given the lack of competition- it’s a long walk up to Newton high street for any other real ale. Good selection on the pumps and rapid service- breakfast was at my table before I could pour my coffee! A bit of a feeding factory overall and the interior just doesn’t work for me, but it serves a purpose.

The Nine Arches was one of only two pubs that were open in Earlestown during a recent Tuesday evening visit. This is a Wetherspoons with a bar counter up the right-hand wall that supports standard and premium keg alongside two banks of five hand pumps. These were drawing the usual Ruddles, Sharp’s Doom Bar, and GK Abbot Ale as well as Theakston’s Double Cross IPA and Rooster Brewing’s Blind Jack. Not the most impressive selection, and I didn’t really like the Blind Jack. Like most JDW’s the bar faces a strip of high tables down the centre of the pub and then normal tables and chairs run up the opposite wall, which is this case is the left. At the rear is more seating faced by the long kitchen hatch in the rear wall. Down the left side of the pub is a beer garden with seating on and around a mix of flagstones, pebbles and fake grass. I thought this outside area was more pleasant than the noisy pub inside. It wasn’t even that busy, I think the noise must echo through the vaulted ceiling of this ex Methodist chapel. This wasn’t my favourite Spoons, or indeed town, so I don’t plan on returning.