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Spooner's, Porthmadog
Porthmadog
LL49 9NF
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about Spooner's
Located in the station buildings of the Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland railways, this is a strange combination of cafe and pub set up for the most part to cater for tourists passing through the town. We visited after a journey on the steam train from Caernarfon and found the place in a fair bit of disarray with the bar end of the pub clearly the victim of unruly children who had left food, crayons and all sorts of other detritus littered around the floor. The area was now occupied by a crowd of noisy youths whilst the cafe end of the room was dominated by pensioners enjoying coffees and the views out to the platforms. This end of the room has standard tables in chairs opposite a food service counter and doesn't really feel much like a pub, but there is some fine railway memorabilia on display here including old station signs and some plaques. The space is smartly carpeted and the views to the steam trains make it a good spot for railway enthusiasts to watch the goings on in the station. As you move further into the room, the place takes on more of a pub feel, with a conventional servery emerging down one side and smarter tables and chairs appearing along with some screened banquette booths opposite the bar. The servery has a green counter and plain, modern bar back and a canopy decorated with engine name plates. The room opens out a fair bit past the bar where loads of extra seating can be found and a nice clock acts as a visual centrepiece in an area full of lots more railway memorabilia. The star of the show is the Topsy steam locomotive which is housed in a glass case on the back wall with some black and white photos above. This locomotive is a small model built back in 1869 for Charles Easton Spooner, the former secretary and engineer of the Ffestiniog Railway Company who lends his name to this pub. Topsy, despite being a scale model, was the first locomotive built by the Ffestiniog Railway's Boston Lodge workshop and used to run around a track in Spooner's garden - it certainly makes an appropriate display in the pub and anyone with an interest in steam trains would do well to have a quick look at it.
I wasn't expecting a great deal at the bar, so a decent row of handpulls came as a pleasant surprise and I was able to choose from Purple Moose Dark Side of the Moose and Snowdonia Ale, Bath Golden Hare, Thwaites Wainwright, Wychwood Hobgoblin, Banks's Mild and Wye Valley HPA. The HPA was in good shape and we also stopped off for some food from the grill menu which was sensibly priced and very filling. The staff seemed like a friendly bunch and the pub certainly seems to draw in a diverse crowd, albeit of a rather transient nature.
This is a strange pub that was quite difficult to form an accurate impression of. The area opposite the bar seemed to be the best spot as it was probably the only area that actually felt like a proper pub, with the section near the entrance looking like a cafeteria and the end of the pub feeling likely a poorly managed creche. Thankfully we managed to get a seat opposite the bar and passed a pleasant 45 minutes of so admiring the decor, enjoying some hearty food and sampling the well kept beer. Worth a look if you're staying in town or planning a trip on the railway.
On 3rd June 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about Spooner's Grill, Cafe & Bar
I thought this place was a bit like a Wetherspoons only with the food side separated off. It's a large single room with the bar down one side and plenty of tables and seats. On my visit the Railway was holding a Victorian weekend so every now and then oddly dressed people would arrive, some who looked like the "Laydees" from Little Britain only they weren't men. Others present seemed to be the odd locals, visitors to the two lines and the occasional overbearing train buff.
On the bar were eight pumps with Purple Moose Dark Side of the Moose and Snowdonia, Banks's Mild and Sunbeam, Three Tuns Solstice, Brakspear's Head Of the River, Wye Valley Bitter and Gwynt Y Ddraig Happy Daze cider. I went for the Three Tuns Solstice (£3.20) and the Purple Moose Snowdonia (£2.90) both of which were in excellent nick. It seemed odd that I was charged 30p more for the Solstice, especially as I had a quick pint of Sadler's JPA a couple of days later for £2.90.
I imagine the beer choice is reduced in the winter months when the trains are restricted and there are less tourists around.
It's worth a visit if you come to Porthmadog but it is a bit like drinking in a Spoons, maybe that's why they called it Spooners.
On 20th October 2014
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ross Lockley left this review about Spooner's Cafe & Bar
Pleasant enough little pub with several real ales on handpull. We sampled the Purple Moose Dark Side of the Moose & Snowdonia both of which were very good. Now has TWO narrow gauge railways running outside it! - the Welsh Highland Railway uses the Festiniog platforms then after some intricate shunting heads out across the main road up to Caernarvon.
Loco Princess has been evicted from the bar area and her replacement is currently un-refurbished "King Of The Scarlets" which was recently repatriated from Canada. Note - bar can get busy when the steam trains arrive.
On 26th July 2013
- rating: 5
[User has posted 9 recommendations about 9 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about Spooner's Cafe & Bar
Real ale and steam trains. A holiday lunchtime pint doesn’t get much better than that. This interesting place has been well described by others so just to add that an additional two ale pumps have been added along the bar top to now make eight in total and these were dispensing Jennings Cumberland, Sharps Doombar, GK IPA, Banks Mild, Sadlers JPA and the house Spooners Ale alongside Snowdonia Ale and Dark Side of the Moose from the local Purple Moose brewery.
I tried both the Purple Moose brews as we had a brewery tour at this local microbrewery scheduled for the afternoon and I wanted to get acquainted with them beforehand and they were both very good beers, especially the dark bitter, and well kept.
On 25th July 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 2110 recommendations about 1992 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about Spooner's Cafe & Bar
A recent revisit found five real ales (Big Nev’s Six Bells, Purple Moose, Brakspear Bitter, Banks Bitter, and Purity Gold). All three of my beers were in excellent condition and the barman seemed a bit more cheery this time. I also spotted a dart board. So two visits and six different beers all in top form – this one is a must for the ale drinkers and train-types based on my experiences. Perhaps a downside is that it is a bit 'blokey'.
November 2011
Half pub, half café situated next to the Porthmadog terminus of the Ffestiniog steam railway (it’s a 10 minute walk from the main BR station). You are allowed outside with your drinks, which makes for a pleasant pint as you watch the little steam trains toot and puff their way past you. However if you want to get even closer to the action there is an entire steam train inside the pub! Steam train aside, the ‘pub’ end of the building has plenty of rail nik-naks (such as old brass name plates above the bar), whilst the café end is a more plain experience. It's also child-friendly so Thomas the Tank engine fans can partake too. Six handpumps were on, dispensing five ales on my visit – three taken up by the Purple Moose (their brewery is a stone’s throw away) plus brews from Salopian and Big Bog. All the ales sampled were in fine form and prices were pretty reasonable. The service was a bit North Walian though – perfunctory.
Whilst this isn’t going to be the best 'pub' in the world due to the adjoining café, it’s certainly well-worth a visit and I would make a point of getting off the scenic Cambrian Coastal line again to do this one.
On 9th March 2013
- rating: 8
[User has posted 5089 recommendations about 5072 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about Spooner's Cafe & Bar
Spooners ( or "Y Tren Bach" to give it its Welsh name ) describes itself as a cafe bar. Before that makes you automatically decide to give it a miss, I ought to explain that "cafe bar" here means a cafe and an adjoining, but separate bar, and not what a young trendy urbanite would understand by the phrase.
It's located on the platform of Porthmadog Station - not the main line station, but the one by the harbour that is the terminus of the well known steam trains that run between Porthmadog and Blaenau Ffestiniog. The pub is based in what appears to be the original station building.
Whilst the pub is traditionally furnished and comfortable and has much railway memorabilia, it seemed to me to lack that pubby feel and atmosphere. I think that is mainly because the staff seem to be shared with those serving in the adjoining cafe and consequently there appeared to be no real interaction or rapport across the bar that you might otherwise get.
No review of Spooners could fail to mention its most memorable feature - a disused former working engine called "Princess" standing proudly and prominently in one corner of the bar. We learn that Princess first made her debut as a working engine in 1863 and that 80% of what you now see is original. We are also told that Prince, her brother, is still working and is now the oldest working steam locomotive in the world.
The pub is a keen supporter of real ales and there's some CAMRA certificates displayed behind the bar. There's 6 pumps which, on my visit, were serving Wye Valley Butty Bach, Ludlow Best, Theakstons Paradise, Ringwood Filly Drift, Purple Moose Myrtle Stout and Worthington Cask Ale. My pint of Butty Bach was past its best, but not bad enough to take back. The Ludlow Best was, however, really good. The pub has been a GBG regular in recent years.
The pub is well worth visiting, irrespective of whether you're going on the steam train or not.
On 14th July 2011
- rating: 6
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Horton left this review about Spooner's Cafe & Bar
A selection of average real ales. Supply the locally brewed Purple Moose beers. Food available, good but unimaginative. Comfortable. Part of Festiniog Narrow Gauge Railway Station Complex. Interesting but not outstanding.
On 14th July 2008
- rating: 4
[User has posted 148 recommendations about 148 pubs]