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The Shay Wake (JD Wetherspoon), Oldham
Shaw
Postal town: Oldham
OL2 8EQ
Pub Type
J D WetherspoonReviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Shay Wake (JD Wetherspoon)
Surprisingly large 'spoons in a relatively small former mill town, and an oddly low single-storey corner building. Elongated, semi-modern interior. Seven different real ales available from the row of eight handpumps: a pair from Titanic, Aired Ale from Bridge House, Beartown Glacier and Blacks Irish Red (£2.46) in addition to Doom Bar and Abbot.
On 22nd March 2023
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8086 recommendations about 8086 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Shay Wake (JD Wetherspoon)
This JDW is set in a smallish single storey building. It was a shopping centre that was destroyed by fire so presumably is a new build. The problem I have with that theory is that the toilets are not set at the top of a whole load of stairs.
As noted below it's an open plan roughly rectangular room with fairly typical furnishings.
The bar has eight hand pumps which had the JDW Trio Of Doom, Robinson's Double Hop, Adnam's New Realm IPA & another International beer from Caledonian, Kelham Island Pale Rider and Dark Star Hophead. Although this was a better choice than I've seen in scores of larger outlets I went for the festival Kung Fu cider which I hadn't tried and was from a choice of eight.
I thought this was a pretty good Spoons.
On 24th July 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alive Pants left this review about The Shay Wake (JD Wetherspoon)
Nice place to take your aged mum, as with all spoons I've been in, beer well kept and food cheap and fills a hole. Gets busy and I was in Thursday early afternoon, the two pubs across the road must be crying into there beer at how many people were in. Weekend evenings are particularly busy and not long back a mate was turned away by the door men for having trackie pants on. Toilets spotless and one tv showing the news channel with sub titles . Atmosphere is fairly friendly ( that's why I take my aged mum in) Just wish they , like all spoons had a tesco meat counter ticketing system for getting served as the bar can go from empty to five deep in a minute. Giving it a nine as I always seem to sit at dirty tables otherwise wold be a ten
On 22nd October 2015
- rating: 9
[User has posted 8 recommendations about 8 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Country Bumpkin left this review about The Shay Wake (JD Wetherspoon)
A new pub in the centre of Shaw, this oddly named pub is nicely decorated and spacious. Staff, both behind the bar and serving on the pub floor were attentive and friendly, as I would expect from any pub. The range of real ales was impressive, as was the range of other drinks. The food was truly excellent! The three of us who went chose different dishes, and we were all very happy with the quality. I do have one complaint, however, and it has nothing to do with the pub as such: the main entrance has no handrail to it, making it an obstacle to elderly trying to get up the steps to get in. Admittedly, the pub does have an entrance with disabled access, but if all that is needed for people with a walking stick is a handrail, then this facility should be installed as soon as possible. We will definitely be going again. Sort out that handrail and I'd give this pub a 9.
Edit: Since writing the above review, I have been back a couple of times. The handrail is now, indeed, in place, but the pub has gone downhill and I haven't been again for months. The last time we ate there, the food took ages to come, did not match the description on the menu (should have been mash, not chips) and was served on cold plates. The manager did make amends by paying for a round of drinks as we weren't prepared to wait another age for a replacement, but it will be a long while before we go again, if ever. There are better places out there!
On 26th September 2013
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3 recommendations about 3 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Peter Rydings left this review about The Shay Wake (JD Wetherspoon)
Not a big lover of Spoons if you work it out they have caused so many little pub to close but to be fair marked the 10 out of 10 it had hand pumps had a pint from Yorkshire brewery it was very good but sadly lost the piece of paper i wrote its name on.
But not being two faced i could get converted to calling in Wetherspoons more just for the hand pulled beer. But will always like the old boozer's the best
On 4th January 2013
- rating: 10
[User has posted 948 recommendations about 917 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Cecil Smith left this review about The Shay Wake (JD Wetherspoon)
In local dialect "Shay" is how Shaw is pronounced and Wakes was how the annual holiday was known until the Cotton Mills finally closed down. So "The Shay Wake" is a reference to that time, in the not so distant past, when all the Cotton Mills and businesses in Shaw would shut for a fortnight and the town would be like a ghost town - most of the workers going on holiday to places like Blackpool or Rhyl. So that holiday was "The Shay Wakes" but for some reason JD Wetherspoon have missed off the "s" from the word "wakes" - possibly because they are not fully conversant with local knowledge. It is this missing "s" which has puzzled many of the Shay folk.
Despite all that it is a cracking pub with a good reputation for it's meals - The best run pub in town.
On 17th October 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 36 recommendations about 29 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Shay Wake (JD Wetherspoon)
Newly opened JDW on the main intersection in the town centre. It's all one room of course, but there's a dividing section of booths down the middle which make either side of it feel like a separate room. The staff are still finding their feet so the service was a bit shambolic. They were holding a recruiting interview in a quiet area of the pub when I was in. 6 handpumps in use on the bar with the usual suspects and a couple of guest ales, both of which were well kept. It's a decent pub and has improved the choice for drinkers in Shaw dramatically. The prices are a bit above the normal JDW prices to reflect the average price in the town. I believe that this was part of the agreement with the council to protect the other pubs in Shaw. Given the state of many of the other pubs around it, this one is now a must visit when in Shaw.
On 22nd February 2012
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3223 recommendations about 3134 pubs]