please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Staff still efficient, I had a Millstone 'Raspberry Wheat Beer' a decent ale.
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The Spa Lane Vaults was my preferred Wetherspoon's in Chesterfield. It has a more modern interior than the Portland Arms. But it seemed to be more popular with diners, it's much bigger inside than it first looks, meaning plenty of seating and the ale and cider range was good - Greene King Abbot, Ruddles Best, Derventio Barbarian, Beermats Diplomat, Amber Ales Revolution, Welbeck Abbey Cavendish, Sharp's Doom Bar, Weston's Old Rosie, Cock Eyed Pear Mania & Snail's Bank Rhubarb Cider. As with the Portland Arms, there were a few families in.
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Quite a nice pub, staff are efficient. Small smoking area at rear. I had pints of Bradfield Farmers Brown Cow [smooth & tasty] and Lincoln Green 'Sherwood' [which was a nice beer].
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My first pint in Chesterfield and with the White Swan not opening until noon I made my way to this modern looking 'spoons a few doors down.
2 bar staff having to deal with a fair few punters at the bar, why do Wetherspoons never have enough bar staff in? To be fair though the duty manager was very good and was able to serve a few customers at once.
13 hand pumps with a varied selection of ales with 3 from the current International beer festival. I stayed local and opted for a pint of Kelham Islands' Wild Rider @ 5.5%.
The pub is an L shape that's carpeted almost all the way throughout with netural decoration on the walls. Fairly bland but certainly not offensive. The majority of the punters were 40+ during my visit.
The Wild Rider was very good and the pub offered a shelter from the increasingly heavy rain that was falling.
Police van parked outside as football was on in town...the reason I was here of course!
A decent start to the day.
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Visited on a Friday night, the pub itself is surrounded by Chesterfields gliterratti discoteques, and upon entering encountered some of the future stars of said discos. Nevertheless it has to be said that for a small town on a Friday night this was quite an enjoyable experience with a good mix of age groups and friendly clientele. My visit coincided with a W'spoons beer festival, great choice including Moons @ 6.0% £2.15 a pint and Abbots Confession @ 8.5 £1.49 a half, a couple of those and you'd confess to anything- a tip for for Yanks at Guantanamo.
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An adequate but not hugely distinguished Wetherspoons, where other pubs in the town centre (and especially out on the Sheffield Road) are a better bet.
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superb pint of milestone raspberry wheat beer quaffed(�2.35),nice interior especially the very cute supervisor who served me!8/10
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Never had a problem in here. Friendly staff and customers, plus decent selection of beers on.
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Called in on a saturday dinner, there were quite a few in, and we had never been in this one before. We got a beer and burger, they let me have one of the real ales, but it was a bit vinegary, so I took it back. To there credit they were full of oppolegy and changed it for another, which was very good, the staff seemed friendly enough, toilets were ok, and the customers seemed pretty normal. The place was ok to us, despite what some revues say.
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Not one of the better Wetherspoons pubs, most of the seating is in one big open-plan area at the back which does nothing for the atmosphere. Plus I've tried to eat here a couple of times over the last few months and the service has been extremely slow.
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Called in here on Wednesday 16th Sept @ 4.15pm. There were possibly at most 10 people in drinking. We decided to have a change from the usual beer & ordered a Jug of Cheeky V, the jug was made up behind the bar & wasn't even stirred... When we asked if they had anything to stir it with we just got a "No" Now i find it had to absorb that a bar doesn't have a stirring impliment? also that they couldn't go into the kitchen & get a spoon.
Thinking on my toes i asked if we could have straws (Thinking i could use these to stir) i was told they didn't have any straws either,
Now call me cynical but you would have thought that a bar with only 10 punters in would not have run out of straws or stirring impliments on a quiet wednesday afternoon. Or was it a case of the member of staff getting out of the wrong side of the bed & not being able to be bothered? I was going to mention this to the manager on leaving but soon realised that the person who served us was the Duty Manger!!!
Do yourself a favour & miss this one out.
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There's no point JDW crowing about how cheap their Ruddles is if there's none available. Disappointing but not unexpected.
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Another standard Spoons place. It's hard to top the ones in Derby though!
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called again recently for saturday lunch.
A lot of "bloke" groups in, due to the local football I think. It was quiet though, and we stayed for lunch. Had the beer & burger option. I think there were about 8 cask ales on offer. The landlord let me choose a cask ale instead of the fixed list. [Incidentally this happens a lot in the jdws I've called at. You only have to ask!].
***
the food arrived after a reasonable time, and was the usual. Basic but good value.
***
re : "pints weren't topped up - even after asking they still weren't satisfactory"
Can't say I've had this problem when I've called. Reckon it could be an individual staff problem.
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The choice of beers was ok but it was the W'spoons beer festival and I expected better. Some of the hand pumps had beer clips diplayed for beers which weren't on yet so we ingnored them, then found from someone else that they had been on for some time. Confusing. We were going to eat there but despite the pub being nowhere near even half full there was a 45 minute wait so we didn't bother. The bar staff were overstretched and one of them undertrained. The pints weren't topped up - even after asking they still weren't satisfactory but they were so hopeless we just took what they offered. Disappointed.
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Called in here for 1 and stayed for 2 this afternoon. Was pretty quiet as previously mentioned but very clean and tidy inside, one of the better Wetherspoons that I have visited. Only 2 guests were available which was a little disappointing but the Derventio Barbarian was fantastic and made up for this.
Sharp - 16 Oct 2008 20:55 |
one of two jdw's in the town. located just over the road from chesterfield's new vicar lane shopping precinct. this is another quite smart looking building, half brick, half timbered. I don't think it has its own parking, but there is plenty available nearby.
***
the entrance steps lead down into a larger area with tables & chairs. theres a longish bar, with a few cask ales to choose from. prices are very good [the usual for jdw]. This pub is smaller then the portland, and does not seem to get so busy in the day.
***
the standard jdw menu is available. we've had the fish and chips here, which is not bad for the price. service was good.
***
verdict:
we were satisfied with the prices and quality of food and drink. quieter than the portland, your more likely to get a table here at peak meal times.
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Monday night is obviously a quiet night in Chesterfield, with quite a few bars and clubs closed (and even a couple of the pubs). As a result, this is the emptiest Wetherspoons that I have ever been in, with about three customers in total. Several interesting beers on, and cheap as usual.
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