Manchester Trip : Great Central JD Wetherspoon Pub
Another complete absence of photos here, I really must have been distracted during this weekend. Anyway, we weren’t quite sure where to go for breakfast, so for the 592nd time in a row, we decided to go to a JD Wetherspoon pub and we opted for this one in the Fallowfield area. The breakfast is on the lowest price tier here, so a traditional breakfast and coffee came to under £4.40. Bargain.
The pub name does rather sound like this is a central Manchester pub, but it’s located a couple of miles to the south of the city. The chain gives the reason for the pub name:
“The railway reached Fallowfield in 1891, with its station opening on 1 October. The following May, the Great Central Railway line was extended to Sheffield. Edward Watkin, its general manager, wanted to link Manchester/Sheffield with the expanding continental European markets. The station closed to passengers in July 1958, but the railway line stayed for 30 years, used by freight trains. This pub is on the ground floor of a retail/residential block over the railway lines.”
The pub felt a little generic in terms of the building, it’s not historic and so there’s a limited amount I can imagine they could do. The service was though friendly and we were able to sit near to the coffee machine and also near a power point, so that was a win as far as I was concerned. I don’t get out much….. The breakfast was as expected, I’d like crispier bacon, but I’m not going to complain when the breakfast is £3 and especially when I got a runny egg just as I like it.
The on-line reviews are generally positive and towards the upper end of the scale for a JD Wetherspoon outlet. Talking of breakfast requirements though, they got a 1/5 review stating::
“Raw bacon and sloppy egg, never will I dine here again, kitchen staff are teenagers that don’t care, avoid at all costs”
I can see from the photo that the egg and bacon are cooked as I would expect, so you can never please everyone. On which subject, Richard had his Eggs Benedict to show off his wealth to the staff and I think he was content with it.
“Divert this place. Staff are unfriendly and never smile, people rolling around on the floor which I take are regulars. A drunk pensioner was still getting served after falling over three times”
This is the sort of thing that my friend Julian positively looks out for in a pub as he likes a bit of excitement.
“Fight broke out, no bouncer there to break it up. Went on for about 5 minutes before glasses started to get thrown. Had smashed glass hit he on the back and land in my drink before having to head for an emergency exit. The positioning of the emergency exits is ridiculous there was no way to exit the building without passing uncomfortably close to the fighting. Disgusting that this happened at 8pm there was a baby sat at the table across from us. Never again.”
I think that’s a bit too much drama even for Julian.
“Terrible..the staff were very rude and refused to serve a group of pensioners but would give no reasons only they had drank enough..they only had 2 each. They were there to have a family celebration celebrating there brothers 70th birthday ..absolutely disgusted”
I can imagine numerous reasons why and I can imagine they were justified….
“Put the wrong table number manger very unhelpful would not replace the drinks even though we had spent about a £150 that night”
Don’t put the wrong table number 🙂 I’ve never done it, although I remember when Richard ordered to the wrong pub.
“Nothing more than a glorified old pub”
Seems a positive to me, but it came with a 1/5 star review.
“The atmosphere seemed interesting so I sat there and asked if it was possible to eat there, which was confirmed to me. After 30 minutes of waiting feeling like I was invisible, I ended up going elsewhere. Obviously very disappointing.”
I see these from time to time, this was a French customer (well, the review was in French, so I’m making a logical conclusion here) and they were expecting table service.
“There is no window and the air is too bad”
This is a review in Chinese, and I can confirm that there are windows….
“Visited this bar as we were flying from Manchester airport next day , stood waiting to be served drinks at bar for 20 mins at least only to be told they only serve from the middle …….. The bar staff are ignorant and only serve people first that face fits , we then eventually found a seat as to order food only to be greeted by the none smiling miserable faced barmaid we had earlier , I ordered burgers only to be told there were none left and if I need to go back and ask my girlfriend what other food she would like I would lose my place and have to stand again in line in the middle . I ordered something different and yes it was brought relatively quickly for this reason only I give two stars , my honest opinion is if your 25 and under them yes this is the place for you only because you go to college or university with the staff , me I’m 48 and was made to look like a fool when the barmaid talked down to me , obviously wasn’t brought up with good manners .”
Customer thinks staff are ignorant. Customer is confused why they don’t engage back.
Anyway, I digress. We had a little debate about where to go next and it was unanimously decided by me that we should go to a National Trust property. Everyone seemed very pleased.
