Don't Read This! (Whilst You're Eating) (Wetherspoons (Ryde, Isle of Wight))

Member Name: JJJJ

Product:	Wetherspoons (Ryde, Isle of Wight)
Date:	25/02/09 (277 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap Drinks

Disadvantages: Take your pick...

Located on the North East coast of the Isle of Wight, Ryde has its fair share of pubs - in fact, it has more than it's fair share. In the main shopping area 'Union Street' (which is about 150 metres long) there are at least ten drinking venues - equating to one every 15 metres!

Perched at the top of the street is Wetherspoons, also known as 'Fowlers', which was the name of the clothes department store that was previously housed in the building.

Although the clothes shop used to be spread over five floors, Wetherspoons only utilises two. The large open-plan ground floor comprises the bar, a selection of tables and booths, quiz / fruit machines, and the disabled toilets. Upstairs basically works as a space for extra seating, and also houses the other toilets. The décor on both floors is fairly current with modern art adorning the walls.

Now I don't need to tell you about the drinks prices at Spoons because we all know they are the cheapest you can get. Similarly, I'm not going to discuss the food as it's basically the same in every Wetherspoons you visit nationwide. What I can point out is the quality of service from the staff, the cleanliness of the place, and the best times to visit.

Wetherspoons Ryde can be incredibly packed on Friday and Saturday nights from seven to around half ten. At these times it can be pretty difficult to muscle your way to the bar and get served. Also, due to the lure of the cheap drinks, there are often unsavory and chavvy characters in great number at peak times. In practice, this means that if you keep to yourself you should be ok - although I have been in the venue when a fight or two has broken out, which occasionally transgresses into one of those Wild West style mass brawls.

Although it's generally a clean place to visit, a trip to the loos at the end of the night can sometimes be a gross experience. Actually, the staff usually do a decent job of cleaning them up quickly, but once, fellow dooyoo'er and regular drinking buddy 'adambrown400' went up to use one of the cubicles and found the first one smeared with blood, the second one full of vomit, and the third full of... well I don't want to actually go into details of what the third one was full of! - hmmm, take your pick! He also inadvertently entered the toilets once to find one mans mouth clamped around another man's genitals... enough said. (I reckon he goes looking for these things ;)

The staff are usually friendly and efficient, with food being delivered promptly (actually I shouldn't really mention food considering the previous paragraph).

Although I've made it sound like a pretty dodgy place to visit, Wetherspoons Ryde is most of the time a pleasant venue to have a drink. It's a place which gathers loads of different groups of people and there are usually some interesting and amusing characters in the premises.

Due to the cheap prices I recommended Wetherspoons Ryde on the whole, just don't go at peak times if you want a quiet drink.

Summary: Decent pub if you're with the right crowd