The Berkeley

Nice place. Cheap prices. But if you have a friend who talks with a lower voice definitely not a place to be in. Too much noise everytime.

This always seems to be one of the less neat and tidy branches of Wetherspoon whenever I go in. However, if you go right in to the back part you find yourself in a large and more salubrious dining area away from the crowd of professional drinkers at the front. There’s even a rather natty whispering gallery there, a sort of curved stained glass ceiling that seems to amplify even the quietest speech so watch what you say! The toilets are very nice too and only up a short flight of steps. On the subject of food, it may not be generally known that there are price differences between the food menus in different branches of Wetherspoons around Bristol. While the Commercial Rooms down in Corn Street fall under the category of city centre location, the Berkeley does not which means that walking up the hill to here saves you a pound on your curry on curry night or a pound on your traditional breakfast any day of the week. Scots people and Yorkshiremen take note!

This Wetherspoons is quite popular. In the right central location among other more expensive bars and clubs along Park Street, it is always busy. I don’t know many who like going to any Wetherspoons branch, but when you’re already out around this area, and can’t afford a drink more expensive than £2, then this pub gets more tempting! In the midst of all the rising prices of drinks, Wetherspoons can afford taking that hit and keep their prices really low, which garners them many fans.
This particular branch of Wetherspoons is a tad better than others; although when I was there last there was broken glass on the floor of the table we were sitting at. It doesn’t have alot of class and character; but it’s a good place to come to for a cheap night out!

As Wetherspoons go, this is definitely one of the better ones. The venue is truly magnificent and one wonders just how Wetherspoons got it but then I guess they must make an absolute mint despite their rock bottom prices. The Berkeley is a good bet as a starting point for a night out. Situated at the top of Park Street and the bottom of the Triangle it’s hardly a destination pub that you head to to spend a whole night at but if you want some cheap carbs to fill up on before the booze starts flowing and you want £1 a drink booze then you could do a lot worse than come here. It’s pretty massive and there is a lot of seating, it’s never going to change your world but it is what it is.

Spoons is a horrific & soulless establishment but this one is pretty much the best of a bad bunch. If you need a pub to keep you occupied before going on to one of the surrounding clubs then The Berkeley is perfect. It’s location for Dojo/​Lizard Lounge/​Bunker/​Joe Publics is ideal and the cheap pints and huge amount of space in the building help you to turn a blind eye to the deathly blandness of the place.
The loos are pretty well kept and there are plenty of staff, but for me a huge part of coming to a pub is for the atmosphere, and The Berkely is not just lacking in it, it will make you feel as if you have been sucked into a black hole.

Wetherspoons seem to have a knack for finding beautiful, historic buildings and turning them into really ugly pubs. This isn’t the most heinously decorated Wetherspoons I’ve stumbled across but it still has a chain tackiness about it and general lack of character.
That said, one thing I do enjoy is the sense of freedom — the fact you can pick pretty much anything off the menu without feeling guilty about it. You want a double bombay sapphire? You can have it. Usually I think longingly about a decent, strong gin until reason gets the better of me and I settle for a house single.
Wetherspoons doesn’t have a music license which in my book is a major minus point. It’s also uncomfortably packed at the weekend. At the end of the day, Wetherspoons pretends to nothing more than to offer cheap drinks. And that it does very well.

It is perpetually the end of term in The Berkeley, it must be the Wetherspoons prices that makes everyone so happy and packs this place full of students pretty much every night.
Wetherspoons pubs are always located in very grand old buildings that should give each pub a very different, elegant feel & style, but they are always very much the same and certainly not this; like your granddads living room if it was full of two hundred screaming Bristonians and hoards of drunken medical students, the carpets are brown and dusty and the furniture is cheap and generic.
Despite all this everybody should go to a Wetherspoons, it’s certainly a rite of passage growing up in this country; to have one in your home town that you grew up in and now avoid because you hate everyone in your home town.
But I have some great Uni memories (or lack of) from this ‘Spoons as I imagine most students would. So grab one of the huge tables, get all your mates round it and start playing ‘I have never’ as you plough yourself with the bargain booze.
What more can you say than, it’s very cheap, very busy and you better be wearing your drinking hat.

OK, let’s state for the record that I absolutely hate Wetherspoon pubs. I hate the chain because it destroys good, old fashion, local pubs that have been standing for donkey’s years (like The Horse and Groom in Cardiff, which I will forever mourn the closure of).
However, my mum is a huge fan because she absolutely hates paying through the nose for food and, as she likes to buy me lunch when we go for a day out, and as she’s a pensioner with no bottomless purse, and because I love her very much, we always head for a Wetherspoon’s when we’re out on ‘day trip’.
So, there I was, after falling head over heels for a gorilla in Bristol Zoo, in The Berkeley, in Bristol, on a rainy Friday in March with me mam, me sister and mam’s best friend. It was packed. Mostly students, with loud voices and even louder laughs, but this was no bad thing. It was nice to see people out enjoying themselves in an era of newspaper doom mongering and money-​pinched times.
The building, like with lots of Wetherspoons, was fantastic — high ceilings and a domed stained glass window in the middle of the main seating area. Got chatting to a woman at the bar who told me she used to go dancing with her hubby in there, back in the day. She loves going in there now and having a beer and thinking of what used to be. Made me stop and think for a minute.
I went to the bar with our food order and was told, by a barman who looked like he would bite your hand off if you offered him five minutes sit down, that i could certainly order food, as long as i didn’t want anything grilled or roasted and could pay in cash. They were living a nightmare; the card machine was down, as was half the kitchen. The barman looked at me with eyes like the cat off Shrek. They said ‘please help me!‘
Luckily, we didn’t need a grill and I had enough cash on me, courtesy of my mam.
Anyhoo, to cut what is becoming a very long story short, we had bacon carbonara, cheese and pickle ciabatta and two cottage pies with chips and four teas for £17.45. SEVENTEEN POUNDS FORTY FIVE! I can’t get a round of drinks these days in Cardiff city centre for that! OK, the food wasn’t spectacular and the garlic bread that came with the carbonara was at least two days old, but hey-​de-​ho.
For cheap food, a decent atmosphere and getting out of the rain, a bit quick, then this is OK.
Plus, got to hand it to the staff — they coped with the wall of obstacles with good humour and professionalism, which is more than can be said for some swankier places i know and don’t love.
Also, the sign at the till made me chuckle: ‘Apologies to customers, but we cannot accpect credit cards today’.
Well, if you are in a Wetherspoons, you’ve got to look for the silver lining somewhere.

The Berkeley is every inch an archetypal Wetherspoon’s pub. The building itself is huge and stately, but its interior has been decked out to accommodate to the modern needs of contemporary punters. Due to the venue’s unsavoury lack of windows, artificial lighting of varying colours is employed here, and doesn’t make for the greatest ambiance. Despite the roominess of the place, if you’re inclined towards claustrophobia I’d suggest you avoid The Berkeley. Not only is there no natural light, but it can get stupidly packed here — especially during weekends. However, if you happen to be passing by on a week day, and are feeling the sting in your wallet but fancy a good nosh up and a pint for under a fiver, this place will sort you right out.

I’m fortunate enough to be able to say I have never been here for an evening which, judging by the previous reviews seems to be blessing! But I have been in a couple of times during the day, lured in by the temptation of cheap lunch and a pint of Strongbow. Sadly it doesn’t get any better during the day.
When I tell you it’s a part of the Wetherspoon’s chain, I’m sure you’ll draw your own conclusions — it’s a bit of an old man’s pub. But in a nice way (if that’s possible!) Whenever I go in, there’s a group of old boys by the window, downing pints and laughing heartily. The food is often cold, sometimes frozen in the middle, but for around £5 including a drink I feel I can hardly complain.
Not worth a visit for a warm lunch — you’re much better off visiting Boulangerie for the same price.

Crowded and lary and a little bit scary, The Berkeley isn’t the loveliest pub in the world. Make sure you don’t stand too close to the girls tottering around with pitchers of cocktails — it might end up down your front.
I shouldn’t be too disparaging. It’s wonderfully cheap. Wine in particular, which comes out of a tap here, is very modest. It’s cavernous (in fact it’s pretty impressive they manage to fill it up every evening, probably a testament to how willing people are to compromise if the price is right). The business is good, especially if you’re having a few here before going to a more expensive club. With all that said I can’t honestly recommend anywhere where the floors are usually sticky by 9.30. It could be worse, but it could be a lot better.

I used to spend pretty much the early part of every Friday and Saturday night here when I was about 17 (er, sorry, 18!), and that of course doesn’t really come as a great recommendation for most people!
Basically, this is a Wetherspoon’s pub, and that should tell you all you need to know. It’s got all the familiar elements, no music, cheap booze and cheap food (my compliments to the microwave) — and the type of clientele that attracts. Being objective, it’s certainly not the worst Westerspoon’s I’ve ever seen, I suppose; you can sit towards the back which offers some respite from the crowds.
Basically, if you want to get trashed for little money in the Park Street area, then this will be your kind of place, but if you’ve got any sort of money/​self-​respect, then there are literally hundreds of better options in Bristol.

Another Wetherspoons, and this time it’s a good rating! Great location at the top of Park Street, and makes a change from the other more expensive retreats in the area. The Building is great, with a lot of room for seating and eating, the usual Wetherspoons menu is as always standard, but good value. This place is a great place to meet at the beginning of the night to get a few cheaper beers/​drinks before you move on to a slightly pricier club on Park Street.

Ideally placed just across the road from Bristol University, there are so many possible excuses for paying it a visit.
Whether you’re tempted by a Pub Lunch, are killing time before/​after/​during a lecture, or are just looking for a nice place to read the paper that isn’t a Coffee House, this J D Wetherspoon pub does nicely. Yes, the pints may not always be top notch, but there are good ones; and many worse to be found elsewhere.
Oh but they’re all the same and have no character I hear Anti-​Spoons scream — just have a look at the Whispering Gallery in the back, a feature found in only a handfull of pubs in the UK.
All in all a perfectly fine place to go — especially if it’s quiet. And who knows — you might even bump into a StormTrooper like I did! :D