The Glassmaker

Wetherspoons have opened a new pub, The Glassmaker, in Nailsea. Picking up on the available metaphor they have made it very glassy and shiny. One light fitting made out of old bottles is very nice.

The rest is full of tiles and a big glass skylight which I hope gets cleaned regularly. Wetherspoons don't so much modernise a pub as post-modernise it. All the chairs and tables are old and don't match each other. Last night there were too few chairs and people were constantly borrowing and moving them. A central display is made of old books.

The Glassmakers, like most Wetherspoons pubs has no TV or live music. Last night it was noisy with conversation and ramming with people, especially the young. Three bouncers and many 'Are you 21?' badges didn't seem to have worked that well.

They are also cheap. I doubt if the £2.99 breakfast contains any well-treated animals but it is a bargain for the hungry. I gather they buy up large quantities of beer near its sell-by date which they can shift by having so many outlets. I've never had a magic pint in Wetherspoons but rarely had a bad one. Again the beer is cheap. Bath Ales Barnsey was fine but Mrs T's glass of pinot grigio, from a dispenser not a bottle, was horrid.

A good acquisition for Nailsea town centre. I hope it brings life and employment. It may get some tenants into the empty shops nearby. Will pop in again during the day this week and see how it changes. Had a nice chat to a guy waiting for a friend to turn up. Conversations with strangers in pubs is not very common in Nailsea. Hope it continues.

More members of our church communities should be in there. It is the place to be.