Foley Arms Hotel (JDW)

Just occasionally Wetherspoons really surprise and this was certainly a case in point. Presumably it was quite a grand hotel in a previous life and it maintains reasonable grandeur with the new owners. Neat and tidy throughout, there is a veranda with a grand view, clean and comfortable. There is a decent range of beers available with some local beers. There are plenty of staff, really helpful. Good all round.

We visited here with my mum and Keith last week, actually on Saturday 17th September to be precise. The Foley Arms is located fairly centrally in Great Malvern and occupies a fairly high position altitude wise so as others mention if you sit out on the rear patio you are probably 600-700 feet in height here and so get great views right out to the long ridge of hills which denote the Cotswolds rising above the Severn Valley. This is a Wetherlodge as it is an old hotel, actually it’s worth reading some of the history on this place scattered around and about particularly on Lady Foley who sounded an interesting sort but not the type of person you’d mess with. So the layout is bar off to the LH side in a separate room on entering toilets straight ahead downstairs (just for a change, never on the same floor as the bar in a Spoons eh?) if you walk through the bar the patio is at the rear.

Beer choice was good, a couple of large banks of taps offering a good wide ranging selection but we opted for the Craft choice and went for the Six Point Resin. They seemed to carry all of the Craft stuff that other JDWs offer and prices as ever were good.

The clientele here was not your normal Spoon types, let’s face it, we’re in Great Malvern so expect to see a few ’look at me type’s, yummy mummies with oversize push chairs, husbands with collars turned up and plenty of chatter about property (from the mums) and rail links to London and when might be a good time to cash in and move.....yawn...

I rather liked this Spoons, I suspect that the gorgeous weather, being able to sit on the patio and great views played a big part. One to return to if in the area.

Good selection of beers with many changing "specials" Busy bar good prices

It’s a wetherspoons. Stay in the hotel, which was nice. The usual good selection of guest ales. It also has great view from the patio. Over all a bit better than the average.

Set at the top of town this is a plush Wetherspoon in a grand building suitable for the hotel purpose it also serves, especially if you get a room facing the rear as the views across Worcestershire are wonderful. If you’re not paying for a room then the pubs rear patio offers the same view. Inside is comfortable too with traditional soft furnishings of this chain and window seats for the aforementioned view are available. There’s a number of rooms to sit in and the bar area occupies a large part of one of them. Real ales on two rows of pumps.