The Picture House - JD Wetherspoon — Restaurant in Wales

A REVIEW FOR WHEELCHAIR USERS / MOBILITY IMPAIRED :

This is quite a nice place, with decent cheap-n-cheerful food, and even a bilingual Welsh food extra menu too 😊 The decor is nice, and it's in a former Edwardian-built Picture House (old-style cinema), established in 1914.

As a wheelchair user, it's a tad difficult to manage to get around, but hardly unmanageable. It's situated in a building over 100 years old, after all, but they've done well with what they have, to a point.

Firstly, the way in for wheels and those who are mobility-impared is not even signposted along the outside — it's actually down what seems like a random alleyway (can be seen as a rather scary one, in the dark, but it's actually fine), and one too easily missed.

The alleyway is just before (or just after, depending on your direction) the “The Picture House” glass awning above.

The sign for it is (currently, anyway) covered by a hanging basket. It's hard to see, so I have posted pics of it and what to look out for. It also slightly slants upward on a slight hill.

Once you get in there, it has a hand rail along the wall, and the lights come on as you get further along. It's even easy to miss the lift door once you're in there, and when you do find it, you might be put off again by the rather rickety-looking push-button platform lift (you probably know the ones...!). It's small and looks rather... well, rickety, but it's pretty reliable. I trust it; I've already used it several times quite happily, and I would (probably will do!) again.

Push through the lift door once you're at the top, and right there, on your Right Hand Side, is the disabled toilet. It uses the Radar Key lock. Inside, is a pretty efficient bathroom, with good handles, sufficient space, and even a Yellow Bag Bin because it's also for babies. Transferring was simple for me, and I liked the cushioned backrest it has, too.

As someone who has ASD (Asperger's/Autism), it was also noteworthy that that had a paper towel dispenser as well as a horribly noisy air flow hand-dryer.

Inside the restaurant itself, it's not too difficult getting around. There's space enough. However, the problems I found were a couple of small niggly ones:

Most of the tables downstairs were of the very tall kind, with tall chairs to go with them. Only a few were nornal-sized. In quite difficult-to-reach corners. The rest of the normal ones were up the stairs. It seemed rather unfair towards us wheelie-people, and rather biased towards people who had legs and were able to go up the stairs, if they so wished to... 🤔😒🤨

It was also unfortunate that the coffee / tea (etc) dispenser machine was at the other end of the bar to the wheel-friendly tables, meaning I realistically could not get my own coffee... For how was I really going to manage to take a basic white coffee cup, full to the brim, all the way back to my table at the other end of the place? Evolution hasn't quite caught up with the needs-two-hands-just-to-move reality of wheelie-people carrying things just yet...

Otherwise, I really quite like this place. I'm used to the little-bit-scary alleyway now, and the lift. I like the food, and the staff are nice; they don't even seem to notice I'm in a chair, which some light not like, but I love it. And I have a mouth and the will to use it, if I require anything.

It's cosy, homely, and generally quiet unless there's a happily-animated person or group, and there's never been any trouble or rowdiness here. It's comfortable, and I have sat, with my company alongside me, for long periods and simply relaxed and enjoyed myself here, not too dissimilar to how I used coffee shops back in London. I like that about it — the comfortable, laid-back ambience of it there.

I would definitely...

I needed the loo more than anything. I'd signed in though so I ordered a hot chocolate and a ginger muffin at the bar. The cake and mug was brought to the table with a chocolate cube on a stick. I had to put the milk in myself at a nearby machine so I took my phone purse and keys with me as there was nobody to watch my bag. I had to go to the bar again to pay by visa card. Three times wandering around the pub. I thought it was total table service? The covid safeguards were in place and staff were socially distancing from customers and each other. The cake was nice but the milk in the machine ran out. Although it was replaced when I asked it to be what came out was not hot but warm at best. A bit of a disappointing drink, but glad of the loo it was nice and clean in there. Tea and coffee refils are free but it's not clear if you could ask for another hot chocolate. You would need to get another chocolate drink cube to make it you've guessed it.... from the bar. Prices as ever with Wetherspoons are very competitive. Staff here were limited yet polite and friendly.The three I saw seemed to be run off their feet. Thanks to them for trying to do their best for Tim Martin's...

It's ok for a drink, but the food can be very hit and miss. One time you'll go there and the food will be great, while other times it won't be so good or something will be missing from the order. With their food prices going up, I'd expect their food quality to be higher at all times as well. That isn't always the case though, which is a shame.

Edit: I'm editing my review based on a terrible experience tonight, and knocking it down to 2 stars. My fiancée ordered the skinny steak, medium cooked. It came, and the steak was rare at the most. It was taken back to the kitchen, and came back out about 1 minute later. It was still rare, so was taken back a second time. At this point we thought they'd cook a fresh steak, but they brought back the original steak for a third time. By this point, the steak looked like it'd been dragged down the road and back again to heat it up. On tasting the abomination which my fiancée had been presented with, we both agreed it was now unfit for human consumption. We did get a refund on the steak, but it had already ruined my...