Two Wetherspoons pubs in such close proximity might seem a bit much, but at these prices, no-one’s complaining.

The Venue
With glaring similarities to The Central Bar just across the way, this fellow Wetherspoon is another vast, open plan modern box. Be prepared to be underwhelmed by the mix of carpetted, stone and wooden flooring and wood panelling. It’s called The Crockerton, as is this whole area, after the pots - or crocks - of herbs cultivated by the monks of Greyfriars in the Middle Ages.

Opened in 2003, The Crockerton, also called Lloyd’s No 1 bar, now serves cheap crocks of beer and wine to a whole range of punters. The colour scheme used for the exterior is a rather garish deep violet and there are a few tables and chairs on the patio. Inside, there are two roll down screens - one enormous one on the left - and 11 plasma screens for the rugby, or snooker, or darts, or cricket, or whatever sport they can find.

There are raised areas on both sides of the room and the place is decorated in dark pastel colours, with wide copper clad columns supporting the low ceiling. There’s a cash machine in the corner if you run out of money, although prices here are so low that’s unlikely.

The People
Everyone from poor students to old ladies are here and they're all revelling in the shared glory of a beer and a burger for £4.99. The value for money pull is so strong that the Crockerton is even busy at half past three on a grey Tuesday afternoon in autumn. As with all Wetherspoons this place gets busy with the pre-club crowd on Fridays and Saturdays. Watch in wonder as they attempt to swallow as much cheap booze as they can without vomitting.

The Food and Drink
The food menu is what you’ve come to expect from Wetherspoons with sandwiches, burgers and grills. But there are also Welsh specialities such as steak and Brain’s ale pie for £6.90 and it hosts theme nights, such as curry night on a Thursday and grill night on Tuesday when you can get very cheap deals.

On tap you’ve got Heineken, Stella, Foster’s, John Smith’s, Coors and Guinness, as well as Pedigree which is £1.75 a pint, Abbott Ale and Brain’s SA Gold. And in bottles there’s Corona, Beck’s, Peroni, Tyskie and Stella Artois.

The Last Word
It’s not the height of sophistication but Llyods does the job and the punters keep flooding back.