The Chief Justice Of The Common Pleas in Allerdale

Restaurant prices in Kewswick have gone sky high since the pandemic, with even pubs charging £20 for lunch, so I decided tp try The Chief Justice for a meal. As this is a Wetherspoons, it's national pricing, so is considerably cheaper than most other places iin Keswick, and beer prices are half what you'd pay in other pubs., with a large range of real ales for £3-4 a pint. The caveat is the food is nothing special: I bought an 11 inch pizza that was OK, but for £11 you don't expect a gourmet experience. One thing I did like was The Chief Justice was a former police station and magistrates court and many of the original features have been retained. Also the pub was spotless and the staff friendly. Basically this is a middle of the road place to eat, but if you are on a budget in Keswick, I'd recommend this pub.

Had to clear the table before we could sit down. We’d manage to blag one of the cells in this former police station and magistrates court. We ordered the food and drink on the app. One loft of food came long before the other so the first batch was almost eaten by the time the rest of the order finally came. We were sat for over an hour chatting but there was no effort made to clear our table or the ones we could see outside of our cell. There appeared to be plenty of staff so that’s not an excuse on this occasion. Giving this review an average mark as the food was quite warm for a,’spoons. Plus the novelty of eating in a room that until fairly recently was a proper cell was a pretty cool experience.

Fun way to dine with kids as you can sit in the courtroom or the old jails. Always reasonable, decent food.

Beer prices that take me back to my youth.

I sat outside and waited 90 minutes for food nothing came out, went inside and asked for the food and went back outside, still no food. I got asked about what I ordered 5 different times the staff took notes and took pictures of the order and still never got my order. I asked for a hi-chair for the little boy and never got it from the first waiter I had to ask for it again. Shocking customer service when it is busy they can’t handle it. Our table had the order all mixed up missing items and we got the wrong food 4 different times. people came after us and ate and left and we were still waiting. At the end I left without having my food.

Nipped in for dinner whilst on holiday and thoroughly enjoyed it, good food, good beer very busy but enjoyable.

It's a wetherspoons. It's the same as nearly every other wetherspoons (although perhaps harder to find a seat)

Quirky and busy, food was great , atmosphere great, good selection of drinks

Typical wetherspoons, you get what you pay for. Value for money.

Really not a good experience, food was very poor, sadly could not recommend, woukd definitely not return

Cheap drinks / food Good atmosphere

Great selection of cider and a very nice fish and chips . Staff wonderful.

I love weatherspoons and I used to like this place but tonight it was dirty and understaffed. We had to clear our own table and there were piles of dirty plates and food everywhere. The pub itself is running a limited menu so you can't get a decent weatherspoons meal. It's either burgers, salads or lite bites, nothing substantial. If environmental health walked in, they would shut the place down immediately.

Didn't have a good experience with my first time at a Wetherspoon pub. It was a busy day so they said food was 30 mins late, ended up being later than that, service only happens when you go to the bar and ask what's going on. When we did get the food it was not great anyway, wife's burger had practically nothing in it except a patty and a thin smattering of sauce. They were kind when dealing with polite complaint though and the lemonade that came with the food was well sized. Overall though, I won't go back, don't think they'd miss my business with how busy they are anyway. Will think twice before trying Wetherspoon again.

We wandered in about 6pm on two consecutive nights. The place was full, most people eating but it was not dirty/untidy. Friendly. chatty staff.Good service. Great beers (a white stout! first time for me) Ridiculously good value. Would imagine it gets very busy later in the season but for us it was a great place to have a couple of drinks before dinner.

Very disappointing breakfast this morning. 7 of us eating here this morning and nothing was very warm apart from the porridge that one of us had ordered. Won't be hurrying back for food.

Keswick high street, wonderful place to visit.

The staff are amazing.so pleasant and friendly,considering how busy the pub is. Made our visit so much more enjoyable.

It is what it is food ok and good beer, interesting place for food and drink will be back

Called in to see what it was like wow stunning features from the courthouse to the police cells. Nice atmosphere very very surprised of our meal, the chips was hot fresh and burger was nice. I was expecting a Wetherspoon and definitely recommend

Had breakfast with two friends today, staff were pleasant and food reasonable as sadly the food was only warm and was cold before we finished. So will not be rushing back anytime soon.

Dining in an old courthouse, you can even choose to sit in one of the prison cells, class, Usual weatherspoons hike to the loo.

Lovely place to enjoy drinks and food

Reasonably priced drinks in busy pleasant pub.

Always use spoons just brilliant value I will be back for sure

Clean gets busy as in tourist area food good

Food is fine and atmosphere is great,staff lovely,prices for alcohol on comparison to other pubs in keswick is fantastic no surprise it's always busy.

Another Spoons taking an old, well used building and giving it a new taste of life. Good selection of good priced ales, much cheaper than all surrounding pubs.

Average in every way. There are much better Wetherspoons with more welcoming staff. Usual good prices for food and drink. Cask beers were good. Good value for Keswick.

It’s always busy so there’s a decent atmosphere. It’s absolutely freezing though, put some heating on, we all had to sit with coats on which isn’t ideal when eating. Great location and cheap. Staff are friendly.

I Have Visited MANY Wetherspoons Both Up And Down The Country, And On The Whole Enjoy The Vast Majority, However Have Found The Only Exception Being The Justice Of The Peace Based In Keswick, Where The Majority Of Times Have Found Them To Have Ran Out Of Foods Or Drinks On Their Bar Menu! With My Most Recent Bad Experience Being Today 20th Dec 24 At 12.30pm, When Was Told By Bar Manager They Had No Turkey Christmas Dinners, With Crazy.Reason - "THEY HADN'T BOTHERED TO TAKE FROM FREEZER, BECAUSE NO-ONE WAS ORDERING THEM!! Which Especially At This Time Of Year, To Be.Ridiculous! PLEASE GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER JUSTICE OF THE PEACE MANAGEMENT, ONCE AND FOR ALL! A VERY ANGRY 'FORMER" Attendee....

Standard Wetherspoons. Cheap and good beer selction

Excellent weatherspoons. Rapid service , hot food and clean tables

Called in for afternoon drinks, plus breakfast the following morning. A very interesting building, with quite a history behind it. Plenty of seating, drinks at the usual prices, breakfast hot and delicious. Clearing and cleaning tables certainly didn't seem to be high up on their list of priorities, had to ask for some to be cleared near us due to the awful smell. Staff seemed to be generally miserable, apart from the guy who served breakfast, who was friendly and helpful.

It’s a spoons so love or hate it, expect cheap low quality food and drinks but it doesn’t let dogs in so 5 stars for that alone.

Lovely place . Friendly and polite staff . I will definitely be visiting again. Just a lovely , chilled environment.

Unbelievebley low prices no wonder its busy but get served straight away would save a fortune if lived here.

What you'd expect from wetherspoons ( amazing cask beers and food served quickly and at super prices). Bonus of being ten minutes walk from Dertwenwater in the lakes.

Visited for breakfast whilst visiting Keswick. Fantastic old building packed with history. Service spot on and clean inside. Will be visiting again next time we're in town.

What a tremendous pub this is ! A converted court room and cells makes for an interesting experience and all this with the excellent Wetherspoon vibe.Top!

I stayed in keswick and went to this place and within 2 hours of eating I was violently poorly it was obviously the food I'd eaten there as I had been hiking all day and hadn't eaten anything anywhere else. The pub isn't the cleanest

Friendly and efficient staff. Great selection of beers at great prices. Very busy but i always found a seat. Great place for pint or two.

Lovely helpful staff, food was prompt and at the perfect temperature, not too hot and not lukewarm. Gutted I didn't take any photos. I had cod, chips and mushy peas, defo recommend it.

Food was ok. It's basic pub grub. Service was good and quite quick but food was only lukewarm not hot. For ease and quickness it was fine.

Clean and tidy. Food was good, wide range on menu, including options to upgrade drinks in meal deals.

Food was hot and fresh, even though it was very busy☺️. In a very nice area and town.

Dirty furnishings, slow lousy service, filthy cutlery, and rude miserable staff. It’s obvious that customer satisfaction is worth nothing here, presumably because most visitors are tourists so no return business to worry about, but tourists are still human beings who don’t want to use filthy cutlery, wait 20 minutes after food arrives to get their drinks, or have their order thrown down on the table without a word by an obviously very unhappy member of staff. Food was actually very decent for the price, just a shame about everything else.

Wow ,what an unusual place ! Lots of history of the law courts,central location in Keswick with a large council carpark next door

If you want cheap eats and drinks and Keswick with no frills, and I mean no frills, then this is the place. Menu is the standard Weatherspoons offerings and the staff are doing their best. Overall though it feels cheap and the food is bland. Drinks are a bargain though.

Dropped in on 1.99 a pint, can't go wrong, good breakfast the following day.

Busy in the pub but service was quick. Food was hot and freshly cooked.

Good old spoons. Never fails .Good pub grub. As with all spoons pubs the table had not been cleared. Do it myself.

Always good value but some of the items on my breakfast were stone cold.

Really enjoyed the Korean chicken. The ales on offer for ale festival very poor. The Ruddles very good.

Didn't manage to get served. Only two people behind the bar during the beer festival. Waited over 10 minutes then gave up. This was at 4.45pm our bus was at 5.30pm so we wouldn't have time to wait for service.

To be honest, we've called in a few times over the years and have always received good service, food, and drink, all at a great price. You can't fault the place.

You know what you get from a Spoon's. The place was clean and tidy and the beer was good.

Ordered a drink for my grandmother as celebrating a big occasion, ordered a drink which she wasn't able to have due to the lack of professionalism from certain members of staff refusing to serve it. Didn't even offer something as an alternative therefore I've lost money which meant a lot to me. Meanwhile my pizza that I ordered took over an hour to arrive I was a loyal client to this establishment and now I'm never coming back again Thanks, nans crying now

Food was of poor standard if I knew the burgers were so small and greasy I wouldn't of bothered.

Food good, didn't have long to wait. Only negative point is that the toilets were upstairs and with me having mobility issues, it was inconvenient

We popped in for a coffee and got served quickly.

Excellent venue, always assured of a great meal at very reasonable prices. Attentive staff, nothing is to much trouble. Highly recommended.

In the last 5 days we've eaten 4 times here. ( Breakfast, 2 X lunch, evening). As we had parked in the public carpark just behind ( Bell's Close) we decided to pop in for a late breakfast, not expecting too much. We were pleasantly surprised. The vegan breakfast and bacon butty hit the spot. Especially at the good value prices. The bottomless refills of tea (twinnings - including decaf - great!) and Lavazza coffee..again lots of decaf options.. were very welcome. On our subsequent visits we enjoyed the new ramen bowls, jacket potatoes and various side dishes. Found it unbelievable that adding a gin and tonic (britvic mixer, not from a hose) added only £1.50 to the meal +soft drink price. We were there at busy times. We found the wait at the bar acceptable. The food came quite promptly. Exchanged cutlery twice and a mug because not fully clean - but that happens elsewhere. We found staff pleasant, chatty and helpful. I'd happily return in our next visit and recommend. For the price it offers very good value.

The food was very good but and pizza served on a cold plate so within minutes the pizza is cold. They were short staffed I believe, only 3 staff for a large pub.

Typical Wetherspoons. Reliable coffee and comfy seats. Value for money. Quite a tidy place with an unusual layout. Large beer garden. Handy for parking and main shopping areas.

All good nice atmosphere drinks were alot cheaper than others places round there and staff were ok too

It is Weatherspoons, don't expect amazing food. However they have guest ales for very sensible prices (£2.97). If you like ale then I'd recommend this over paying £5.60+ for ales at nearby pubs. Lots of seating but the building is a maze. Can feel crowded

Didn't have food just drinks. Love a pub in a building with a bit of history. Worth a visit just to see the old cells but with a good range of drinks at great prices, it would be rude not to try some. Staff were very friendly which adds to the relaxed atmosphere.

Good food, good value for money plus good menu, friendly staff 10/10

Great weatherspoons. Food was really good and wonderful staff!

Called in for breakfast, good food , warm welcome, and value for money.

Not one of my favourites ,not enough staff to cater for the people coming into the pub ,long ques for food and drinks ,plates and empty drinks left on tables.

Beer!& now Leffe!&cheapest boozer in Keswick! Still the biggest and cheapest bar in town,and hey op £2.70 a pint!,£5 uptown same beer tastes better when ure paying less!

Typical Wetherspoons restaurant/pub. Good pub grub and reasonable prices. This particular outlet was difficult to negotiate with the wheelchair due to there being too many tables and chairs in the dining area. We have had quicker service elsewhere but we enjoyed our meals and drinks. Wheelchair accessible for only part of the premises and what seemed to be a large number of high chairs and tables which are not suitable for disabled customers. Disabled toilet clean and modern. Plenty of parking in the town centre car park including some disabled spaces.

The prices are very low, don't know how they can make money. Fast service, good food.

This is a Weatherspoons pub. Cheap booze. Promotional days. Fish chips and mushy peas, barcardi and coke only £12.85

Fantastic food here 😄 with a bottle of wine

Visited for a hot drink while in Keswick. Very busy as it was holiday season even though it was a very wet day. A big Spoons that used to be the old magistrates court and police station and has various different rooms to dine in aswell as drinks. There are even old police cells to enjoy your meal in which adds to the magic of the experience of eating here. Didn't venture into the garden area as it was very wet but with ample parking behind (pay & display) it is a great spoons with loads of character

Keswick has needed a good stable eatery and this is it.. been visiting for 20yrs and never had a favourite place to eat as businesses tend to change hands a lot from year to year. Has become very familiar and comfortable now as our visits more & more frequent, it's the weirdest.. you can sit in a jail cell or in the courthouse wondering about the rogues that got sent down there.. strangest Wetherspoon's we've been to but love it!

I am a huge lover of Wetherspoons, I live their prices, you're never disappointed with the food as it's cheap and cheerful! I have never been to one that's disappointed me u til now! Omg what a complete shambles! Waited nearly an hour for a pudding, when it came it was freezing! Cookie dough with ice cream, the cookie dough is meant to be warm/hot, so it clearly hadn't been prepared correctly or was just sat. The pints of dark fruit were flat. I'd of understood if it was busy but it really wasn't. But now I can see that people prepared paying extra and the other pubs in the town were packed! Let's hope the next wetherspoons is better!

How many terrible reviews does it take for the management to make changes. Price is not everything. A smile & a hello would go a long way. The look on the barmaids face turned my beer flat. I reiterate it’s called hospitality industry for a reason. You need to be hospitable. Poor very slow food service. Worst spoons in the country by a fair margin.

You can't beat the place for price or good variety of beers.

It's a spoons, consistent and if you need to check a review, you've never been in one!

Great service, Very pleasant efficient staff. Happy Customers !

It is a good building, very interesting to see the cells and court room, the staff were great and the food was as expected i paid less than £5 for fish and chip Brill

Spot on lovely place well worth a visit

Sat in the outside area and had a wonderful lunch here. The food was top class and the service was quick and efficient. Very impressed. The only thing I would comment on is on the nets around the outside seating area. I know this is designed to keep seagulls out I imagine, however there was a crow that was trapped inside and kept flying into the nets and very distressed and could easily cause injury. It was just cruel to see him so distressed and we could see that several other tables of guests felt the same.. I think you should really consider removing the nets .. or at least the sides of the nets and just keep the net across the roof area. to prevent this happening.

Usual Spoons very busy Tables piled high with empty plates & glasses. Wouldn’t recommend I think they have put prices up too.

Great outside if the weather is good

Spoons, does what it says, good food, good beer, good price.

Great for stopping and filling up before journey.

Can't beat a spoons for a good selection of drinks, and food

Visited on a Sunday morning for breakfast which as a chain I have found that the chain do consistently well. This was the worse breakfast I have had. The few staff they had were rushed off their feet abd the food was cold. 2 stars because service to order at the bar was quick and the building is unique.

Come here today for breakfast we waited over 30mins for it, wasn't to busy by then was cold they forgot some of my order so had to go looking for someone, I would of sent it back but we had already waited long enough, my son had his kids meal that was hot but it seemed the breakfast sat under the lamps far to long, can say wouldn't go back for breakfast again.

Service was poor the tall women (manger?) was huffing about everything, was loud and abrupt with staff and customers alike giving a poor atmosphere. Took ages for tables to be cleared so the place looked dirty. Even when tables were cleared there were not properly wiped. Items from meal missing, only small items but generally in other establishments this would be mentioned. Not disabled friendly, several parts are inaccessible if in a wheelchair. Menu prices more expensive than other spoons. First time here and would not come back. I was expecting better.

As Wetherspoons go, this is one of the best I have been to! It was once a magistrates court and has been cleverly turned into a pub, still with some of the holding cells! It is worth a visit to see the building and the history and of course to stop off for an obligatory pint! Only shame is that it is not dog friendly.

Was hoping to get the grilled chicken, but they are sold out. So got the fish and chips instead. But the fish is dry and thin. Definitely not recommend. We had to clean the table ourselves to sit.

Great spot for food in Keswick while everywhere else is loosing track of how much things cost this Weatherspoon's house is on track. The quality was great the service fast and drink cold what's not to like.

Gorgeous building, and as always, you know what to expect from spoons

The food was not as described or advertised. The staff were unfriendly and I had to ask for my drinks as it didn't come before or with the food. The new Korean chicken didn't come with coriander and chilli as described and advertised. The American Cheese burger didn't come with red onion as described neither. Poor quality food, poor service. I am really disappointed.