The William Rufus in Carlisle - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

The pub was nice and clean,ordered the food through the Wetherspoon app which meant we could order what we wanted Special when drinks are included 😉

Wow, such a little hidden suntrap at the back. Lovely staff, clean and lots of little extras, food was great and drinks were such good prices, 7.98 for 2 gin and tonics !! Thanks

My friend was served an end of bottle, vinegary glass of wine and the staff were very reluctant to change it for a fresh one.

If I could give this place 0 stars I would we have never been here before I ordered the chicken madas it had blood in it come on guys just why the manger Amanda give us our money back she was a legend

Excellent service ( I used the App ) great atmosphere. I'd return often.

As usual very good value for the money. Worth going 👏

Very clean spoons Quick when ordering on the app. Food was very hot. Staff were friendly and polite. Toilets are up 2 flights of stairs.

I got rice and not chips , poor effort, no very clean and the all day brunch my wife got was almost untouched, not be back

As normal with weatherspoons, great value. We found a quiet corner. The service was quick.

Was in carlisle for the races.. clean reasonable priced pub..

Food and drinks both great price. Good atmosphere on the weekend. Quiz on Thursday aswell

Unfortunately, I chose to visit the day England was playing football ! The food was good that day, but I've had better. The service was good. We had the app, so things were delivered to the table. I didn't stay that long.

I called in for some breakfast to The William Rufus on Wednesday 17th July, on the late morning. Service was very good, all of the staff were pleasant, attentive and never stopped working. The staff are a credit to the pub - it was nice to visit a Wetherspoons where staff smile and engage, and after visiting quite a few, I think this is one of the only ones I’ve been to where this has been the case! Food was cooked thoroughly, and I very much enjoyed my traditional breakfast. I was checked back on, and my plate was cleared promptly when finished. Unlimited coffee was good quality, priced very well, and the staff member gave me a fresh mug for some tea after I didn’t fancy another coffee. Which was very kind of her. The whole pub was clean and tidy. I will be back if I visit the area again, perhaps to try the lunch menu this time.

Great pub. Went there before going to Carlisle races and went back there afterwards. Handy for train station. The only drawback was - as with many Weatherspoons - is that the toilets are upstairs.

A struggle by Oliwia to put a round of two drinks together. Nice touch that wetherspoons had later opening hours due to football being on. Nice looking premises.

Normally acceptable here but was very poor. On my most recent visit I had gammon and mashed potatoes, gammon was overcooked and so thin and the mashed potatoes were obviously microwaved and left in to long as it was all stuck together and hard round the edges. 3 eggs but no Pinapple available to order unfortunately very disappointing visit.

Enjoyable lunch. Great service

Noisy sports bar clueless bar staff as in most Wetherspoons if anyone from Wetherspoons ever reads this let me advise them especially the management STOP your bar staff from asking who’s next ask or train them to use their eyes to see who’s next especially if there are only 2 or 3 people waiting

Typical wetherspoons. Staff are helpful and friendly 😊

Cheap drinks , cheap food , what more could you want 😂

We ordered 2 meals had to return both of them due to being cold ,sent them back twice did not what to risk it again no apologises

Nice typical Wetherspoons pub with friendly staff and good service at great prices.

Just ordered 2 meals had to send them back twice they were both cold no apologies for the food

Nice beer and there is an outside seating area. Also nice and clean toilets

The only pub in Cumbria that serves Scottish beer. I enjoyed a Tennent's here which is one of the best Lagers in my opinion.

Nice pub good layout plenty of seats food was realy good

Nice sized spoons, decent outdoor area, you know what to expect from this popular pub chain, and this one delivers

Nothing better than a good ol' people watch in 'Spoons... Arrived 11.000am and started off with a Breakfast muffin and cup of tea. A good half dozen in already having a bevvie. In fact I felt like a bit of a snob waiting till 11.30 to have a jar. Old girl comes in, no messing gets a Stella. 12.00 and the place is half full, bloke with his arse hanging out of his jeans plays the machine, and does allright it seems. Vast array of people, oldies, young 'uns, families etc. Couple of undesirables but probably had that said of me once upon a time. Staff outstanding, literally never stopped any of them catering for the needs of hungry/thirsty punters like myself. I have a great vantage at the table beside the door. I truly hope the Wetherspoons heirachy acknowledge their efforts. Toilets other side of Cumbria. Great couple of hours, and well done staff!!

Family and friends get together as there were 11 of us we decided on spoons, all of us said the food was great, and speedy considering it was busy. 😀

Perfect spoons experience....but with hot food! Helpful, friendly staff, great service.

I'm having a few days away walking the coast path and have eaten here a couple of times. Seems on both occasions to be busy even in the early evening. One critical point though there are not enough bar staff.

It's wetherspoons, so it is already a great place. One disappointing thing is that the reception for wifi was poor, so I couldn't use the app.

Usual wetherspoons , however I rated the service low because the staff seemed to be in a world of their own customers waiting to be served but the staff busy talking with each other and when they finally decide they want to serve I find it annoying that rather serve those who have been waiting a while they serve the one customer who waltzes up and mediately gets served 😡

Never phased,always on the ball. Well done to the Manager and the Team :) Due to my work I travel a lot and visit different Weatherspoon restaurants. This is definitely one of the best in the UK.

Eggs were chewy which is new! A large pub only feet away from another spoons!

Nice Wetherspoons with friendly staff however my warm cookie dough sandwich was cold!😶

Cheap Meals for a Comfy place. Although many people are coming in everybody is polite and the staff were easy to approach with. We both ordered the steak with 5 chicken buffalo wings. It was good!

Usually decent food in this Spoons but the American cheeseburger I had the other day was pretty poor. A sad little burger bun on my plate with the measliest amount of ketchup and what I think was meant to be American cheese. Served with the grand total of 12 chips. Spoons isn't the value it used to be and certainly not with portions like that.

Nice food and a lovely pub. Brilliant staff as well. And of course really cheap

Always enjoy visiting, The food I have had is of an acceptable standard for the price you pay. The wait times are slightly longer than I would like. The service is good. My only drawback is the size of the venue to the staff ratio. They do their best to get there as fast as they can. The atmosphere is always amazing regardless of the time. Great place. Would recommend.

A nice mixed crowd of cumbrians and others enjoying the delights of what Spoons has to offer which in my opinion is value for money

Great prices, great staff. Good wee beer garden.

Busy pub. Good service and great beer.

Doormen make it an intimidating place i rarely go in

Popped in for a drink only, busy, bar lady wasn't exactly falling over with enthusiasm! But we can all have bad days!

Time after time wetherspoons serve lukewarm beans, I'll never buy my coffee till you serve hot food!

This pub is always busy and sometimes the food is great but sometimes it's not. I used to like a sirloin steak from here but the quality has dropped significantly and the staff don't seem to know how to cook a medium steak.

I love this place. Cheap, tasty and atmospheric.

Had a great Breakfast here.i got the large Breakfast and found it big enough for me and I'm a big eater. For once even the beans were quite warm which is a rarety for a wetherspoons Breakfast.will definitely come back.

Eaten and drink in many Wetherspoons....this pub was no different ...Good value food and drink...Well recommended

Excellent food, reasonably priced, served by friendly staff.

Excellent Eggs Benedict and perfect Abbot Ale

Spoons it is what it is, reliable friendly boozer with reasonably priced food and drink, you know what you are getting here, always busy and sometimes hard to get a seat so a popular place in Carlisle. Free WiFi.

Very quick service by friendly staff. Went for breakfast midweek.

Central location reasonable food good value

We went to the William Rufus Wetherspoons on Saturday when we was out in Carlisle and the food was great we enjoyed it and the service was great too!

Excellent it was nice but too busy and not homemade chips

Great pub quiz on a Thursday night at 8

William Rufus or William ii King of England as he was known to his mates died in August 1100. And that, by pure coincidence is the last time the table by the door at the pub was last cleaned. Billy never married or had kiddywinkles leading to many, many rumours swirling around the country at the time regarding his sexuality. Well, it was the twelfth century after all, how times have changed. Killed by an arrow in a hunting accident, he was a complex chappy, right up ‘til he was slaughtered/accidentally killed. I’m going on a bit, mainly because there really is that much to report about the William Rufus as in the actual Wetherspoons pub. It’s a short arrow shot from the Woodrow Wilson up the road and the pubs merge into one entity really. Nice enough, simply average Wetherspoons pubs that do the job and give you what you expect. Just duck when the arrows start flying.

Food was good. Coffee was 5* Recommended.

Service was very quick .very pleasant experience highly recommend

Very good prices and plenty of space. They show sports during the day and music in the evening.

Another Wetherspoons like the restaurant at the end of the universe. Stuffed full of Carlisles finest. Food on the lower side of low. At least the carpet wasn't too sticky.

Food can be variable, tables can be left for some time before being cleared. Being able to chat without background music is good, however, it can get noisy when the fireball is on or the races

Very cheap drinks and food. Massive portions and very tasty.

The food wasnt what we expected and the serice was not the best as the waiter took one of our drinks to a completely different table

Reasonable price drinks good atmosphere

Drinks selection excellent as expected for a wetherspoons but the facilities mustn't have been checked for hours on the day I visited, blood in urinals and similar.

Superb place to spend an afternoon.

Enjoyed a few drinks in here with friends. Quite lively on a Saturday afternoon with sport on the screens creating a vibrant atmosphere. Ales were of a good quality 👌

Great food nice drink and wonderful service 👍

Slow service, waited 15 minutes to get served, and it wasn't very busy?? 4 bar staff working but very snail like service.

Great weatherspoons nice ambience

Food was excellent and the staff were so polite, helpful and overall just brilliant.

Just had a coffee but this is a nice and clean spoons with plenty of seating and TVs.

Takes longer to be severed your beer than it takes to drink it, but on the plus side there are plenty of people to talk to who are also waiting.

Excellent food and drink and friendly service.

Nasty server on shift. Sarcastic and rude

A very pleasant, busy Sunday teatime watching Liverpool on TV. Good choice of drinks at friendly prices (as you expect). It seemed to be shifting change or something, as staff were talking to each other and missing serving a bit.

Used to enjoy coming here and we're regulars, but the last few visits we have not been impressed. Particularly with service! It's a shame as we counted spoons as 1 of our top 3 choices for food and drinks. But we are getting more and more cheesed off with staff and the attitude they carry. I work in hospitality and find the service pretty awful and attitude unnecessary. Also the tables are left uncleared from the previous customer the whole time we were there. It wasn't even busy with customers so couldn't understand why tables are left that long.

Great place to be with friends but I have to say the food could be hotter.

I think that this Wetherspoons pub must be the nicest one I've ever been to! The attention to detail, the cleanliness, the friendly staff... it's just fantastic. Lots of nooks and crannies to sit in, a dance floor and DJ booth, a very good selection of guest ales too! Win win. Thank you to all duty managers and staff for taking such care and pride in this building. We visited many times during our holiday in Carlisle, and were astounded by the cleanliness. A downside? Yes, just one...PLEASE could there be more hot drinks machines? It's a HUGE pub and just having two seems too small.

Great prices and nice cosy atmosphere.

Had the curry, rice and naan...it was alright, nice enough. Missed the chutney because they had ran out. Washed it all down with a cocktail . Staff were very friendly and the atmosphere was pleasant. I'd go again for sure.

Tried to serve a cheese burger to my lactose intolerant friend. Then when issue fixed served the already touched burger to another customer. Then messed up dietary requirements on another burger and refused to fix the issue claiming there was nothing they could do.

Very friendly and attentive staff good food it was better than your normal witherspoons and clean I would definitely recommend to eat and drink there

Great food brilliant staff real value for money they cater for all tastes including, vegetarians vegans and a good children’s menu

Didn't have food just a few beers good atmosphere

I ate dinner here on a visit to Carlisle for work. This is one of two Wetherspoons pubs located on the historic Botchergate in Carlisle. I was visiting solo and used the app as it's easy to use and enables me to order without leaving the table. Food was good and service was prompt and friendly. The pub is sizeable and I had no problems finding a table. Enjoyed a Leffe beer with my mixed grill, which was a good value option as part of the Steak Night offerings. Very happy with my visit.

Staff need serious training in customer relations. Came in for a business meeting. Stood at the bar for 10 minutes, yes I timed it, to get served. Bar staff did not serve customers in order, and were like headless chickens. When I asked to be served I was told sorry I’m too busy. Words were exchanged and then he promptly refused to serve me and then he went out of his way to tell all the other staff not to serve me. One lad who I know was about to serve me and he said don’t serve him he was abusive to me!! Absolute joke, if he can’t take a bit of banter then he shouldn’t be working a bar! Then manager came over and asked us to leave. Totally unprofessional. Will go to the Griffin next time, staff are friendly and not work shy.

Semi decent food great if your kids like Maccy D's fries as that's pretty much what you get very disappointed

Staff are absolutely fantastic Fantastic atmosphere brilliant food

It's a wetherspoons, it was inexpensive and generic, Brexit thing still hurts a bit though.

Does what it does. Lack of bar staff taking orders meant serving person was very efficient but overloaded and it showed. Not her fault. Coffee from the machine surprisingly good and repeats are free! A good experience, but please find more bar staff for busy times? I wasn't in a hurry (waiting for a train) but once ordered food was quick and a good quantity. Cheers!

Not the greatest food was below average asked to. Get table cleaned twice still waiting,

Quick service at the bar. Food arrived very quickly and was excellent. Staff seemed helpful and friendly. Everything was clean.

Warm and friendly staff. Clean and bright surroundings. As always excellent food and prices

Awful barman with very brusque manner. Ordered double vodka monster and got very minimal monster for 4.71!!!

Only had breakfast, but a typical spoons. Always value for money.

Cool place, taste food, Quick Service, New Christmas Menu, Very busy on weekends, Friendly and nice Staff, Outside nice garden, patio, smooking area, close to buses and train station in Carlisle. Only 10 min walks from Main City Square. Bus station- 12 min walks, You need go there and You will be happy and love that place :-) DJ console, party music, sport sky sports and more