The pub is named in reference to the village’s many historic wells
A general view of Heswall, Wirral(Image: Liverpool Echo)
A coastal JD Wetherspoon pub located in Wirral has been named among the best branches of the pub chain in the entire of the UK. A list of the top 10 was compiled by analysing Google Review data for more than 800 Wetherspoon locations in the UK.
Among the best in the UK is one Wirral pub which has been open since 2022. The Prense Well branch of Wetherspoon is located at 1-5 The Mount on the site of the former Exchange Bar in Heswall, Wirral.
The pub scored highly with customers and its overall review rating was so positive that is was ranked among the best in the UK, according to new research.
The Prense Well in Heswall(Image: Google)
It ranked eighth out of the whole of the UK, with 55.40% of five star reviews overall. And it’s not the first time the pub has been recognised among the best in the country, having also earned eighth place last year in 2024.
The pub is named in reference to the village’s many historic wells, with Heswall having been served by the Hessle Well, the Pin Well, Lightfoot Well, Rosebank Well, Bank House Well and Far Well. The Penns, or Prense, Well seems to have been one of the main wells, on Telegraph Road, a stone’s throw from the former Exchange Bar, on what is now the Costa Coffee/Domino’s Pizza forecourt.
Hessle Well House’s boundary wall has a plaque stating that the well closed in 1891. The Heswall Wetherspoon pub is open seven days a week from 8am until 11pm.
The Bishop Blaize in Manchester is the UK’s best-rated Wetherspoons, with 60.34% of its Google reviewers giving it five stars. Royal Victoria Pavilion in Ramsgate is second, with 58.48% of reviewers giving five stars.
The research, conducted by Suomicasinot, analysed the Google reviews for over 800 Wetherspoons pubs (including hotels with pubs) in the UK. For each location, they calculated the percentage of reviews which gave five stars.
Those with the highest percentage of five-star reviews were revealed as the best Wetherspoons in the UK.
These are the top ten highest-rated Wetherspoons in the UK:
- The Bishop Blaize – Manchester (60.34%)
- Royal Victoria Pavilion – Ramsgate (58.48%)
- The Caley Picture House – Edinburgh (57.82%)
- The Greenwood Hotel – Northolt (57.80%)
- Stick or Twist – Leeds (57.13%)
- The Golden Beam – Leeds (56.71%)
- The William Adams – Gorleston-on-Sea (55.53%)
- The Prense Well – Heswall (55.40%)
- The Velvet Coaster – Blackpool (55.07%)
- The Buck Inn – Northallerton (54.97%)
Markku Kanerva, a spokesperson for Suomicasinot, said: “It’s clear that the north dominates the ranking, with just three southern locations in the top ten. While many of the top ten venues are located in major cities, like Manchester and Edinburgh, it’s interesting that some of the most loved Wetherspoons in the UK are in smaller towns, like Ramsgate and Heswall.
“With over 800 Wetherspoons locations in the UK, anybody is within reach of one, whether you’re in a big city or a small seaside town.” The ECHO recently compiled a list of the 21 ‘best’ pubs in Liverpool, based on ECHO readers’ nominations in an online survey.
The ECHO regularly profiles some of the city’s best pubs in our ongoing series of pub profiles, written by the ECHO’s resident pub expert Dan Haygarth. This series aims to get inside some of Liverpool’s most historic venues and find out what makes them unique, by chatting to the staff and customers who keep them going.
You can read about the 21 venues that were named the best by readers here.