The Cooper Rose - JD Wetherspoon

You know what you're getting with a Spoons, but this one on Albion Place manages to rise above the usual carpet-and-chips mediocrity. The building itself has character - high ceilings and decent natural light make it feel less like a chain pub dungeon than most. The breakfast menu from 8am is genuinely useful if you're stumbling around the city centre early doors, and at these prices, you'd be mad not to. Evening crowds are the usual mix of pre-theatre punters heading to the Empire, office workers, and dedicated regulars who've claimed their corner tables. Staff keep things moving efficiently, and while it's never going to win awards for atmosphere, it does what it says on the tin without making you feel actively depressed about it.