As a long-standing member of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, I have mixed feelings about the JD Wetherspoons brand. But ultimately, if I had to pick a side, I’d have to say that I am a fan and I will speak in defence of Wetherspoons.
Wetherspoons: The Bad
First, let’s take a look at some of the reasons why KD Wetherspoon gets a bad rep…
Tim Martin, the founder and chairman of Wetherspoons, is a Marmite character. He’s built the biggest pub empire in the UK but he’s also divided opinion by supporting Brexit and supposedly saying that his pandemic-furloughed workers could get a job in Tesco – the latter has been misconstrued but stuck in people’s minds.
Spoons has also been touted as the pub business that has put pressure on and killed off independent pubs. With its “stack ’em high, sell ’em cheap” model, it may well have forced many standalone pubs to fold.
That other divisive figure, Nigel Farage, has also been seen in Wetherspoons, usually chugging an unsettled pint in an attempt to show us how ordinary he wants us to think he is.
And then there are the memes and the general apathy – JD Wetherspoons gets a lot of stick.
Oh, and the shares don’t pay out a dividend, if I’m not mistaken. Someone once said to me “You come here so often you should have shares in the place!” and so I did buy a single solitary shareholding just to partially say that I do.
Wetherspoons: The Defence
But despite the negative press and some elements of the public refusing to ever set foot in a Spoons establishment, I personally rely on the chain.
As a CAMRA member, I prefer to support independent pubs wherever I can. However, the cost of living crisis, rising bills, and pay cheque that doesn’t keep up with the rate of inflation have all left me in a position where I have no choice but to frequent Wetherspoons.
Every week for over a decade I used to visit my local independent. But affordability has cancelled those visits. Ever since the pandemic, JD Wetherspoons has been my chain of choice.
Now, I can get a pizza and a pint of Leffe Blonde for just over a tenner. It used to be less than that, but inflation has pumped up the prices. But at least I get a strong beer that I enjoy, and a freshly-baked meal for a very affordable price.
Of course, yes, I see rowdiness and trouble in Spoons, but where have I not seen that in the past in other pubs?
Wetherspoons is alright, and until the bills are smaller and the pay packet better, I’ll still be in there every week.
Wetherspoons Pub Checklist
One more cool thing about the Wetherspoons chain – there are something like around 800 pubs, and each one has a different carpet design by all accounts. That’s not the key reason why I visit but it’s nice to keep an eye on which ones I’ve been to.
I’ve always wondered if I could visit every CAMRA pub in the country or every Wetherspoons. And the official list is OK, but it’s just a PDF that has to be printed off and physically ticked. So I’ve been creating an online version that you can add a tick against and some notes too.
I’ll be publishing it very soon, once I’ve road tested it and can access it on my phone from the pub. I want to make sure it works, works well, and can be cloned and used. In fact, it’s just a Google Sheet for the meantime, so I may try and build a proper webpage with logins and everything… watch this space.
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