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You appear to have cheap and convenient mixed up with eating out somewhere specia
No, that’s my idea of eating out. If I want cheap and convenient I go cheaper and more convenient than a Spoons and pick up a £3 supermarket lunch meal deal to top up the calories and carry on doing whatever I was doing. Or have taken a packed lunch or calories in a packet of some sort. Going into somewhere and sitting down to consume calories is all about the experience to me. The experience of the food and the experience of the venue. If it does not pass my benchmark I see no point in ‘upgrading’ from calories on the go and wasting time out of my day going somewhere that involves sitting down.
No, just your impression of it.
Which is all anyone of us not in Spoons’ marketing department has. Clue is in the ‘I feel’ - who knew the English language adds some much context to sentences.
Beer prices are interesting though. I’m assuming they manage it by putting huge pressure on the breweries to sell to them cheap.
I'm led to believe (though I don't know for certain) that there's two factors at play.
First is the power of bulk buying, same as how Tesco will get better prices from a distributor than a corner shop would (and how the notion of glorious post-brexit trade deals is demonstrably bobbins to anyone with half a brain).
Second, because 'Spoons are almost always large venues with high footfall they can sell beer faster. So they can negotiate deals on short shelf-life beers that regular pubs won't touch because they'd wind up throwing half of it away.
No, that’s my idea of eating out. If I want cheap and convenient I go cheaper and more convenient than a Spoons and pick up a £3 supermarket lunch meal deal to top up the calories and carry on doing whatever I was doing. Or have taken a packed lunch or calories in a packet of some sort.
I’m not sure what friends would think on a day out for a few drinks when I suggest going to the park to eat our packed lunch.
Picnic in the park sounds lovely. You must live in a proper shithole if Spoons is genuinely a nicer proposition 😂
Eh?
I’m not sure what friends would think on a day out for a few drinks when I suggest going to the park to eat our packed lunch.
Have you told them the other option is Weatherspoons?
Disappointed in this thread. Was expecting more 
Me and the Mrs love a spoons to be honest. We always sniff one out when staying away for weekends etc. In fact we had breakfast in one today .
I can honestly say we've never had bad food or drinks in any of them and no-one can argue with the prices ,can they?
I also like what they've done to some of the old buildings that would be boarded up and derelict otherwise.
I can't stand Tim or his politics, but we don't ask the political views or voting intentions of other shops , restaurant ,manufacturers,etc owners before we spend our money with them.
Have you told them the other option is Weatherspoons?
No need when you’re stood in one and someone suggests we ordered a few snacks, not once has someone said “ we should have our packed lunch.” There has been suggestions of maybe going somewhere else though but again not a £3 lunch deal.
pick up a £3 supermarket lunch meal deal
I can never understand why folk don't go to a decent independent sandwich shop and have a lovely fresh bread cake with tasty fillings and a glass of corporation pop to wash it down 🙂
Screw Spoons
I can’t stand Tim or his politics, but we don’t ask the political views or voting intentions of other shops , restaurant ,manufacturers,etc owners before we spend our money with them.
Some of us do actually but guess I am in the 0.0n% that actually gives a shit. I wouldn't knowingly support a person such as Tim Martin by adding to his profits.
Wait 'til HtS sees this.
He'll go galactic!
Personally, I think they are dreadful. The one near Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester makes the Mos Eisley Cantina look like a Home Counties grammar school.
Crammed with red faced men in brown V neck jumpers; deploying ham sandwiches as pillows as their glazed eyes surrender to sleep.
I’m led to believe (though I don’t know for certain) that there’s two factors at play.
First is the power of bulk buying, same as how Tesco will get better prices from a distributor than a corner shop would (and how the notion of glorious post-brexit trade deals is demonstrably bobbins to anyone with half a brain).
Second, because ‘Spoons are almost always large venues with high footfall they can sell beer faster. So they can negotiate deals on short shelf-life beers that regular pubs won’t touch because they’d wind up throwing half of it away.
Believe what you want cougar. There's an actual brewary owner on here who told it like it is rather than a bow they think it is having been through the negotiations.
I believe he declined their deal in the end. And it was nothing to do with short life or it was simply we are big and will pay X. Knowing X was pretty much cost price - but we will also buy your entire stock and you end up unable to sell else where to make a profit.
It’s corporate price driven competition killer stuff, support independents instead of that Brexit idiot.
I was waiting for someone to mention supporting independants.
Obviously you only support independents who agree with your Brexit view? Or don't you agree with the 'price driven corporate killer' bit?
I can’t stand Tim or his politics, but we don’t ask the political views or voting intentions of other shops , restaurant ,manufacturers,etc owners before we spend our money with them.
The difference being, all of those other places don't use their outlets for political grandstanding and propaganda dissemination.
Believe what you want cougar. There’s an actual brewary owner on here who told it like it is rather than a bow they think it is having been through the negotiations.
I believe he declined their deal in the end. And it was nothing to do with short life or it was simply we are big and will pay X. Knowing X was pretty much cost price – but we will also buy your entire stock and you end up unable to sell else where to make a profit.
Fair enough. Cheers.
No need when you’re stood in one and someone suggests we ordered a few snacks, not once has someone said “ we should have our packed lunch.” There has been suggestions of maybe going somewhere else though but again not a £3 lunch deal.
You are talking about a completely different scenario to the one I was thinking of. You had already set your threshold (low) electing to drink there. Once done, going the whole hog and eating there too would seem a valid rabbit hole to go down. I was thinking about being out and about with friends, family or alone - shopping, seeing something etc and electing to voluntarily step in specifically to eat. As said, it just wouldn’t happen. It would either be mobile calories or into somewhere that cooks better than at home.
The one near Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester makes the Mos Eisley Cantina look like a Home Counties grammar school.
Yes but the whole of Piccadilly Gardens is like a scene from a zombie apocalypse (apologies to the food stalls, some are rather good).
I used to partake of a Spoons breakfast when working on a Saturday and quite enjoyed it. Also Mrs. Slow and I would sometimes pop in for a chilli and a pint. The beer, although cheap and of a tolerable standard, is not as varied as it might be for such a champion of real ale. The enormous increase in small, locally owned and run outlets selling a wide variety of fantastic ales makes Spoons now look a bit tired.
You are talking about a completely different scenario to the one I was thinking of. You had already set your threshold (low) electing to drink there. Once done, going the whole hog and eating there too would seem a valid rabbit hole to go down. I was thinking about being out and about with friends, family or alone – shopping, seeing something etc and electing to voluntarily step in specifically to eat. As said, it just wouldn’t happen. It would either be mobile calories or into somewhere that cooks better than at home.
Pretty much what I said in my first reply to you.
I was thinking about being out and about with friends, family or alone – shopping, seeing something etc and electing to voluntarily step in specifically to eat.
There's thousands of different scenarios about what, how and where we eat. I've done the Tescos meal deal, homemade packed lunch eaten in the park, car, office, boat, campervan ect, ect. Eaten in greasy spoons and Michelin stared restaurants. And yes had a pint with a meal in a Spoons, it all depends on the time and place. Sticking your nose up at Spoons but more importantly people who use them makes someone an insufferable snob, and that isn't a good thing.
Some of us do actually but guess I am in the 0.0n% that actually gives a shit. I wouldn’t knowingly support a person such as Tim Martin by adding to his profits.
Fair enough, good on you, perhaps I should give it a bit more thought in the future
'Spoons is what it is.
That is to say is well priced beer and drink that's reasonably well looked after and well priced food that's generally perfectly edible, though hardly sophisticated. It's also very, very consistent, and that is something of huge value to many people when visiting places they normally wouldn't. And the toilets are always, always bloody miles away.
If you want great food, made by proper chefs and micro-brewery beers from local artisans then there are clearly much better places to go. If you want a reasonable pint and a quick bite then you could do a whole lot worse.
And yes, the owner is a prat.
The difference being, all of those other places don’t use their outlets for political grandstanding and propaganda dissemination.
Fair comment,but personally I've never paid any attention to the propaganda ,never even noticed it to be honest,I just use them for a cheap breakfast,and the odd drink.
I don't take any notice of the shit in most of the papers or on the BBC either, but I appreciate that obviously many do.
Only issue I have with 'Spoons is the knobbish owner. Beer's cheap, food is cheap but plentiful and perfectly acceptable, and they keep interesting buildings as they are. Much to admire, apart from the knobbish owner - we vist them rarely solely because of him, and I resent every penny I put in his pocket.
I’ve never paid any attention to the propaganda ,never even noticed it to be honest,I just use them for a cheap breakfast,and the odd drink.
I suppose everyone's moral 'red lines' would be different. I don't doubt that some folk might be quite happy going for a cheap pint in a place with pro-Nazi posters on the walls and "drown all the gays" beermats. Others might not go in places where they don't like the colour of the carpet.
For me, personally, Tim Martin went too far and crossed a line that I could no longer tolerate. As such I decided that I could no longer bring myself to spend money in his establishments. YMMV.
Great place, cheap plentiful food and booze. Might pop in later on my way to buy a Dyson.
If being a snob is not liking the filth they sell in there then I must be a snob.
Filth? Na, you're not a snob mate, you're a tosser. 😂
Great place, cheap plentiful food and booze. Might pop in later on my way to buy a Dyson.
😂
That's actually a pretty good example.
I own not one but two Dysons, one from years back and a post-referendum cordless. I do not have a great moral dilemma over that because they didn't turn up covered in "leave now" stickers and lies about immigrants.
They certainly fill a niche, staying in Neath for the Afan BNES this year was pretty much only place to get a sit down meal, spent the evening watching rugby teams getting messy and as for the local large lasses drinking the 'sharing' cocktail jugs as tho they were a pint of beer.. 🤪
Last one I went in was Farringdon after the work Xmas do, was grim as you'd expect, harshly lit, cocky bouncers, dodgy clientele and possibly the most unpleasant pint of ale (doombar) I've been served in a pub, cheap as you like, but when there are so many much much nicer pubs nearby, won't be back any time soon. (It helps that the owner is a massive tool)
Fwiw I also won't be buying a Dyson thanks to Mr stains politics , again it helps that mieles are better
I guess you can’t have a problem with that unless you elect to not shop in a supermarket too
No, that's quite different, theres hardly any competition to what, 6-8 main supermarket brands, there is only one Wetherspoons and many independent or brewery owned pubs.
I was waiting for someone to mention supporting independants.
Obviously you only support independents who agree with your Brexit view?
I wasn't anticipating this, because it's stupid, unless you hav a list of all pub owners and their political views?
Or don’t you agree with the ‘price driven corporate killer’ bit?
Im not into either, that's why I stated both.
My inlaws (DM reading, brexit voting, still talks about ****s retired types) love a spoons however.
What's this got to do with it? Plenty of people go to a wetherspoons who aren't like this!
The food is pretty decent for price and the beer is about as cheap as you will get in a pub due to buying power at the scale which wetherspoons can order.
I managed a wetherspoons for 5 years and really enjoyed it. Hard work, but great for meeting people. You would be hard pushed to beat the atmosphere in the commercial rooms in Bristol on a Friday or Saturday night back in the late 90s/early 2000's. Pubs now are either way too loud with music or are just some kind of wanna-be posers bar where beer is 9 quid a pint.
The food was mostly frozen or quick to prepare but about as decent as you would get from places nearly double the price. Coffee was prepared using a proper bean to cup Brasilia machine and was crazy cheap. The curries were usually award winning back then, not sure about recently. Tables and such were regularly cleaned and the buildings were always well maintained and nice to be in. Haven't been in one for a while now but have they really gone downhill that much?
No but Masterchef et al, combined with the proliferation of identity politics has created a boom in insufferable amateur food critic social commentators. Wetherspoons is to them as a trangender fox is to the daily mail. Its very existence torments them.
Thing is, like trail centres, Strictly, MacDonalds etc its ‘cool’ to profess a distain for ‘spoons on here.
Pizza Express of pubs.
I had a pizza and a chicken tikka masala with all the trimmings + halloumi fries on Friday. All perfectly acceptable. But that's not saying Kuch as up till recently I spent 6 months a year living on chicken + rice or rice + chicken
How ever I wouldn't preferentially go there as I do have much better options for eating closer to my house.
How ever in my home. Town the pickings are slim and as above weather spoons has at least given a good sized venue to head to ..... A big issue in my youth pre weatherspoons was "let's meet at X pub" to arrive at the pub and find it so rammed it was no fun.
It's gone full circle it seems all the small pubs shut down but they have started reopening with USP.....one has a gambling license and does weekly poker nights , the pool league has been rejuvenated. Darts , dominos, quizzes basically land lords are having to work for their money . Those that do appear to be rewarded with steady local clientele.
I wouldn't give Big Tim a singe cent.
Joey Holts and JW Lees boozers are still reasonably priced round our way.
Haven’t been in one for a while now but have they really gone downhill that much?
Unsurprisingly perhaps, it varies quite wildly between venues and locations IME.
The places themselves are pretty consistent but they attract a large volume of scumbags in some areas, doubly so since 2016 for some ephemeral reason that I can't quite put my finger on. My local Spoons has gone from being a nice place for a quiet pint to being the Mos Eisley Cantina in the last five years or so.
I was down in London for my work Xmas night a couple of weeks ago and we ended up in a spoons after our lunch. Can't remember which one but it was next to the bank of England as that's where my office is.
Spoons was the only place we could get in as every pub was rammed.
Went to the bar with one of my colleagues. He was getting a round in. He got half way through the order and the barman told him to stop, he wasn't getting any more drinks for him as there were other people waiting to be served.
Abysmal customer service. I finished my drink and left. Cheap or not, I'm not supporting that.
Joey Holts and JW Lees boozers are still reasonably priced round our way.
I find Holt's ale to be pretty universally mediocre, but JW Lees pubs are a bit of an overlooked goldmine. Both kinds of beer, bitter and lager, on tap for like £1.50 a pint or something in city centre Manchester, that's hard to argue with.
Im not into either, that’s why I stated both.
Do you ever use Esso fuel CynicAl? Or do you support indy petrol filling stations?
(getting back to your 'support the independent' quote)
Sam Smith's pubs provide a good value alternative to Brexit Tims dives in that London, beer better quality too
Some genuinely really interesting views on here.
Really interested to hear that the "moral red line" has been draw regarding 'Spoons and Brexit and that some people are reluctant to even set foot in the place.
I wonder if a similar "moral red line" can be drawn when it comes to bakeries and Colin Greggs conviction reported in the press in 2017?
Sam Smith’s pubs provide a good value alternative to Brexit Tims dives in that London, beer better quality too
Apart from their lagers which are disgusting and their stout which is minging too.
I wonder if a similar “moral red line” can be drawn when it comes to bakeries and Colin Greggs conviction reported in the press in 2017?
I had no idea about that!
If he ran Greg's I'd probably never shop there again, but he's in prison where he will die and was a schoolteacher, not a sausage roll maker