Thanks sbob and P-Jay. It’s ridiculous that alcohol is being served at 9.00am

Au contraire. It’s of great benefit to the overnight cyclist.

Fair enough, I’ve long since had you down as a bawbag.

I’m afraid you’re going to have to speak English if we are to continue this conversation. 🙂

It’s ridiculous that alcohol is being served at 9.00am which is presumably down to local licensing laws giving permission.

There was a massive list of constraints given to allow ‘spoons to open in my home town.
All of them ignored.
I can only imagine money changed hands.

Imagine that, a barman knowing folk by their actual, like literally, their names!

Chain pub barmen knew Geoff wanted a pint of Carling at 9:02 – I was impressed.

I don’t think i’ve ever been in a Wetherspoon pub, not to my knowledge anyway. The thought of going into a pub at 8am just doesn’t sit right with me.

Same with the airport – was in MAN this morning, getting breakfast in the bar (well it was that or BK), full English & a cuppa , loads of people hitting the beers and it’s only 7am. Eeeuuuwww

There is a wetherspoons near to me. Never been in and never will. Beer is half the price of my local. It hasn’t taken any trade from the decent pubs ‘cos its shite. Might have taken some folk from the fighting bar over the road but given there is over 30 pubs within a mile radius there is plenty of room for a pub selling stale beer cheap. I’d rather a nice pint in a proper pub.

Owner is an utter bawbag

A pub is a public house, someone’s home where you are invited in to enjoy a drink and maybe a bite to eat perhaps around the fireplace or other cosy surroundings.

Ha ha, okay, maybe in your head it is.

I don’t think i’ve ever been in a Wetherspoon pub, not to my knowledge anyway. The thought of going into a pub at 8am just doesn’t sit right with me.

They’re open in the evenings too, you don’t have to go for breakfast and an eye opener.

A pub is a public house, someone’s home where you are invited in to enjoy a drink and maybe a bite to eat perhaps around the fireplace or other cosy surroundings.

Perfect description of the 2nd closest pub to me (I live next to a Beefeater 😭), set back in a row of terraced houses – you could easily walk past and not notice it. It’s got a really friendly vibe.

Nice of all the middle class types to self-identify on this thread.

It’s a chain of pubs. Like Amy other chain of outlets you can’t generalise as there is too much in the hands of the management, staff and clientele.

The saddest was some bloke who looked like a geography teacher who had a basket full of (pocket-sized) quarter bottles of vodka

One of my IT tutors at College used to wash down his lunchtime kippers with a 35cl bottle of whisky.

Chain pub barmen knew Geoff wanted a pint of Carling at 9:02 – I was impressed.

A chain pub is still likely to have regulars depending on its location and the barstaff dont move around so you would get to know them (even someone as crap at names/faces as me manages it).
Owners approach has put me off more than a bit (if he is going to mix politics into the actual business then I am going to do the same if he kept it separate be different).
That said Wetherspoons do deserve some credit for their approach to bringing some disused but historically important buildings back into use without completely wrecking them.

One of my IT tutors at College used to wash down his lunchtime kippers with a 35cl bottle of whisky.

At one of the pubs I worked in had a teacher from the nearby public school. Think he generally did four pints in an hours lunch. It was entertaining every now and again the older kids decided to see if they could get a beer in. Used to watch them come in and spot him before beating a hasty retreat. Those teachers working for the public sector spent their evenings trying to catch up.

Wow there’s some reet stuck up their own arse folk on this thread. Took both my kids and wife to breakfast last Saturday to the one on angel street in Sheffield, no doubt much to your horror we’d stayed in a lowly premier inn the night before, couldn’t afford the Hilton. Thankfully we all got out ok without being glassed or having an early morning pint.

Not being snobby about it, I just didn’t know Geoff drank enough Carling at 9:00 for the bar chap to know his name and early morning tipple of choice. No question of bother in this place, many of the early morning crowd were anaethetised by lunch time – I know I was. 🙂

You can’t beat a bacon sarnie and a coffee for 1.99 or whatever it was when last there; so good I got another one in.
Only place open at 7am after a Bivi and need loo etc.
I don’t know why people knock it.
Actually I do, snobs.
It’s not the best pub in town but it does a job. I wouldn’t go to harvester for a slap up meal.
They could open up the pub for breakfast and restrict booze until say 11?
I bet some on here that complain about boozing in Wetherspoons at 9am do it on a flight out to holiday.

Ha ha, okay, maybe in your head it is.

My head must be even bigger than I previously thought because that’s exactly where I’m sat. 🙂

Thing is, for a lot of the older clientele the local ‘spoons is probably their main social hub.
They sit and chat to their mates most of the day before clearing off home before the evening crowd come in. Just like going to the social club or the WMC or the Labour Club or the council run social centre, only those places are often no longer there.
If you sit and nurse a pint for a couple of hours, maybe having 3 or 4 during the day and possibly something to eat too at least you don’t have to pay to heat your crappy retirement flat, or the home that’s felt a fair bit lonelier since the kids left and the Mrs passed away.
You might be staring at the same 4 walls all day but at least there are people there who know who you are and actually want to pass more than 4 words with you.

Best Spoons ever… Reading about 7-8 years ago for a xmas do, all meeting at 6 in the Spoons ….. had to wait outside in snow while they cleaned up after a stabbing.
That was I night when I should have just not had a drink and gone home.

Love ‘spoons, the one in Keswick has saved me a few times when I’ve been scratching round the town looking for a hearty breakfast at 8am and nothing else has been open.

It’s cynical early opening to catch the local 8 Ace has beneficial side effects for us hungry outdoorsmen!

The one in Glossop is really nice too, I think they avoid carpets now to avoid the ‘moon under the water’ fly paper effect

I took the missus ,perhaps ill advisedly, to the one on market st Manchester a few Saturdays ago for a quick drink, she was disgusted. But that’s one of the old skool ones. She probably expected me to take her to a classy establishment but I wanted cheap no frills

Don’t know about the rest of the thread, but it struck me that “8am in Wetherspoons” would be an excellent opening line for an extra “2018 vintage” verse of Piano Man.

That said Wetherspoons do deserve some credit for their approach to bringing some disused but historically important buildings back into use without completely wrecking them.

Last spoons I was in was on Monmouth High Street. Massive old 17th century coaching inn. It was full of people getting a quick bite and a drink while just passing through. So a bit like what the building was meant to be used for in the first place.

I doubt anybody but Weatherspoons would have been able to make a commercial go of a place like that.

They won’t serve you before 9am in my spoons. That’s when the rush is.

…a premise for an improv group. 8am in wetherspoons, and lord Lucans walked in and what’s that he’s holding an amusing prop of some kind. He wants to discuss PPI with zsa zsa Gabor

Been laughing away at this thread especially derek_starship’s post, really entertaining. Having never ventured inside a Wetherspoon I do feel I’m missing out so where’s best Dahn Saaaarf?

Try the ‘spoons in Bath – right next to the cinema (I think you’re outside Bath somewhere?)

“8am in Wetherspoons” would be an excellent opening line for an extra “2018 vintage” verse of Piano Man.

^ Very good.

It’s 8am on a Thursday
The regular crowd shuffles in
Waiting for the Post Office to open
so they can cash their giro’s in
They’re nursing a pint pot of Carling
To while the hours away
While some bloke on a bike, who slept rough last night
Has Eggs Benedicte and bottomless cafe

So sing me a song I’m a Wetherspoons man
Red faces and brexit all round
But the beer is dead cheap, and it’s warm for a sleep
And a bacon roll costs just two pound.

mattbe + 1

In the past I’ve used plenty of Londons ‘spoons during the day as my unofficial site office. They provide a valuable social hub for some. Some of the ‘spoons in London also seem to be quite tolerant of the local homeless people coming in for a warm and a drink. Due to the owners political stance I have stopped using them but on a local level I think they give much to their local community and many of the staff are nice thoughtful caring people.

Wow there’s some reet stuck up their own arse folk on this thread.

Just a bit, I’m reminded of that famous clip of John Cleese discussing ‘The Life Of Brian’ with some stuffy old-school Church Type. John is being fair, reasonable and open minded, when the Churchy wades in with something along the lines of “of course I haven’t seen this 3rd rate clap trap, but I know it’s terrible”.

I’m more than a bit surprised by how many posters on STW who’ve never stepped foot in a Weatherspoons, who have taken the time to say how terrible it is and how they’ll never go near one.

I’m more than a bit surprised by how many posters on STW who’ve never stepped foot in a Weatherspoons,

Aye, it’s generally because they’re talking pish.

Use my local one about twice a year for eggs benedict for breakfast as a treat. Is definitely the best eb around, all the local independents (including a French cafe where one of the waitresses likes to stand near you reeking of fags and coughing) don’t come anywhere near them taste wise

I’m staying with my brother at the moment, he lives in Newton Le Willows.

The local spoons is quite nice inside and not that busy.

Although I did overhear the waitress telling a couple they couldn’t have steak knives as people had been stealing them and using them in fights!

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2015/oct/09/has-wetherspoons-become-britains-canteen

Used to go in the one in Birmingham town centre all the time for a burger’n’pint before a gig.
They’re like McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, etc. Not high quality but consistent so you know exactly what you are getting.

“Like Amy other chain of outlets you can’t generalise as there is too much in the hands of the management, staff and clientele.”

The management, staff and clientele don’t get to choose the decor, the drinks, the food, the prices, the opening hours, the (absence of) music…Perhaps why that’s why every single one I’ve been in has been practically the same.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a place for them and I’ve been to a few, but you can absolutely generalise about them because they’re a chain run by a demanding control freak boss. They’re about as varied as McDonaldses…

What variation do you want ? They sell beer and food…. it’s a pub… .that’s it isn’t it ?

I live in a town with an inordinately high number of dodgy bars, almost all of which cater to a niche market in society.
The Wetherspoons in town is the only neutral territory where these varying factions ever mix.
It’s like the United Nations of boozers.

I don’t really get the Spoons hatred either (apart from maybe the brexitty owner). I think this thread is amply demonstrating that its mainly just snobbery. Our local one is usually just full of old dears having a cheap meal and a couple of drinks and is a decent place to go for a pint and a read of the paper as there’s no music

What I like about them, and you have to give them some credit for, is their sensitive restoration of old buildings. This is the one in Darwen. This building was in a right state. Literally had trees growing out of the roof. They completely renovated it, must have spent a fortune, and now its absolutely lovely. I really like the one in Keswick to, which is the old Police Station

Darwen:

Keswick:

My local one in Bury. The picture House:

It’s 8am on a Thursday
The regular crowd shuffles in
Waiting for the Post Office to open
so they can cash their giro’s in
They’re nursing a pint pot of Carling
To while the hours away
While some bloke on a bike, who slept rough last night
Has Eggs Benedicte and bottomless cafe

So sing me a song I’m a Wetherspoons man
Red faces and brexit all round
But the beer is dead cheap, and it’s warm for a sleep
And a bacon roll costs just two pound.

Come on. This needs some love?

It does. It is genius.

I too used to like a ‘Spoons and admire the fact that they have preserved many old buildings. But what I can’t stand is the owner. Similarly if Rees Mogg owned the best chippy in Prestwich or if Gove sold dirt cheap Airfix kits I wouldn’t be tempted because they are ****s.

🙂 That’s excellent.

Torn really, I like a decent ‘spoons – cheap, convenient, the MacDonalds of pubs.
And back when decent beer was a novelty, they’ve always been a guarantee of a decent pint.

But, they do occasionally reek of despair (as do most pubs at sometime), the owner is an arsehole, and they all look the same.

Everywhere serves decent beer and edible food these days.
A lot of the more interesting town boozers have gone recently.

So no, I don’t really bother anymore.

I’m confused by the ownership thing ?

Do people know who owns say Costa ? or Starbucks ? or Audi ? how about Whyte bikes ? or Specialized ? Or The Body Shop ?

Why would you research who owns what and where do you draw the line ? I don’t know who owns Greene King for example, but would knowing that and if he was a wrong-un mean i never drink in a pub again ? Hmmmm.