Bonkers or Bargain? Wetherspoons January Sale

[rpadam]

Feeling a bit peckish after a long meeting in Manchester the other week, I popped into the Waterhouse for a spot of lunch. So, for my money, I got:


Fish and chips (small, but to me adequate, portion)
Medium-sized mug of cafe latte (as an alternative to the advertised cup of tea)
Bread and butter (as an extra)
Pint of something tasty (forget exactly what) from Ilkley Brewery

Total cost? £5.74 (and if I had remembered to take a CAMRA voucher, that would have been just £5.24) - madness!

[Delboy20]

Feeling a bit peckish after a long meeting in Manchester the other week, I popped into the Waterhouse for a spot of lunch. So, for my money, I got:


Fish and chips (small, but me adequate, portion)
Medium-sized mug of cafe latte (as an alternative to the advertised cup of tea)
Bread and butter (as an extra)
Pint of something tasty (forget exactly what) from Ilkley Brewery

Total cost? £5.74 (and if I had remembered to take a CAMRA voucher, that would have been just £5.24) - madness!

It is hard to argue with value like that. I am a fan of Wetherspoons ( and I'm not afraid to say it ! )

Yes, they have thier faults but on the whole, they offer fantastic value.

A reasonably priced and varied menu
A good selection of drinks ( including a choice of ales )

Add that to excellent toilet facilities, disabled access, Wi-fi, etc etc and its no wonder they are always busy.

I have been in 4 spoons in Newport today and they were all busy. I went in 4 other pubs and only one of them was busy. The other three had a total of 5 people in between them.

I hate to see any pub closing down and I have no doubt that Mr Martin has put the final nail in a lot of coffins.

[Conrad]

The last few times I ate at Weatherspoons I have ended up wishing I had eaten a pot noodle instead, similar calibre of food and cheaper. The last being a godawful burger before the Birmingham meet (their idea of quality seemed to involve making it out of 50% condiment).

So from my perspective, bonkers.

[Strongers]

Wetherspoons... shut down the local pubs.... Shut down the local cafes... I'm waiting for them to shut down the local brothels!

[Delboy20]

The last few times I ate at Weatherspoons I have ended up wishing I had eaten a pot noodle instead, similar calibre of food and cheaper. The last being a godawful burger before the Birmingham meet (their idea of quality seemed to involve making it out of 50% condiment).

So from my perspective, bonkers.

Yes I have had some awful meals in Spoons but I have had some decent ones too. I once had a breakfast in the spoons in Middlesbrough which has to be the worst I have ever had. The one I had yesterday in Newport was pretty good. Large brekkie and a drink for 2 of us for about a tenner.

[Conrad]

Yes I have had some awful meals in Spoons but I have had some decent ones too. I once had a breakfast in the spoons in Middlesbrough which has to be the worst I have ever had. The one I had yesterday in Newport was pretty good. Large brekkie and a drink for 2 of us for about a tenner.
Moving aside from my pathological hatred/jealousy of Wetherspoons. This does raise another issue myself and Dave have frequently stumbled to in Bristol.

Do pubs change their chef every month. We have yet to find a pub in Bristol where we can pretty much guarantee a good meal any time we go in. I swear that there are a couple of good chefs in the city centre who just move round the pubs changing jobs repeatedly.

[Soup Dragon]

Spoons - tosh generally, unless you prepare for diasppointment and try to avoid it - pick easy food they can't mess-up and i drink half pints as they are frequently flat. I go in them as i do every pub and have enjoyed a couple of them - but in general, i dislike them.

[Farway]

None around here locally [one threatened], so my experience is limited, of those I have been in 3 I walked out of without ordering anything, one I had an awful cardboard vegeburger smothered in chilli sauce, and one I quite like, fair value food and not too crowded, probably because it is a historic pub & thus not a large dank cavern with dirty tables

[Alesonly]

I cant say I ever eat in the spoons I may of done once or twice but thats all I prefer the Greasy Spoon Cafes Or Fish & Chip Shop. I find the Spoons OK for a few Pints but not the sort of place I would stay for a few hours. Theres some good Spoons where the Ales are always good but theres also some bad ones as well. Problem is when you get a good manager that seeems too look after the Ale and serve a good range of constantly good Ales they always seem too get moved on after a year or two.

[runningdog]

Generally I find the Wetherspoon 'Sales' a waste of time, nor do I like the Beer and a Whatever offers. Why would I want to drink a Ruddles with me burger? If it's like Conrad's, the beer'll make it worse, and, if it's decent, the beer will only spoil it.
That said, by and large I'm a Wetherspoon fan, often wearing their tee-shirts to advertise it, :whistle: but I approach an unfamiliar one same as I do all strange pubs, cautiously.
In a JDW I expect the beer choice to be reasonable, the food to be inexpensive and, as often a not, to have to wait get served. Compare this to most other pubs where I don't know if there will be any real ale, whether I can afford the food, let alone eat it, or get served promptly even if the staff outnumber the customers..........:drinkup:
When I find a pub I like, I stick to it, and I'm in no hurry to visit one I don't again.:drinkup::drinkup::drinkup:

[Al 10000]

Ime not really a fan of Wetherspoons waiting to get served is a nightmare even when they are quiet, the food is cheap but sometimes iffy and i diont think their normal beers are that cheap now £1.99 for a guest ale.
On the up side they open early in the morning 9.00 am for beer which is very handy when in a new town waiting for the pubs to open and you are almost always guaranteed a drink of real ale.
I would never have more than one drink in a Wetherspoons.

[Crossste]

I think we must be lucky with the Regal Moon In Rochdale. We were in a few weeks back on a late Saturday afternoon with the intention of just having the one but the choice and quality of the beer was so good we ended up staying for 6-7 and finishing off with 2 slices of ham, 2 eggs and chips for £1.99p.

I take the food for what it is. You wouldn,t go there for summat special but if you just want summat cheap when you,re peckish it,s o.k. Just.

Our last round on that particular visit was a pint of Elland 1872 Porter, double Bacardi and Coke and 2 of the aforementioned meal less for than a tenner.

I,m in the bargain camp.

[Alesonly]

Has anyone else notice that the new Wetherspoons Menu is now a Printed on a Yellow & Gold cardboard like a standard Gasto Pub Menu and it don't say Wetherspoons on it Anywhere except in the very small Print what are they trying too do go up market. :D

[hondo]

http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/article/89530

[aleandhearty]

http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/article/89530

I found that piece particularly depressing. It seems Timbo is moving perilously close to the slash and burn tactics used by WalMart in America. An article in The Observer, a couple of years ago, highlighted how Walmart would move into small towns and gradually put the local shops out of business, through their discounts and purchasing power. After a while, the town's economy would collapse, with people having to move on. When WalMart's own profits started to be affected, they themselves closed down and moved on to the next town. Possibly a little fanciful and dramatic at the moment, but for how much longer? Give it a rest, Mr Martin.

[arwkrite]

I take each visit to 'Spoons on its own merits. Good ones I have visited previously have been found wanting and vice versa. The Kings Fee in Hereford did a fantastic extended range of curries but the chef must have left because its back now to the standard menu. Perhaps people are easily pleased because I find 'Spoons pretty well full of diners whenever I manage to visit one. Yes I have had a couple of bad/ poor meals but they are in the minority. On much the same level of incidence as other chain pubs cum restaurants.
Oh lawd feeling hungry! Badly need some Neaps and Tatties.:cheers:

[Conrad]

I found that piece particularly depressing. It seems Timbo is moving perilously close to the slash and burn tactics used by WalMart in America. An article in The Observer, a couple of years ago, highlighted how Walmart would move into small towns and gradually put the local shops out of business, through their discounts and purchasing power. After a while, the town's economy would collapse, with people having to move on. When WalMart's own profits started to be affected, they themselves closed down and moved on to the next town. Possibly a little fanciful and dramatic at the moment, but for how much longer? Give it a rest, Mr Martin.
I have to admit this whole principal is the main reason I have an unnatural aversion to Wetherspoons, whilst there are certainly some good ones I would still rather have decent friendly locals and I fear that one day we may as well just call this site Wetherspoons Galore.

All that being said though this statement intrigued me:

We are already struggling with people not coming out until 9.30pm or later, and with people staying at home and drinking supermarket alcohol.

If that is true then they are already screwed, it may be that Wetherspoons helps them though. If Wetherspoons can get people out because of its cheaper prices there is always the chance that the other locals will get fall off business as people fancy a bit of a crawl or can't be bothered to wait at the Wetherspoons.

All in I personally feel it is a bad thing, but this could certainly be an intriguing experiment.

[gillhalfpint]

Haggis neeps and tatties should be on in the Anchor in Birmingham today to go with their Burns Night beers. Off for the bus in a tick. Loads of Scottish breweries said to be on, so I'm off to celebrate.

[Evil Gazebo]

I’m firmly in the “against” camp when it comes to JDW. First and foremost, I just find them generally unpleasant. Some of them (very few in my experience) are OK, but even then the pros (decent choice of beer, low prices) are outweighed by the cons (terrible service, poor atmosphere).

Away from that, as already mentioned above, the danger is that once the Leviathan that is Wetherspoons rolls into town, it sucks the life from the smaller, older more traditional pubs in the area. It’s similar in its way to the out-of-town supermarkets which seem to lead to the downfall of the small grocer, baker, butcher etc. Once they’re gone, everyone bemoans their loss, but rarely pauses to consider their own neglect of the local shops. I sense the same thing occasionally with drinking companions who are adamant in their love of old, traditional boozers, yet arrow straight for a cavernous, soulless converted bank and a £3.99 pint and nuked burger or whatever it is.

The value for money thing is tricky. Obviously Wetherspoons are almost always a lot cheaper than the competition, and in terms of price a lot of the competition can’t hope to match them. I’ve always said that if it comes to 10 or 20p difference in the price of a pint, I’d always pay the extra to drink in the better pub, but when that difference becomes £1 - £1.50, it’s easy to understand why people would choose an inferior location. But then, if price is the motivating factor, I could head down to the aforementioned supermarket and pick up a load of beer for much cheaper than even JDW knock it out, and drink it at home, smugly counting the money I’ve saved. But I hate drinking in the house, so I suppose it all depends on where each individual draws the cost/benefit line.

That leaves the food. I don’t care how cheap it is, it’s still overpriced. Paying some bloke to take delivery of a mass-produced ready-meal from 3663 or whoever and heat it up in an industrial microwave is over my budget if it costs more than £0.00. I don’t really think that a new chef is going to make much of a difference to the edible material that ends up on the customer’s plate.

So, er, count me in the bonkers camp.

[Paris_Hilton]

Yes I have had some awful meals in Spoons but I have had some decent ones too. I once had a breakfast in the spoons in Middlesbrough which has to be the worst I have ever had. The one I had yesterday in Newport was pretty good. Large brekkie and a drink for 2 of us for about a tenner.


My experience of breakfast in JDW's........not good

http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/33079/

[gillhalfpint]

I usually enjoy the breakfasts. My gripe with some is when they dump the toast and preserves on top of the baked beans! Some are really good and bring on a separate plate. Never seem to realise that a clean knife would be useful though.

[Strongers]

I’ve eaten in a Spoons twice and the first time was the Gatehouse in Highgate (Alesonly is a fan) where I had a mixed grill that I thought was very good and the second time was the Eastgate in Northampton where the breakfast was fantastic except for the giant boiled mushroom, wtf. Three pints of Guinness and a fry up – the perfect start on a Sunday morning before a four hour journey back to the south coast!

A good Spoons is a reasonable pub and a bad Spoons is abysmal.

[Blackthorn]

http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/article/89530

To be fair though, a town with a population of 5,000 that supports eight pubs is doing pretty well. My town has a similar population and struggles to keep three pubs going (one is currently closed, allegedly for refurbishment, but there’s no sign of any activity and the other is really more of a restaurant). Typically a town with eight pubs is going to have a population of around 15,000 I would have thought, so on that basis perhaps a JDW doesn’t seem quite so out of place.

Do I love them or hate them? The first time I came across them many years ago was The Commercial Rooms in Bristol, which Conrad will be familiar with. I thought this was great, it was a fantastic refurbishment of an impressive old building and in spite of now being a pub still retained many of the features from it’s previous days including boards on the walls detailing past presidents of the club going back a couple of hundred years.

They did reasonably priced, cheap food and a good selection of beer. Plus wherever I was in the country I could almost guarantee getting a pint of Blackthorn in a JDW, which in most other pubs was a rarity outside of the West Country. As such, I tended to hunt them out wherever I was and have been in branches from Bournemouth to Edinburgh and even The Metro Centre in Gateshead (although disappointingly that one didn’t do Blackthorn!).

They were very good at their brand promotion. A JDW is obviously a JDW, unlike many of the other chain pubs which hide their identity a little more. They even produced a newsletter/magazine every month or so, full of positive stories about JDW’s up and down the country like charity fund raising efforts and letters from people who travelled round the country trying to get to every JDW there was.

Over the years though I seem to have become less keen, and now rarely go in one. Although they do still have some impressive buildings, in a way they all seem exactly the same without much character. I’ve gone off the food, whether that’s because it’s gone downhill or my tastes have changed, I’m not sure. Service can be very poor (the Dragon in Weston-super-Mare being a consistently bad example) and because of their bargain basement prices they can attract, shall we say, the dregs of society.

So overall, not really a fan these days, although I’ll happily go in one if there’s nothing more promising about! And the curry and a pint deal is still pretty good, one that’s since been copied by countless other pubs.

[Bucking Fastard]

Well the 'spoons bargains continue in February.This coming Valentines Weekend you can get two steaks and a bottle of wine (rose,chardonnay,shiraz) for £14.99.

Cheap date ?Bargain ? I've got a feeling that a divorce may set you back a bit further.