Wetherspoon's news of the day

[Aqualung]

Deciding which type a given JDW outlet belongs to is becoming an increasingly difficult task. Lloyds outlets are no longer identified on their web site but are in their directory but that is becoming well out of date now. The landscape menu in Lloyds pubs may not be any more reliable than the directory. I don't know if lack of any Lloyds branding externally is completely reliable but it really should be.
Many Lloyds are closing or officially being converted to standard JDWs. Some Lloyds are blatantly obvious but they tend to be in the minority.

Here is a classic difficult case. What Pub claim it was surveyed last week and retain it as a Lloyds. Quinno goes down the JDW route. I'm not slinging mud at either side here as I've recently had the same problem on more than one occasion. The only sure way to find the truth is to visit the venue after 21:00 on a Friday or Saturday but I'm certainly not volunteering for that!

[Aqualung]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a6899781.html
It looks like Mexican Monday and Fish Friday may be on the way out as well.
The new menu out next week is expected to incorporate the third price increase in six months.

[Mobyduck]

May be of interest, or not as the case may be. http://www.buzzfeed.com/floperry/fac...ons#.lmwGa0yOE

[Aqualung]

May be of interest, or not as the case may be. http://www.buzzfeed.com/floperry/fac...ons#.lmwGa0yOE

I was aware or vaguely aware of most of those facts. Fact 12 is completely wrong, the vast majority open at 08:00. Hotels and some at major transport hubs open at 07:00. The David Garrick Lloyds in Milton Keynes doesn't open until 10:00 (MY GOD IT'S MARKED AS A JDW!!!!) and the last time I went to the Tooting Spoons it had changed the opening time to 10:00 as there was no demand for early breakfasts.
Fact 24 is suspect due to the closures as is fact 26 as they are expanding the Hotel side even if it only means a few rooms up for grabs. I had never heard of fact 31 before, it will come as a relief to all concerned that I've never broken this code.
I've had their large mixed grill and it is something of a blow out!

[Blackthorn]

The David Garrick Lloyds in Milton Keynes doesn't open until 10:00 (MY GOD IT'S MARKED AS A JDW!!!!)

Sorry, that would be my fault. It was formerly called Lloyds No 1 and I reported the name change recently and assumed it had converted to a JDW. I no longer work in MK so can't go and check. There doesn't seem to be anything on the JDW website that distinguishes between them.

[Aqualung]

Sorry, that would be my fault. It was formerly called Lloyds No 1 and I reported the name change recently and assumed it had converted to a JDW. I no longer work in MK so can't go and check. There doesn't seem to be anything on the JDW website that distinguishes between them.

No need to apologise!! JDW seem to be in such a state of flux at the moment I'm reluctant to submit a name change in case it closes next week.

[Aqualung]

The new menu and prices were in my local Spoons yesterday. Beer prices have risen by another 4-5p and less importantly food by more, roughly 10-20p. The Sunday Roasts have been replaced by an all day brunch with a drink, an item which has been on the menu for years but without a drink included.
JDW is generally still much cheaper for a pint in London and the South but this isn't necessarily the case elsewhere.
I got it completely wrong speculating about the Mexican Monday and Fish Friday disappearing, they are still in place!

[hondo]

"is also pursuing another site in the north of the borough"

http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/P...ail/story.html

[Aqualung]

"is also pursuing another site in the north of the borough"

http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/P...ail/story.html

Let's hope that for once Antic open it up before 16:00 on weekdays otherwise I won't get to visit it.
As a Spoons I won't miss the William Stanley at all, I thought it was one of the worst if not the worst of their London outlets (Central London apart where most of them are rubbish). It's also one of the smallest so you must wonder if the Banker's Draft in Eltham and the Drum in E10 are safe from the chop. There have been rumours about the Drum closing for twenty years or more. The fact that it is said to be a favourite of Tim Martin is probably the only thing that has saved it.

[Quinno]

Talking of Spoons, this bit of review from the Other Side made me smile;

"Super-glue was a spin-off from the space race. Surely there's a world beating application waiting for the first person to register a patent on the gunk from a Wetherspoon table?"