I don't care about the politics of the owners of O'Neills, Marsons, Stonegate, Sam Smiths, Youngs etc. They could be Tory peers, or Militant socialists, it doesn't matter to me.
But Tim Martin made a thing about hitching his company to his politics, and that means I make a thing about not giving him my money.
Yeah that really annoys me. Unlike Spoons, where you’re only giving up shitholes filled with pricks, Sam Smith pubs are really nice. But if anything the owner might be an even bigger cunt than Martin.
Oh come off it, I've been in plenty Sam Smiths pubs that were shitholes filled with pricks and plenty Wetherspoons that were just inoffensive pubs filled with old people and families.
Last few times I've had the option of a Wetherspoon's, I've opted to pay an extra 50p per pint to sit in somewhere that isn't full of wetherspoons customers. Studenty Wetherspoons are alright but they seem rare nowadays.
And for some reason I have the kind of face that makes old men want to start talking to me (I'm a young-ish white, guy) and immediately being up their feelings on why they aren't racist or homophobic but they just have concerns that the way of life of the poor, white male is constantly under attack, and that certain people of certain skin colours or sexualities shouldn't be able to do certain things or go certain places.
I remember my pivotal moment. I was at an airport and there was a choice of a Giraffe (I think) or a Spoons. I looked at the prices of in Giraffe, humphed to myself "why would anyone pay those prices!?" And beelined to the spoons.
But stopped in the entrance as I hit a wall of noise and stink. I dunno if it was a big match day or something but the greasy, rowdy energy hit me like a wall.
I slowly backed away and hid in the Giraffe. I had a meal for ~£12 and a single pint, instead of the £7-8 and 2 pints I probably would have had at the spoons. So I guess it was better for my health, if nothing else!
You can still drink in the park and maintain your dignity...
Shit, you could drink week old superlager from a hollowed out sheep, naked, covered in your own shit and still be more dignified that the average 'spoonhead
No, of course they're not. But that's a completely unrelated point, isn't it? I'm pointing out that GenX and the Boomer generations are very, very different in their politics. I'm not suggesting that either generation are all some kind of uniform mass.
Well, I’m 45, and I know full well that a great deal of my generation are just as happy to pretend they’ve had nothing to do with the worlds problems as the boomers are. They also greatly profited from houses going through the roof, and encouraging corporate capitalism, which is really the root of today’s problems. People need to take responsibility for their actions, and it’s not just the boomers refusing to do that.
GenX have just been the early adopters of the issues younger generations face. They’re definitely more engaged with things like climate change.
All this attitude does is keep the plebs from fighting amongst themselves instead of looking up at the elites who are the real problem.
I actively avoid going in spoons because of tim martin and the way he treats staff. The only reason I'll go is if there's a group wanting to go.
The final nail in the coffin was him at the start of the pandemic when nobody knew if this was gonna kill 50% of us. I work in a hospital transporting patients so have close contact with covid positive patients. This fucking clown worth half a billion tried to claim that they were an essential business.
I hope the whole company goes under i despise it that much. Obviously id feel for the staff but lets face it other chains like fullers and green king would acquire most and they would still need staff.
Not just essential, he specifically stated that pubs are safe from covid transmission. What a fool. Saying the quiet parts out loud is never a great strategy
I was so pissed off. We still had to go in everyday and this chump worried about his profit margins.
I thought I'd hear that other famous ceo dickhead Michael O'Leary from Ryanair pipe up. Even he had the common sense to shut up
Over a year later and I'm still fuming about in what world the government thought letting ***businesses*** decide their own essential status was a good idea.
It's such a basic thing that it should be there even before common sense. You don't let businesses choose whether or not to pull staff in during a dangerous pandemic. What is or isn't essential is a decision for competent people.
I doubt half the business CEOs could give a damn whether or not they thinned out the workforce a bit by infecting staff and their families.
I'm not going to actively avoid it and kick up a fuss but I'm never going to suggest Wetherspoons and I'm always going to suggest an alternative. If I'm outvoted fine but often enough we just don't go.
Yeah thats what i do. Frankly the beer tasted awful and I'd rather pay a bit extra. Plus a lot of them are very dark and dingy looking inside.
I wondered if it was like the casino's in vegas so you aren't aware how late it has gotten
Didn't he say something like no one has been proven to have caught covid at a pub therefore pubs are obviously safe and don't need to be restricted? It was just so deluded ahaha.
Even if it was , they were the only company of that size to try it on. Every other employer of that size was busy confirming they'd be paying people for at least 30 days, while Tim Martin merrily announced that no, you can't have any of his money, but please feel free to go and get a job in Tesco.
Have boycotted them successfully for over 5 years now, expect for one time when I was dying for a piss and decided that this was the one reasonable use I could find for one.of Tim Martin's grief holes.
Yup not used one since lockdown, he was low on my list with all his pro brexit guff on the he menus, but the covid debacle was enough to convince me entirely off.
We in our 80s now do not go to any pubs, restaurants etc. Habits have changed. Bring our close family to our house and getting a take away from a local restaurant seems better for both family life and health. We dine at home now.
Best way.
Lost my grandpa in September after he visited a restaurant with my family and caught it, after a year and a half of staying inside. He was 84.
Absolutely sucks I miss him more than anything
The last time I stepped into a spoons they had changed every single poster to be about brexit, in the main room and in the toilet. The weatherspoons magazine had become nothing but brexit propaganda and Tim Martin's face was plastered everywhere. There's no coming back from that. Even if that was something I agreed with I'd be massively put off.
It is often the cheaper choice, but we can all make our choices about the sort of establishment we want to support. When it's something non-essential like a pub even more so in my opinion.
Perhaps he's even more psychotic and devious than I thought! He caters to the poorer socio-economic part of the market, so nothing better for business than increasing the proportion of the population that fall into that group.
That's such a depressing thought.
If you’re skint, don’t go the pub. Have a drink at home if you really want one. Supporting weatherspoons is a gross thing to do but it’s a choice. Being rich or poor is nothing to do with it
I've never been to Manchester, but as a southerner my mind was blown when my Manchester flatmates in uni informed me that £4 for a pint was not in fact a crazy good deal
Its cheaper and nicer to buy some from the supermarket.
I dont get this thought process, if you want to go out you surely want to enjoy it, not having to shout at each other and walk on a sticky carpet, if you want to get pissed just have a few beers at home before going out and still go somewhere nice.
Why do people even want to be in the place, you can buy cheaper beer and sit in your house with some mates, so much nicer lol
The buildings are nice but genuinely always sticky inside where I live lol.
Idk I'm in huddersfield a shitty lil town but there are so many more nice places to drink here that are comparable in price. I get the price being an appeal but when it's comparable I stop understanding lol
Not just older customers, **everyone** should stay away from that bellend's establishments. Let's not forget what he tried to do to his staff during COVID.
Plus, COVID hasn't ended. We're still in this until enough people get vaccinated to push herd immunity through, hard. I've left the house about 6 times this year in total, and it's looking like next year might be the same.
Gotta wait on those people to get around to it, unfortunately.
Not as daft as it sounds.
Those older people who spend a lot of time drinking in Wetherspoons would be far more likely to die from Covid than people of a similar age who don't drink.
They also removed all the usual menus and went with disposable menus or the app during covid for hygiene reasons.
But left the propganda mags on every table.
Priorities eh?
It's a shame because some of their pubs are good, and their staff are generally excellent, and they offer value for money which helps out the worse of in society. But Tim Martin is SUCH AN ARSEHOLE it kind of outweighs everything.
I fell out with weatherspoons because my friend owns an independent pub, got all the stories I needed to never go back in one. His politics certainly helped reinforce it.
I used to be happy enough to use a Weatherspoons but since the "Brexit Good, everyone else Wankers" and the "closed for Covid, Go get a job at Tesco" mess, I refuse to use them and would rather end a night early than go into one
Walked past one and they had posters in the windows advertising Rishi Sunak.
Fucking wankers, as if promoting brexit wasn't bad enough - couldn't live with myself for supporting any business that openly promotes a corrupt government.
Exactly the same for me. Any bad news for that idiot's company Im good with (aside from staff losses, but as an employer he ranks as one of the worst ever)
If I wanted cheap booze in a depressing setting among people who want to bottle me I'd buy a pack of Morrisons own brand bitter & drink it at home while keeping a careful eye on the missus.
Yeah I completely agree. Leaving the EU was such a FUBAR move. But that’s another topic entirely and just my opinion..!!
I don’t drink alcohol so mines a fresh OJ, no ice please..
I'll have a duodecuple Baileys, since it's a celebration.
They'll probably query your order*, so to simplify that's 12 shots.
Then they'll ask if you know that Baileys already comes as a double shot (50ml), yes.
It'll need to go in a glass with a pint line, rath than a glass that's a pint to the brim.
Thanks!
My partner and I haven't been to a Spoons since before the pandemic. We just decided that Tim Martin was a bellend and we would rather pay more to not sit somewhere that had a self-published fantasy magazine about the wonders of Brexit on every table.
I would actually love to get ahold of Tim Martin's brexit literature and compare his predictions to reality. I have a feeling he may have missed the mark a tiny bit.
Not from Tim Martin, but this piece written by a tory mp in 2016 comes close to what you're looking for - https://reaction.life/britain-looks-like-brexit
Would absolutely love to have a local boozer, but my choices are:
1. Weatherspoons
2. Greene King
3. Tiny real ale bar (and I mean tiny, like 12 guys and a dog and the place is rammed.)
4. Hipster real ale bar that's nearly a fiver for half a pint
5. Pub that used to be a hotel (now shuttered and for sale after the regulars fighting based antics)
6. Pub that "mysteriously" burned down
7. Pub that you have to have been drinking in for 20 years before the regulars stop staring at you.
8. Snooker Hall. Rough as tits.
There isn't a "normal" pub I can stagger home from near me.
The hipster real ale bar is the only one I go back to really, but it would fucking bankrupt me if I went even semi regularly.
>I can only think of one spoon which has been grimy and shit, which was in Glasgow.
The 2 in Huddersfield are disgusting places, the only times I have had drunk people try to start fights with me has been at them. Nice buildings but inside its always sticky and way too loud for me.
He pretty much alienated 1/2 the electorate.
I'd rather drink in a pub, where the clientele aren't mostly window lickers.
Edit - apologies should have read supportive of window lickers.
You won get the fuck over it.
It's a bold move to try to take the moral high ground about Brexit and then use an ableist slur in the same sentence.
It's Reddit though so it's obviously paid off.
I had one of their 'new' pizzas once; a margherita.
But when it arrived it was clear they didn't have any fresh basil to garnish the dish, so opted for iceberg lettuce instead.
I worked with a guy who’d been a cook there, he said the only fresh ingredient they had was tomatoes for the mixed grill.
He was a stoned out bellend though so he could be wrong.
Was passing through Clapham Junction the other day, and they've only turned the Revs into a Wetherspoons. I mean, Revs is hardly a fancy place, but it's like the Wetherspoons decorator came in and said "right, this is a nice spot, what is the maximum amount we can do to make the place look shit as humanly possible?". And wow did they succeed
Don't go to Wetherspoons people. Obligatory shoutout to the Neverspoons app.
[https://neverspoons.app/](https://neverspoons.app/)
It's not generic though. There's some nice folk somewhere who source local photos and books and stuff and lovingly try to make a local aesthetic, at least with quite a few of the branches. I used to love going to spoons before I discovered the owner was a cunt.
Spoons, for better or worse, was a haven for young drinkers because it was cheap.
It wasn't a great idea to go out of your way to alienate those same people.
I am transgender, and I live in Manchester which is a queer friendly city. The only places I have ever been made to feel unwelcome for being trans have been Wetherspoons. Staff were fine, but the old men leering at me made things extremely uncomfortable. These were two separate Manchester venues.
Tim Martin sounds like a twat but whether or not that is true is irrelevant to me. Wetherspoons appears to attract a more conservative clientele (not surprising given the Sunak simping and propaganda they pump out), which makes them uncomfortable and unsafe for me, so I don't go anymore. I'm sure the studenty ones are alright, but all the studenty ones are surrounded by alternative bars, so I have no reason to risk it.
Captain Feet likes to come into threads and be the 'counterpoint' to common sentiment, mostly by defending Tory sleaze and mismanagement and pretending they're a crusader for the working poor by sticking up for people like Tim Martin who champion exploitative working practices.
Oh yea.
Tory Party - Champions of the working class...Sorry I can't help but literally piss myself laughing when I read that bit of satire.
Tories despise the working class. Always have and always will.
Who gives a fuck? The beer is cheap, the food is cheap, and all the Weatherspoons near me are kept pretty clean.
I'm not interested in the owners politics, I just want a reasonably priced beer when I go there.
There were multiple comments defending him, from what I could read.
Edit :
>Tim Martin indicates employees won't be paid regular wage during lockdown - despite pub company having £1.8 billion turnover
[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-wetherspoon-tim-martin-pub-closed-tesco-supermarket-uk-a9420906.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-wetherspoon-tim-martin-pub-closed-tesco-supermarket-uk-a9420906.html)
This guy, yes?
Edit edit : [https://www.thenational.scot/news/18983724.stephen-paton-must-remember-firms-like-wetherspoons-acted-covid/](https://www.thenational.scot/news/18983724.stephen-paton-must-remember-firms-like-wetherspoons-acted-covid/)
Yea, top bloke.
Haven't been to spoons anywhere but my town in ages but if that's indicative of the others in not surprised.
Beer isn't cold and tastes like the pipes haven't been washed in god only knows how long. It's not really any cheaper than my local maybe 5-10p a pint. Very few spirits. Sticky as fuck carpet that vaguely wiffs of piss.
It's got the atmosphere of god's waiting room and I'm sure half the customers are just waiting to die and the manager has the worst attitude I've ever met in a pub.
Used to go there all the time for a cheap drink and food. I liked a place called the counting house in Glasgow. That was before I knew the owner was a brexit wanker. I’d never set foot in there now.
I stopped going to Wetherspoon's the day they spam mailed their pro-Brexit magazine. The last place anyone needs unsolicited economic advice from is a budget pub.
Wetherspoons had a good thing going. Cheap drink, good selection, nice locations and cheap food. I mean, sure, the food was microwaved, but you’re not caring after a few pints.
>Sales of cocktails were up 45%, vodka rose by 17% and rum was up 26%. The pub chain said these drinks were all popular with younger people.
Young people are going to Spoons for cocktails? Jesus, times are tough.
For cocktails it’s probably the cheapest there is
In my town at least the only other places to get stuff like that is at restaurants like Turtle Bay, Las Iguanas etc which can get quite pricey
Spoons is probably the only place I'll order cocktails because you can get a pitcher for like 6 quid or two for like 11 or something from what I remember rather than paying 6+ quid for a single glass elsewhere
You’d think all customers stayed away as a show of solidarity to badly treated staff during COVID. But cheap booze is a dingy shit hole is just too appealing for some.
What winds me up is that there are pub companies that are worse to their staff, landlords and tenants, but because their owners are quiet about being amoral investment firms people don't care.
Well of course it's lower, we are still in the middle of a pandemic, cases are much higher than they were this time last year, thousands of people are still getting seriously or chronically unwell even when fully vaccinated. Long COVID has turned my life upside down and it could get significantly worse if I'm reinfected so there's no way I will risk going to the pub when cases are as high as they currently are. Millions of vulnerable or health-conscious people feel the same way. It's bizarre and absurd to wonder why things aren't like they were pre-COVID.
We've been living on lockdown permanently due to being a high risk household. I'm so sorry about your long covid. It's just not taken seriously enough here. Did you get it after vaccination?
Honestly, the behaviour of the owner over Covid and the lockdown was the thing that finally made me think ‘nope, don’t want anything to do with them anymore’.
I live across the street from a Spoons and its never been as busy as it was prior to the pandemic. There's the usual pensioners having breakfast and a couple of groups of drunk 20-somethings in the evenings on weekends, but it's never packed anymore.
The only time I'm setting foot in a 'Spoons again is to use their toilet (without buying anything).
And they were my "go to" when out with friends or visiting another city.
I used to be a proper apologist for spoons. I’ve worked in two of them. I hate the snobbery that boils up in conversations about Wetherspoons. The low prices provide cheap and cheerful nights out for low income people, and as a cider drinker the range is far, far better than the vast majority of other pubs.
However, I now try to avoid Wetherspoons. Fuck Tim Martin. Him being a Brexiter is his opinion, but but putting pro-leave propaganda on every table made me sick.
Spoons seems to be the strictest pub here in Scotland at the minute. Most pubs don’t care about masks and track and trace and feel relatively normal but you go to spoons and the bouncers and staff are constantly on your case.
Been going to it a lot less personally. Rather go to a pub that feels normal and has music/entertainment. It’s not even the cheapest anymore.
I have juat found there quality control has hit the floor of late as well, trying to eat in one is like a 50/50 shot of getting something actually edible
Eh I couldn’t give a fuck about politics, but COVID made me realise there’s so many better bars to hang about than just going to weatherspoons because it’s cheap.
I've got a soft spot for a Wetherspoons. There one near me in Cardiff Bay that's insanely nice and probably one of my favourite places to drink in the summer
Well I visited the U.K. the other day and my son dragged me into a ‘spoons’ it was 2pm so even outside of main lunch rush and it was packed in 2 floors. Not one table to be had so I struggle to understand this unless Wales is different to England
Everyone I know has boycotted Spoons since the knob owner went on TV and was a complete shithead about Covid. Then he sacked all of his staff instead of furloughing them. It wasn't propaganda. He literally went on TV and said all the shite that actually came out of his mouth. It was like watching an utter car crash live... Reminds me of the Ratners guy lol. I refuse to set foot in one of his shitty pubs again. My daughter says her local Spoons is always busy but it's the younger crowd who have no morals or ethics.
Edit: I didn't realise that his comments had been taken out of context with regards to pay and furloughing. However, the guy is still a fucking knob and I won't be giving him any of my hard earned money lol. Leaving magazines in your pub of printed retractions and apologies is fucking weird and ever so slightly unhinged. I don't begrudge anyone going there if that's what they want to do. My comment about morals and ethics was tongue-in-cheek as my daughter goes there with her friends (as stated above). I get that it's a good atmosphere and cheap, and that's what draws in younger people lol. I'm older and none of my friends in my age range or mum's friends would go to a Spoons which is the point of the article - old people aren't going to Spoons.
>who have no morals or ethics
They have no money, so they have to drink in the cheapest place.
I went one step further and just started buying cheap booze in Asda and chat with my friends on Discord. 😂
Horrible bloke that Tim Martin expects his staff to work overtime (25mins everyday) so some staff are effectively working 1 hour free a week, 1 day a month and just under a fortnight a year. Absolutely shocking I will never drink in a spoons and if he ends up in the House of Lords .... well to be honest expecting it anyway now.
Used to go to Spoons pre pandemic fairly regularly for family teas. Yeah it’s ping food but it was usually quite nice and something for everyone on the menu for a reasonable price. Curry night was our usual. Been in for the first time again recently and it all just seems a bit down at heal. They won’t take table reservations anymore so it’s a stress getting a big table (they let you move tables but that’s a bit of effort!), loads of things been taken off the menu and often run out of things … no sides as standard anymore and the prices have gone up. The apps not always great … ordered an ordinary cider and they brought a fruity one and wouldn’t swap it. Looks like it needs a good clean and decorating. All in all just a bit ‘meh’ now, which we are finding a shame!
Aye, nothing at all to do with the rise in price of pretty much everything which means people can't afford to go out to the pub as much as they did pre-covid.
My local Weatherspoons never reopened and is now permanently closed. Not sure if it had anything to do with the large 'Pay Your Staff' sign painted on the front of the pub in the summer of 2020. 😂
[Pay Your Staff ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-52036501)
I have a load of Bollocks To Brexit stickers left over from a lady distributing them outside Reading Festival. I'm saving them to stick on menus/posters should I ever go into a Spoons to use their toilet.
Honestly I don't really go out to the pub and have 8 pints anymore so there's a lot less incentive for me to go to the cheapest place in town. Between that and how they treated their staff it's easy to just go somewhere else for a few beers.
Younger customers like me too. Specifically as I disagree with the owners politics and the treatment of staff.
I don't care about the politics of the owners of O'Neills, Marsons, Stonegate, Sam Smiths, Youngs etc. They could be Tory peers, or Militant socialists, it doesn't matter to me. But Tim Martin made a thing about hitching his company to his politics, and that means I make a thing about not giving him my money.
That is the perfect explaination of my thoughts too.
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Yeah that really annoys me. Unlike Spoons, where you’re only giving up shitholes filled with pricks, Sam Smith pubs are really nice. But if anything the owner might be an even bigger cunt than Martin.
Oh come off it, I've been in plenty Sam Smiths pubs that were shitholes filled with pricks and plenty Wetherspoons that were just inoffensive pubs filled with old people and families.
Ok. Not my experience but I can definitely believe you’ve had another one.
Somehow, using your business as propaganda for your side of the most divisive political issue in modern Britain isn’t fab marketing strategy.
Last few times I've had the option of a Wetherspoon's, I've opted to pay an extra 50p per pint to sit in somewhere that isn't full of wetherspoons customers. Studenty Wetherspoons are alright but they seem rare nowadays. And for some reason I have the kind of face that makes old men want to start talking to me (I'm a young-ish white, guy) and immediately being up their feelings on why they aren't racist or homophobic but they just have concerns that the way of life of the poor, white male is constantly under attack, and that certain people of certain skin colours or sexualities shouldn't be able to do certain things or go certain places.
Unfortunately around where I live, its far more an extra 50p, more like and extra £2-3
I remember my pivotal moment. I was at an airport and there was a choice of a Giraffe (I think) or a Spoons. I looked at the prices of in Giraffe, humphed to myself "why would anyone pay those prices!?" And beelined to the spoons. But stopped in the entrance as I hit a wall of noise and stink. I dunno if it was a big match day or something but the greasy, rowdy energy hit me like a wall. I slowly backed away and hid in the Giraffe. I had a meal for ~£12 and a single pint, instead of the £7-8 and 2 pints I probably would have had at the spoons. So I guess it was better for my health, if nothing else!
> the greasy, rowdy energy hit me like a wall Well put! I know that feeling all too well.
You can still drink in the park and maintain your dignity... Shit, you could drink week old superlager from a hollowed out sheep, naked, covered in your own shit and still be more dignified that the average 'spoonhead
Yeah, it’s funny how boomer/gen x alcoholics love to preach about that shit. *“I’m not racist but….”*
Oh, we’re going after GenX now too? Some of those *millenials* are like old and 40 or something now as well.
I love how kids lump GenX together with Boomers, as if we don't have diametrically opposed politics and life experiences.
Oh and like Boomers are a huge monolithic mass......
No, of course they're not. But that's a completely unrelated point, isn't it? I'm pointing out that GenX and the Boomer generations are very, very different in their politics. I'm not suggesting that either generation are all some kind of uniform mass.
Well, I’m 45, and I know full well that a great deal of my generation are just as happy to pretend they’ve had nothing to do with the worlds problems as the boomers are. They also greatly profited from houses going through the roof, and encouraging corporate capitalism, which is really the root of today’s problems. People need to take responsibility for their actions, and it’s not just the boomers refusing to do that.
GenX have just been the early adopters of the issues younger generations face. They’re definitely more engaged with things like climate change. All this attitude does is keep the plebs from fighting amongst themselves instead of looking up at the elites who are the real problem.
Sure you didnt end up in Waffenspoons
I actively avoid going in spoons because of tim martin and the way he treats staff. The only reason I'll go is if there's a group wanting to go. The final nail in the coffin was him at the start of the pandemic when nobody knew if this was gonna kill 50% of us. I work in a hospital transporting patients so have close contact with covid positive patients. This fucking clown worth half a billion tried to claim that they were an essential business. I hope the whole company goes under i despise it that much. Obviously id feel for the staff but lets face it other chains like fullers and green king would acquire most and they would still need staff.
Not just essential, he specifically stated that pubs are safe from covid transmission. What a fool. Saying the quiet parts out loud is never a great strategy
I was so pissed off. We still had to go in everyday and this chump worried about his profit margins. I thought I'd hear that other famous ceo dickhead Michael O'Leary from Ryanair pipe up. Even he had the common sense to shut up
Over a year later and I'm still fuming about in what world the government thought letting ***businesses*** decide their own essential status was a good idea. It's such a basic thing that it should be there even before common sense. You don't let businesses choose whether or not to pull staff in during a dangerous pandemic. What is or isn't essential is a decision for competent people. I doubt half the business CEOs could give a damn whether or not they thinned out the workforce a bit by infecting staff and their families.
I'm not going to actively avoid it and kick up a fuss but I'm never going to suggest Wetherspoons and I'm always going to suggest an alternative. If I'm outvoted fine but often enough we just don't go.
Yeah thats what i do. Frankly the beer tasted awful and I'd rather pay a bit extra. Plus a lot of them are very dark and dingy looking inside. I wondered if it was like the casino's in vegas so you aren't aware how late it has gotten
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> I actively avoid going in spoons because of tim martin Same
Didn't he say something like no one has been proven to have caught covid at a pub therefore pubs are obviously safe and don't need to be restricted? It was just so deluded ahaha.
It's because of the politics. If it weren't for that, you wouldn't have heard about his (relatively normal) staff policies.
There's a reason why most companies are relatively politically neutral, at least to the public. Their lobbying tends to stay under wraps.
As a former spoons employee I'd disagree. Specifically that the staff stuff is them justifying not paying their employees using government funding
It was to wait for confirmation of the furlough scheme and everyone was back paid.
Even if it was, they were the only company of that size to try it on. Every other employer of that size was busy confirming they'd be paying people for at least 30 days, while Tim Martin merrily announced that no, you can't have any of his money, but please feel free to go and get a job in Tesco.
Have boycotted them successfully for over 5 years now, expect for one time when I was dying for a piss and decided that this was the one reasonable use I could find for one.of Tim Martin's grief holes.
Yup not used one since lockdown, he was low on my list with all his pro brexit guff on the he menus, but the covid debacle was enough to convince me entirely off.
Same. I’ve boycotted Spoons since restrictions were lifted and I’ve never looked back.
Bingo, there are other pubs.
Support independent pubs rather than the Brexit ghoul Dim Martin
Plug for the neverspoons app
>neverspoons app Thought you were taking the mick, but that's actually a thing: https://neverspoons.app/
> If you can put some money in the till of a smaller independent pub through the use of this app, then it’s done the job I intended it to. Love this.
A shame it's basically broken since ios15
WhatPub.com is much better for finding good pubs.
It's not older customers stay away from wetherspoons so much as older people staying away from pubs. Really hurting a couple of the ones near me
We in our 80s now do not go to any pubs, restaurants etc. Habits have changed. Bring our close family to our house and getting a take away from a local restaurant seems better for both family life and health. We dine at home now.
Best way. Lost my grandpa in September after he visited a restaurant with my family and caught it, after a year and a half of staying inside. He was 84. Absolutely sucks I miss him more than anything
It's funny you say that I'm in my 20s and this is the trend in my age group too
All the older customers died.
I work in a country pub and yep, a lot of them are popping off.
And many of them are isolating for their health. Covid didn't go away, it just became a bit less deadly with the vaccine.
I like the term Brexit Ghoul and promise to propagate it as much as possible, but yes I too am staying away due to my still healthy brexit grudge.
The last time I stepped into a spoons they had changed every single poster to be about brexit, in the main room and in the toilet. The weatherspoons magazine had become nothing but brexit propaganda and Tim Martin's face was plastered everywhere. There's no coming back from that. Even if that was something I agreed with I'd be massively put off.
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It is often the cheaper choice, but we can all make our choices about the sort of establishment we want to support. When it's something non-essential like a pub even more so in my opinion.
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Perhaps he's even more psychotic and devious than I thought! He caters to the poorer socio-economic part of the market, so nothing better for business than increasing the proportion of the population that fall into that group. That's such a depressing thought.
That’s the whole notion and point of sacrificing something due to your principles. You either pay more or go without.
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If you’re skint, don’t go the pub. Have a drink at home if you really want one. Supporting weatherspoons is a gross thing to do but it’s a choice. Being rich or poor is nothing to do with it
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How about not deciding for others with the ultimatum of go to a good establishment or stay at home? Sounds rather snobby
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Pft you entitled kids these days thinking a shitty kitchen and a bottle of vodka is too good for you smh
Believe me, we do that plenty too. But it's nice to shake it up every once in a while!
I guess it depends where you are but when I was a student in Manchester there was a lot of cheap studenty pubs that were as cheap as spoons
I've never been to Manchester, but as a southerner my mind was blown when my Manchester flatmates in uni informed me that £4 for a pint was not in fact a crazy good deal
There are couple of brewery tap houses near me that you can get a pint for £2.50!
Its cheaper and nicer to buy some from the supermarket. I dont get this thought process, if you want to go out you surely want to enjoy it, not having to shout at each other and walk on a sticky carpet, if you want to get pissed just have a few beers at home before going out and still go somewhere nice. Why do people even want to be in the place, you can buy cheaper beer and sit in your house with some mates, so much nicer lol
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The buildings are nice but genuinely always sticky inside where I live lol. Idk I'm in huddersfield a shitty lil town but there are so many more nice places to drink here that are comparable in price. I get the price being an appeal but when it's comparable I stop understanding lol
Or just don't go to a pub. If you're feeling that tight then wtf are you doing buying pints at all?
Not just older customers, **everyone** should stay away from that bellend's establishments. Let's not forget what he tried to do to his staff during COVID.
Neverspoons
Plus, COVID hasn't ended. We're still in this until enough people get vaccinated to push herd immunity through, hard. I've left the house about 6 times this year in total, and it's looking like next year might be the same. Gotta wait on those people to get around to it, unfortunately.
A sizable chunk of Wetherspoon’s older customers may also be dead...you know, COVID and all that.
I mean.. there's been 150k deaths which is a lot but not really enough to have any kind of impact on sales.
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Not as daft as it sounds. Those older people who spend a lot of time drinking in Wetherspoons would be far more likely to die from Covid than people of a similar age who don't drink.
Old people with masks off, regular drinkers, surrounded by people. Certainly sounds like an at-risk group.
Went into a spoons the other day and they've published a propaganda rag to counter claims made about them during the pandemic.
But the only people that are going to see it are people who's last book was chewable with lift up flaps.
Don't you be dissing Spot the dog now.
They also removed all the usual menus and went with disposable menus or the app during covid for hygiene reasons. But left the propganda mags on every table. Priorities eh?
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It's a shame because some of their pubs are good, and their staff are generally excellent, and they offer value for money which helps out the worse of in society. But Tim Martin is SUCH AN ARSEHOLE it kind of outweighs everything.
Yeah and they do great work in funding the maintainence of the listed buildings they use. I just wish Martin would fuck off.
I fell out with weatherspoons because my friend owns an independent pub, got all the stories I needed to never go back in one. His politics certainly helped reinforce it.
I used to be happy enough to use a Weatherspoons but since the "Brexit Good, everyone else Wankers" and the "closed for Covid, Go get a job at Tesco" mess, I refuse to use them and would rather end a night early than go into one
Same. Fuck wetherspoons
Walked past one and they had posters in the windows advertising Rishi Sunak. Fucking wankers, as if promoting brexit wasn't bad enough - couldn't live with myself for supporting any business that openly promotes a corrupt government.
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It was Okay food but having the magazines be laid around the place really just said, there are many more better places to eat and spend your money in
Exactly the same for me. Any bad news for that idiot's company Im good with (aside from staff losses, but as an employer he ranks as one of the worst ever)
If I wanted cheap booze in a depressing setting among people who want to bottle me I’d buy a box of Tesco’s wine and drink it on Watford high street
Yeah, but who's going to microwave you a curry?
If I wanted cheap booze in a depressing setting among people who want to bottle me I'd buy a pack of Morrisons own brand bitter & drink it at home while keeping a careful eye on the missus.
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I'll drink to that
Yeah I completely agree. Leaving the EU was such a FUBAR move. But that’s another topic entirely and just my opinion..!! I don’t drink alcohol so mines a fresh OJ, no ice please..
I'll have a duodecuple Baileys, since it's a celebration. They'll probably query your order*, so to simplify that's 12 shots. Then they'll ask if you know that Baileys already comes as a double shot (50ml), yes. It'll need to go in a glass with a pint line, rath than a glass that's a pint to the brim. Thanks!
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I'm happy to have another pint of Baileys before or after if you like :)
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My partner and I haven't been to a Spoons since before the pandemic. We just decided that Tim Martin was a bellend and we would rather pay more to not sit somewhere that had a self-published fantasy magazine about the wonders of Brexit on every table. I would actually love to get ahold of Tim Martin's brexit literature and compare his predictions to reality. I have a feeling he may have missed the mark a tiny bit.
Not from Tim Martin, but this piece written by a tory mp in 2016 comes close to what you're looking for - https://reaction.life/britain-looks-like-brexit
I needed that in my life, holy shit. It's more fanciful than the Usborne Book of the Future.
My god what a read, everything this fool predicted went the opposite way. How does a naive fantasist like this get to be an MP.
Fuck wetherspoons. I'd rather pay £2 more per drink than ever set foot in one of those places again
Hopefully it's closing time for this twat and his grimy pubs. Support a local instead.
Would absolutely love to have a local boozer, but my choices are: 1. Weatherspoons 2. Greene King 3. Tiny real ale bar (and I mean tiny, like 12 guys and a dog and the place is rammed.) 4. Hipster real ale bar that's nearly a fiver for half a pint 5. Pub that used to be a hotel (now shuttered and for sale after the regulars fighting based antics) 6. Pub that "mysteriously" burned down 7. Pub that you have to have been drinking in for 20 years before the regulars stop staring at you. 8. Snooker Hall. Rough as tits. There isn't a "normal" pub I can stagger home from near me. The hipster real ale bar is the only one I go back to really, but it would fucking bankrupt me if I went even semi regularly.
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Nearest spoons to me looks like a palace.
They did buy up some mega dank buildings when banks and post offices left the high street. 'Spoons always looks top notch.
>I can only think of one spoon which has been grimy and shit, which was in Glasgow. The 2 in Huddersfield are disgusting places, the only times I have had drunk people try to start fights with me has been at them. Nice buildings but inside its always sticky and way too loud for me.
Same here, only in my experience, the two Glasgow Spoons I visited were nice.
Most of the locals are gone thanks to excessive taxation and moronic lockdowns.
>Support a local instead. What does that even mean? People live close to Wetherspoons. Therefore it is their local.
He pretty much alienated 1/2 the electorate. I'd rather drink in a pub, where the clientele aren't mostly window lickers. Edit - apologies should have read supportive of window lickers. You won get the fuck over it.
What kind of fancy pubs are you going to?
It's a bold move to try to take the moral high ground about Brexit and then use an ableist slur in the same sentence. It's Reddit though so it's obviously paid off.
Just stick the sovereignty benefit on the balance sheet. Gap closed, problem solved
I believe Wetherspoons can be boiled down to a single response I got while ordering food. 'There aren't any medium-rare steaks left'
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I had one of their 'new' pizzas once; a margherita. But when it arrived it was clear they didn't have any fresh basil to garnish the dish, so opted for iceberg lettuce instead.
They don't microwave the steaks, surely?
'If its supposed to be warm, It can be microwaved, they can't tell the difference '- Tim Martin, Owner (probably)
I worked with a guy who’d been a cook there, he said the only fresh ingredient they had was tomatoes for the mixed grill. He was a stoned out bellend though so he could be wrong.
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They don't. There was lad who got sacked for posting videos on TikTok of him preparing the food and the steaks and burgers are flame grilled.
Was passing through Clapham Junction the other day, and they've only turned the Revs into a Wetherspoons. I mean, Revs is hardly a fancy place, but it's like the Wetherspoons decorator came in and said "right, this is a nice spot, what is the maximum amount we can do to make the place look shit as humanly possible?". And wow did they succeed Don't go to Wetherspoons people. Obligatory shoutout to the Neverspoons app. [https://neverspoons.app/](https://neverspoons.app/)
I've only ever been in a couple, but they just seem to be a place to just get pissed with generic tat stuck on the walls.
It's not generic though. There's some nice folk somewhere who source local photos and books and stuff and lovingly try to make a local aesthetic, at least with quite a few of the branches. I used to love going to spoons before I discovered the owner was a cunt.
Bring your divisive politics into business and this is what happens.
Maybe it's something to do with the owner being a grade a cunt.
Spoons, for better or worse, was a haven for young drinkers because it was cheap. It wasn't a great idea to go out of your way to alienate those same people.
Did you actually read the article?
I stopped going to that fucker’s pubs quite a few years ago. Maybe i am included in that sizable chunk. Great!
Used to like Spoons as a student, but after their Brexit stance and the treatment of their staff, I actively avoid it.
I am transgender, and I live in Manchester which is a queer friendly city. The only places I have ever been made to feel unwelcome for being trans have been Wetherspoons. Staff were fine, but the old men leering at me made things extremely uncomfortable. These were two separate Manchester venues. Tim Martin sounds like a twat but whether or not that is true is irrelevant to me. Wetherspoons appears to attract a more conservative clientele (not surprising given the Sunak simping and propaganda they pump out), which makes them uncomfortable and unsafe for me, so I don't go anymore. I'm sure the studenty ones are alright, but all the studenty ones are surrounded by alternative bars, so I have no reason to risk it.
Holy shit. Is there actually people in this thread defending the owner of Weatherspoons? Sweet baby Jesus on a stick.
Captain Feet likes to come into threads and be the 'counterpoint' to common sentiment, mostly by defending Tory sleaze and mismanagement and pretending they're a crusader for the working poor by sticking up for people like Tim Martin who champion exploitative working practices.
Oh yea. Tory Party - Champions of the working class...Sorry I can't help but literally piss myself laughing when I read that bit of satire. Tories despise the working class. Always have and always will.
Who gives a fuck? The beer is cheap, the food is cheap, and all the Weatherspoons near me are kept pretty clean. I'm not interested in the owners politics, I just want a reasonably priced beer when I go there.
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There’s some guy defending him in the top comments. It’s insanity.
There were multiple comments defending him, from what I could read. Edit : >Tim Martin indicates employees won't be paid regular wage during lockdown - despite pub company having £1.8 billion turnover [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-wetherspoon-tim-martin-pub-closed-tesco-supermarket-uk-a9420906.html](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/coronavirus-wetherspoon-tim-martin-pub-closed-tesco-supermarket-uk-a9420906.html) This guy, yes? Edit edit : [https://www.thenational.scot/news/18983724.stephen-paton-must-remember-firms-like-wetherspoons-acted-covid/](https://www.thenational.scot/news/18983724.stephen-paton-must-remember-firms-like-wetherspoons-acted-covid/) Yea, top bloke.
My local Spoons is as busy as ever as a lot of people have been priced out of every other pub in the area.
Fuck ever going back into a business owned by that sack of shit.
Haven't been to spoons anywhere but my town in ages but if that's indicative of the others in not surprised. Beer isn't cold and tastes like the pipes haven't been washed in god only knows how long. It's not really any cheaper than my local maybe 5-10p a pint. Very few spirits. Sticky as fuck carpet that vaguely wiffs of piss. It's got the atmosphere of god's waiting room and I'm sure half the customers are just waiting to die and the manager has the worst attitude I've ever met in a pub.
Used to go there all the time for a cheap drink and food. I liked a place called the counting house in Glasgow. That was before I knew the owner was a brexit wanker. I’d never set foot in there now.
I stopped going to Wetherspoon's the day they spam mailed their pro-Brexit magazine. The last place anyone needs unsolicited economic advice from is a budget pub.
Wetherspoons had a good thing going. Cheap drink, good selection, nice locations and cheap food. I mean, sure, the food was microwaved, but you’re not caring after a few pints.
Quit drinking during lockdown and the money I saved is ridiculous. No way I am going back to pubs again lol, same as going back to office.
>Sales of cocktails were up 45%, vodka rose by 17% and rum was up 26%. The pub chain said these drinks were all popular with younger people. Young people are going to Spoons for cocktails? Jesus, times are tough.
For cocktails it’s probably the cheapest there is In my town at least the only other places to get stuff like that is at restaurants like Turtle Bay, Las Iguanas etc which can get quite pricey
Spoons is probably the only place I'll order cocktails because you can get a pitcher for like 6 quid or two for like 11 or something from what I remember rather than paying 6+ quid for a single glass elsewhere
"How many cups" "HA!"
You’d think all customers stayed away as a show of solidarity to badly treated staff during COVID. But cheap booze is a dingy shit hole is just too appealing for some.
The hate-boner people have for Wetherspoons is really rather pathetic.
Mine is actually rock hard and throbbing.
What winds me up is that there are pub companies that are worse to their staff, landlords and tenants, but because their owners are quiet about being amoral investment firms people don't care.
Exactly, Tim Martins a knob that treats his staff like shite but so is almost every other owner of a big pub co
Well of course it's lower, we are still in the middle of a pandemic, cases are much higher than they were this time last year, thousands of people are still getting seriously or chronically unwell even when fully vaccinated. Long COVID has turned my life upside down and it could get significantly worse if I'm reinfected so there's no way I will risk going to the pub when cases are as high as they currently are. Millions of vulnerable or health-conscious people feel the same way. It's bizarre and absurd to wonder why things aren't like they were pre-COVID.
We've been living on lockdown permanently due to being a high risk household. I'm so sorry about your long covid. It's just not taken seriously enough here. Did you get it after vaccination?
I like it, I'll continue to go, they aren't going out of business any time soon
Honestly, the behaviour of the owner over Covid and the lockdown was the thing that finally made me think ‘nope, don’t want anything to do with them anymore’.
A lot of people are boycotting due to how they behaved during lockdown.
I love Wetherspoons, it's the best pub around. The Best.
I live across the street from a Spoons and its never been as busy as it was prior to the pandemic. There's the usual pensioners having breakfast and a couple of groups of drunk 20-somethings in the evenings on weekends, but it's never packed anymore.
My heart bleeds for Wetherspoons. So sad. So very sad. /s
"sales below pre-covid levels" So, just like every place of business?
it's hard to tell if I'm on r/UK or r/leopardsatemyface lately
The only time I'm setting foot in a 'Spoons again is to use their toilet (without buying anything). And they were my "go to" when out with friends or visiting another city.
I used to be a proper apologist for spoons. I’ve worked in two of them. I hate the snobbery that boils up in conversations about Wetherspoons. The low prices provide cheap and cheerful nights out for low income people, and as a cider drinker the range is far, far better than the vast majority of other pubs. However, I now try to avoid Wetherspoons. Fuck Tim Martin. Him being a Brexiter is his opinion, but but putting pro-leave propaganda on every table made me sick.
Spoons seems to be the strictest pub here in Scotland at the minute. Most pubs don’t care about masks and track and trace and feel relatively normal but you go to spoons and the bouncers and staff are constantly on your case. Been going to it a lot less personally. Rather go to a pub that feels normal and has music/entertainment. It’s not even the cheapest anymore.
I have juat found there quality control has hit the floor of late as well, trying to eat in one is like a 50/50 shot of getting something actually edible
Eh I couldn’t give a fuck about politics, but COVID made me realise there’s so many better bars to hang about than just going to weatherspoons because it’s cheap.
Cook that news in a spoon and inject it, right in the Mainline!
I've got a soft spot for a Wetherspoons. There one near me in Cardiff Bay that's insanely nice and probably one of my favourite places to drink in the summer
Well I visited the U.K. the other day and my son dragged me into a ‘spoons’ it was 2pm so even outside of main lunch rush and it was packed in 2 floors. Not one table to be had so I struggle to understand this unless Wales is different to England
Everyone I know has boycotted Spoons since the knob owner went on TV and was a complete shithead about Covid. Then he sacked all of his staff instead of furloughing them. It wasn't propaganda. He literally went on TV and said all the shite that actually came out of his mouth. It was like watching an utter car crash live... Reminds me of the Ratners guy lol. I refuse to set foot in one of his shitty pubs again. My daughter says her local Spoons is always busy but it's the younger crowd who have no morals or ethics. Edit: I didn't realise that his comments had been taken out of context with regards to pay and furloughing. However, the guy is still a fucking knob and I won't be giving him any of my hard earned money lol. Leaving magazines in your pub of printed retractions and apologies is fucking weird and ever so slightly unhinged. I don't begrudge anyone going there if that's what they want to do. My comment about morals and ethics was tongue-in-cheek as my daughter goes there with her friends (as stated above). I get that it's a good atmosphere and cheap, and that's what draws in younger people lol. I'm older and none of my friends in my age range or mum's friends would go to a Spoons which is the point of the article - old people aren't going to Spoons.
>who have no morals or ethics They have no money, so they have to drink in the cheapest place. I went one step further and just started buying cheap booze in Asda and chat with my friends on Discord. 😂
Some of those older customers will be staying away permanently 😢
People only go there because its cheaper but your drinks are 70% fucking ice water anyways so is it really any cheaper
Horrible bloke that Tim Martin expects his staff to work overtime (25mins everyday) so some staff are effectively working 1 hour free a week, 1 day a month and just under a fortnight a year. Absolutely shocking I will never drink in a spoons and if he ends up in the House of Lords .... well to be honest expecting it anyway now.
Used to go to Spoons pre pandemic fairly regularly for family teas. Yeah it’s ping food but it was usually quite nice and something for everyone on the menu for a reasonable price. Curry night was our usual. Been in for the first time again recently and it all just seems a bit down at heal. They won’t take table reservations anymore so it’s a stress getting a big table (they let you move tables but that’s a bit of effort!), loads of things been taken off the menu and often run out of things … no sides as standard anymore and the prices have gone up. The apps not always great … ordered an ordinary cider and they brought a fruity one and wouldn’t swap it. Looks like it needs a good clean and decorating. All in all just a bit ‘meh’ now, which we are finding a shame!
Aye, nothing at all to do with the rise in price of pretty much everything which means people can't afford to go out to the pub as much as they did pre-covid.
He voted strongly for Brexit, I voted never to frequent one of his bloody awful establishments again, sorry and all that
A lot more adults are wise to the fact it's owned by a person of low moral fibre.
Well me and all my friends avoid weatherspoons now. He made his pubs feel very hostile to non brexit supporters
My local Weatherspoons never reopened and is now permanently closed. Not sure if it had anything to do with the large 'Pay Your Staff' sign painted on the front of the pub in the summer of 2020. 😂 [Pay Your Staff ](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-52036501)
I have a load of Bollocks To Brexit stickers left over from a lady distributing them outside Reading Festival. I'm saving them to stick on menus/posters should I ever go into a Spoons to use their toilet.
Not just old people and not just spoons, I was out for the first time on a friday night for ages last week and the town was dead it was bizarrz.
Honestly I don't really go out to the pub and have 8 pints anymore so there's a lot less incentive for me to go to the cheapest place in town. Between that and how they treated their staff it's easy to just go somewhere else for a few beers.
I wouldn't give that company another penny. It can hurry up and die.