What's wrong with Wetherspoon's?

This is a little something I wrote several years back about why Wetherspoon Pubs have such a bad reputation, my views have since changed slightly... only slightly mainly because living and working in a pub I rarely get the chance to frequent any Wetherspoon establishments.

For me the easy answer would be nothing, there are some things that could be better but the principles behind the pubs make all the cons bearable. The first Wetherspoon opened its doors in 1979 by the owner Tim Martin, apparently he got the name from one of his old school teachers. The company has now grown to over 700 pubs. Over the years a lot of the Wetherspoon's pubs have been tarnished with a bad reputation, in fact because of this, the whole company now has a pretty bad one. Once you get passed this, the pubs are actually really good pubs. My local, 'The Regent' in Walton on Thames, Surrey, is one of these pubs. It doesn't look good inside, it has no history, when you walk through the doors it is like you have stumbled upon a void in space and time with no past or future. Once you have paid for your drink and have drunken it, the atmosphere doesn't improve in the slightest. It has its regulars, the ones who I see in there day in, day out. On Friday and Saturday nights the younger, much more rowdy crowd come in to get pissed before their nights out in the surrounding towns. I tend to only go during the week or during the day, I don't like it in there when it gets too loud and busy. If I was being critical and as honest as possible, I would have to say that the pub itself is terrible. A couple of the reasons I go there, actually maybe the only reasons I go there are; the price and the selection of drinks.

Wetherspoon's has such a wide selection of beers, both ales and lagers. They even have a huge selection of foreign bottled beers. A wide variety of ciders, both cask and bottled. One thing that first stood out to me was the selection of spirits, some of which I had never seen before. The first place I ever saw 'Sailor Jerry's spiced rum' for sale was in a Wetherspoon's pub, it was months before I saw it in any shops. I used to work in a supermarket, it sold it, but it was a long time after I had seen it in a Wetherspoon. Another more recent addition would be 'Jeremiah Weed sweet tea' a sweet tea flavoured vodka based liqueur. I'm yet to see it in any shops. This is a great reason to like a pub alone, they source these great drinks before they are even on the market in the UK. I consider myself to be an ale man, I love them and am fascinated by them. I have never seen any pubs with such a large selection of ales. Wetherspoon supports CAMRA, trying to promote ales and save breweries and pubs. Wetherspoon is a big chain, but from what I have seen, heard and read, they are doing wonders for the brewing community. They are recognised by Cask Marque, a non-profit company set up to make sure that cask ales are being served to the highest standards.

A point I would like to mention is that Wetherspoon's are one of the only pubs that I can fully trust to be getting a great pint, at least 99.9% of the time. I would say all the time though there may be the very, very rare exception. The pipes are regularly cleaned, I have seen them doing this so many times I have lost count. The beers are well maintained, they go on when they need to, if they don't look or smell right they will not be served. One thing I haven't mentioned about the price, is that they are by far the cheapest pubs I have ever been to. Some people think this is because they buy barrels close to their end date, maybe so, they still wouldn't serve an off pint. The prices over the years have steadily risen but I guess that is inflation and also the current economic situation has made the prices soar even more. They are still cheaper than nearly every pub and continue to serve great beer and other drinks. The food isn't too bad either.

Click on any Wetherpoon and it will link you to the website.