Recently I've been
drinking in my local Wetherspoon, The Kings Tun in Kingston. Other
pubs are trying but the sheer selection of alcohol surpasses all
other competition, plus it's cheap.
They have this beer
called 'Devils Backbone', it is an American Pale Ale and one that I
tried and enjoyed near the beginning of my pale ale phase. It's
typical American pale ale, full of hoppy goodness and a moderately
high level of booze. At less than £4 a pint, it's damned near
impossible to go wrong.
I think it's fair to
shed some light on how great Wetherspoon's really are.
It is so easy to
criticise any Wetherspoon pub. I know they sometimes lack any form of
atmosphere or character. Are usually full of people that spend their
days and jobseekers benefits on beer rather than being productive in
the slightest. They sometimes feel oppressive when you first walk in
because of this but it is quite often something that in quickly
overcome when you get to the bar. It is the same feeling you get when
you are anywhere you are not regular or accustomed to.
It isn't until you
break them down to every individual component that they all start to
make sense, and you begin to see how great a pub they truly are, and
close to the mark they are in what I would consider to be a perfect
pub.
I wrote a piece about
'What's wrong with Wetherspoon's' a few years ago and recently
published it on this blog. It was a brief explanation of why I would
consider Wetherspoon's to be fantastic pubs and help people
appreciate them for what they are.
More often than not,
they are situated in prime locations, possibly due to the magnitude
and wealth of the company or possibly better judgement of how vital
location is to any business, more than likely a mix of both. Most of
the ones I've been to, bar a few, are in 'heritage' sites. By
heritage I mean an old landmark or architecturally historic structure
of some sort. A couple of examples can be 'The Kings Tun' in
Kingston, my local one, which in its former glory was a big old
theatre. It's quite hard to see that from the inside but the outside
is still its unmolested original self. Another example is the
'Coronet' on the Holloway Rd in London, it was an old cinema and even
still has the old projectors that would have blasted out bright
moving pictures onto the huge screen and the balconies where the
more elite viewers would have sat.
Both examples might not
be ideal or what we would associate as a classic pub but they are
simply operating on function over form, substance over style. Who
needs all these nooks and crannys when you can quite easily fill the
space with tables and chairs or allowing more space for people to
stand. The traditional booths and cubby holes and stained glass
windows are replaced with shabby carpet, oil paintings usually
depicting the history of the area on the walls and an array of modern
booths taking up every spare inch of space along the side walls. Once
upon a time they were dimly lit so as not to see how poorly decorated
they were, now after a lick of paint and new fixtures and fittings
they are all as bright as anything and not particularly cheery. That
was not meant as a dig at the décor, more a simple observation and
expression of my tastes and preference.
Obviously these are not
the real or major selling points of any Wetherspoon pub or what makes
a pub great in any way, simply observations of the overall venue.
As you might have
guessed that I personally rank the general aesthetic of a pub quick
high on a check-list of my idea of the perfect pub. The aesthetic or
architectural beauty of the exterior or interior is crucial in
helping create a pleasant and comfortable atmosphere for drinking.
There are the odd cases where the venue doesn't necessarily have any
external influence on the customers and the décor doesn't do
anything to create or change the feeling of the place, but it
certainly helps.
I could go on and
explain almost every minute detail down to the hinges on the window
frames or the latches on the toilet doors but I wont as it's boring.
All those details add something to the bigger picture of the pub but
are often so subtle they usually go unnoticed, until I point them out
that is.
To me, bar far the most
important aspect of a pub is its selection of booze, ranging from
beers and wines to ciders, liqueurs and spirits. More importantly,
how well the alcohol is kept. It's all well and good having an
assortment of over 20 guest ales say, but if the lines are
infrequently cleaned and the barrels aren't cellared correctly then
it kind of eliminates the point.
In the case of most
Wetherspoon's pubs, both are true. They have an extensive selection
of alcohol, too large to list and are quite often on the forefront of
any major revolution in alcoholic beverage. Of recent years, Sailor
Jerry's spiced rum and the now massive gin craze possibly started by
clever marketing by Hendricks Gin and Wetherspoon's in pushing their
product.
If it's beer you're
after and don't know of any decent 'craft beer' pubs, then any
Wetherspoon establishment would be a safe bet. The alcohol is cheap
(or should I say competitively priced), the selection is phenomenal
and everything is kept well. The food is good, if not a little greasy
but then I do tend to go for the fried things. If you're alone, it's
the perfect place to relax in undisturbed comfort and to take full
advantage of the now rare music-free pub. If you're with company it
can be a perfect place to catch up and create any atmosphere that
suits your or anybody else's mood.
On a side note. You
have to admire the founder, Tim Martin for this beautiful monster he
has created, Frankenstein's beast to the pub world, an amalgamation
of every great idea of what pubs are and should be and putting it all
together. This empire that helps promote and make available to all
the wonders that are British beers and also doing generally fantastic
things for the whole world of booze from international beer
festivals, the introduction of imported spirits and anything helping
make the world of booze a better place to be or be part of.
Plus what's not to like
about somebody who is willing to take on a brewery as mighty as
Heineken over a dispute, temporarily freezing all sales and orders
until a resolution is found. Keep an eye out for further developments
on this matter.
Link to the Wetherspoon website
A link to the Devils Backbone website where you can find out more about their beers.
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