Wetherspoons closes 39 pubs

There are two Spoons close to the Oak. The Knights Templar and the Shakespeares Head. It’s a busy area though and some off the pubs round there are still very busy. The Oak to me never looked like a welcoming premises.
Don't know the KT, but regularly go to the SH.

My works local is the WWE in Twickenham; great old building. If you like Rugby, then there's photo's of international stadiums, signed photos and shirts all over the place; on top of that, It's less than 4 quid for a pint of premium lager, they do the unlimited hot drink offers and the food, while generally not interesting, is consistent.
 
Don't know the KT, but regularly go to the SH.

My works local is the WWE in Twickenham; great old building. If you like Rugby, then there's photo's of international stadiums, signed photos and shirts all over the place; on top of that, It's less than 4 quid for a pint of premium lager, they do the unlimited hot drink offers and the food, while generally not interesting, is consistent.
This one has huge advantage with pricing too. When you consider how expensive the cabbage patch over the road is.

Still not for me though. Brexit supporting and not really the right vibe for me.
 
Prior to lockdown, my eldest son and I would meet up in Swatter's Carr before the match and have a few beers. I use to like Doom Bar and the Shipyard's was very good and both were offered at a reasonable price. We would then go back to Swatter's after the game, stay there until 9 pm and then get a taxi home.

I enjoyed these days out and always thought the football got in the way. We would sometimes have a pizza or a chicken & bacon burger, both very basic and nothing to write home about. The door staff always kept a good house and were always polite on entering or exiting the premises. The dearest part of the evening was paying for a taxi back to Normanby and the prices in Weatherspoons never blew a hole in the bank.

I was in Kent for a funeral last week and had to pay southern prices for what I can only describe as very poor beer (Banks, Spitfire) and ended up drinking Guinness, even this wasn't good but more palatable than the others. I spent a fortune on both days that I was there and thought there is no way you could do this regularly.

On our first night in the pub/hotel we all got food and my father and I got steak and ale pie, with a selection of veg and chips. After a long drive down to Kent, I was looking forward to it. When the pie came, I can only describe it as looking like a pukka pie and tasted like a poor pie from a football concourse kiosk. I would have killed for a Weatherspoons chicken burger.

Edit: I forgot to add that the pie cost me twice as much as a meal in Swatters.
 
Most of the employees should be ok, hospitality is crying out for staff at the moment with pubs having had to close kitchens due to a lack of catering staff.

As for the gaffer, well he comes across as a tw@t much of the time but only stands out because those running the other pub companies keep their heads down.
 
I know there is some total knobs on here who get on their high horses at the merest mention of Wetherspoons but they have their place in society. Some cannot afford to pay £6:00 for a pint of IPA that pretends to be a beer. Also think about the people about to lose their jobs.
Agreed. It’s also somewhere where people can buy a coffee with free refills and keep warm.
 
Any thoughts on how the closure of these pubs will affect the wider supply chain aswell as the people who will lose their jobs because of these closures ST?
 
Any thoughts on how the closure of these pubs will affect the wider supply chain aswell as the people who will lose their jobs because of these closures ST?
Do you really think people are going to stop eating out and going in pubs because these pubs are closed, that's what affects the supply chain?

Plenty of jobs going in hospitality, they'll find new work in the same line if they want it, particularly kitchen staff.
 
This one has huge advantage with pricing too. When you consider how expensive the cabbage patch over the road is.

Still not for me though. Brexit supporting and not really the right vibe for me.

The thing is I work 100 yards from there. I can't justify paying £12.50 for 2 beers or whatever it is when there's a perfectly servicable place less than 200 yards away for less than £8. We had a works dinner at the Patch, over the WWE and it was great to sit out the back, but when you're just meeting a friend for a couple of beers......

I work in one of the industries really badly affected by Brexit but Martin didn't get a million people to change their minds on voting. I'd rather look to the politicians who clearly had no plans whatsoever to deal whatever result came about.
 
Thanks for clarifying. As your opening post did come across a bit like you were gloating about it.
I thought so too. Thought best to check he had a soul.

@Corcaigh_the_Cat of course it will affect the supply chain. That's 39 less businesses to supply. We've already seen one of our meat suppliers go down to a four day working week during the pandemic because of the lack of businessess to supply to (they were shut down) and some never recovered and never reopened hence why said supplier went down to the four day working week. That came with job losses too.
 
I don’t give my custom to Wetherspoons, not because of the type of pub they are (they are cheap and cheerful and good value sure) but for the man who owns them.

I see yesterday he is quoted as saying to his customers “Stop watching Love Island and other reality TV shows and get back into my pubs”
that's a lifetime of entitlement for you
 
I thought so too. Thought best to check he had a soul.

@Corcaigh_the_Cat of course it will affect the supply chain. That's 39 less businesses to supply. We've already seen one of our meat suppliers go down to a four day working week during the pandemic because of the lack of businessess to supply to (they were shut down) and some never recovered and never reopened hence why said supplier went down to the four day working week. That came with job losses too.
The businesses weren't selling and their few customers will go elsewhere, so demand will be maintained but at a different establishment . How much was being supplied to these pubs if they can't sell?

Of course demand is falling off in a lot of places. The country voted in a government intent on transferring funds upwards. Until that stops more and more businesses affecting those at our level will go to the wall. I'm expecting one of my locals to be next. Couldn't hire kitchen staff so stopped selling food, the only thing attracting many people.
 
There is only a finite amount of time these pathetic brexiteer morons and their right wing rags like the mail and express will be able to pull out the its covids fault for everything when every other EU country has already recovered economically despite having a much longer and more restrictive lockdown than the UK did

The level of denial of the utter and abject failure and damage brexit has caused is a new level of cognative dissonance
 
Instagram and TikTok are killing the pub industry, few of the younger generation want to pout on there with a beer belly.
Depends on the area too.
Our clientele range from 18-70+ but we serve huge numbers if the 18-35 demographic, especially in the summer months.
 
My 'local' one The Last Post- Loughton is closing looking at the list posted on here earlier.
I don't drink and don't really go out for meals so I have never been there.1.JPG
Looks quite a nice building, will probably be converted into appartments which sell for £1m each. Only a few minutes walk from the Central line tube station so perfect position for people who work in The City.
 
Back
Top