Wetherspoons, the pub chain that just keeps on giving.
tinyurl.com/5e8khzxt
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Sounds like they are desperate. Four in Norwich and I would go near any of them. I guess a lotofpeople feel the same.
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>> Sounds like they are desperate. Four in Norwich and I would go near any of
>> them. I guess a lotofpeople feel the same.
>>
Quite right Mr Norfolk.
I agree with you, I would go near - in fact inside - any of them.
'spoons is a very successful pub chain which sell wells kept beer and good reasonably priced food.
I am so glad you have seen the light and come on board. Do you ever travel to civilised parts of the UK? You could buy me a drink if you do.
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I have to agree with Duncan. I have been to several 'Spoons and most were fine.
Unfortunately my two locals 'Spoons are not the best.
There is a decent but pricy Marstons 1.2 walking miles away but it's nearly all up hill. The advantage is that it's nearly all downhill on the way home :-D
It's under 1 mile away if public footpaths are used but the council and police had actually put signs up that read "Enter at your own risk" - basically giving up on crime in that area!
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>> I have to agree with Duncan. I have been to several 'Spoons and most were
>> fine.
All the Wetherspoon's I've been in were also fine. Mind you, I think there have been only 3.
The Moon in the Square, Bournemouth.
The Lord Wimborne, Poole Quay.
The Hatchet Inn, Newbury.
Drink prices lower than other pubs I've been in. Great food, and again, very well priced.
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I like Spoon's, I want nice food at a reasonable price. Too often, going further up market, one gets neither. Spoon's scores at least 1, and although the food is a lottery I never feel there is much at risk and it is usually edible.
I've also found some of the better located outlets handy for the morning coffee, especially as I abjure Starbucks, Costa etc.
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I think they sell alot of coffee from their pubs, in top 5 aren't they for selling coffee?
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Enjoy them while you can. They are in trouble financially. Share price halved last year.
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I think they'll be going for quite some time.
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>> I think they'll be going for quite some time.
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Expect them to sell off a lot of their properties this year. They expanded too quickly and COVID, cost of living crisis and somewhat ironically Brexit has made their business model unviable.
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Businesses do expand and contract depending on the economy, I would think.
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I enjoy a pint, several in fact, but can’t remember the last time I went in a ‘Spoons. Probably the Devonshire in Skipton, but when there are several excellent pubs in Skippy selling my preferred beers why should I.
Went in one in Carlisle recently, whilst awaiting a rail connection to take me down the coast of Cumbria, and probably been in a few in Leeds and York.
I’ve never eaten in one, nor had the opportunity....but I do know two ‘Spoons in the Aire Valley which have less than salubrious clientele and one visit was sufficient. Drive past them regularly and small groups of scratters fagging away outside every time continues to put me off.
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I was in one earlier this week, for a couple of pints of something I can't remember. It was exactly the kind of beer I enjoy, pale, hoppy and citrousy.
The grub was also cheap, but meh, you get what you pay for and the only place that could match them for price nearby was Subway.
I confess my daughter managed some for several years. I saw how the ales were kept and was very impressed. As long as they keep to the rules, you could easily find a worse pint. I doubt if you'll find a pub with a choice of different ales at the price - £2.39 locally. Although (if you're desperate) they had ruddles at 99p!
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We had one in the middle of Wokingham till two or three years back. It got sold to another chain, lick of paint, not even new carpets but beer suddenly twice the price.
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>> We had one in the middle of Wokingham till two or three years back. It
>> got sold to another chain, lick of paint, not even new carpets but beer suddenly
>> twice the price.
That will be the reason they sold it then. Not making any money.
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Their business model is all wrong. Depends on large sales of cheap beer to the masses. With disposable income dropping rapidly at the lower end of the income scale they are in deep trouble
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Isn't anything mass market and discretionary going to suffer? The opportunity for Spoon's for now is people trading down. A pub lunch for two has started to look like a luxury over the last 12 months.
Perhaps their food promotion is a smart move to get trial and add new customers.
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Yes it will. Former Weatherspoons customers will buy their cheap lager at Lidl or Aldi and stay at home. I can’t see the middle classes substituting their gastro pubs for a night out in Weatherspoons though.
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I visited two Spoons quite recently. A perfectly decent one i Dovercourt, Harwich (whilst en-route to the Ntherlands) for a couple of beers (respectable Conwy Larger) and a pretty decent breakfast on the way home. Then more recently the one in Oswestry en-route to the Bike Show (the usual stop at nearby Table Table was too busy). Not somewhere I'd go for a night out but certainly not bad places.
My nephew and niece both worked (hard) at their local Spoons when they were in University.
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>> Yes it will. Former Weatherspoons customers will buy their cheap lager at Lidl or Aldi
>> and stay at home. I can’t see the middle classes substituting their gastro pubs for
>> a night out in Weatherspoons though.
The gastro pubs are the narrow top of the pyramid. There are more pubs between Wetherspoon's and the gastro market, most serving food no better than Wetherspoon's at 2 or 3 times the price. And round here in reasonably leafy west Herts many of those don't even open every weekday lunchtime any more. My own favourite food pub still does lunch but has dropped evening meals altogether.
Wetherspoon might yet drop the ball but they won't stand back and watch the business crumble.
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So where do the go? Their business model demands volume sales and if their traditional customers abandon them either because they can no longer afford them or have changed their drinking habit they are in a difficult place.
They may well survive but as a much smaller business. They have recently sold off around 40 pubs. Expect more to follow.
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>> So where do the go? Their business model demands volume sales and if their traditional
>> customers abandon them either because they can no longer afford them or have changed their
>> drinking habit they are in a difficult place.
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>> They may well survive but as a much smaller business. They have recently sold off
>> around 40 pubs. Expect more to follow.
They go after what business there is. Looking down the other end of the telescope, there is a rapidly diminishing choice of places for customers to go. I drink very little, as a health choice, but it's no good taking a tenner, or even £20, down the local now for a couple of hours social drinking and a sandwich. And the local is shut most of the week anyway.
From what I hear, the tenant of the best localish village pub has thrown in the towel this week and the owner has come out of retirement to run it pro tem. Pubs round here are dropping like flies.
Provided JDW can manage the cash for a while I'm inclined to think they'll 'wether' it. Especially ifthey are prepared to cut the worst performing outlets.
There's takeover talk too.
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>> Yes it will. Former Weatherspoons customers will buy their cheap lager at Lidl or Aldi
>> and stay at home. I can’t see the middle classes substituting their gastro pubs for
>> a night out in Weatherspoons though.
>>
...it's quite an achievement to shoehorn so much bourgeois sentiment into so short a post...
...chapeau!...
;-)
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>> I can’t see the middle classes substituting their gastro pubs for
>> a night out in Weatherspoons though.
One would hope the middle classes knew how to spell Wetherspoons correctly ;)
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>> I can’t see the middle classes substituting their gastro pubs for
>> a night out in Weatherspoons though.
>>
Well, they can and do.
Of course it depends upon the middle class individual, the gastro pub and the Wetherspoons, doesn't it?
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Norfolk - when you were young, did nobody ever tell you about the birds and the bees and the tinyurl app?
tinyurl.com/app
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Don't think we're bothering with that any more.
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I had an excellent lunch in Wetherspoons today.
The Hamilton Hall in Liverpool Street station. steak and kidney pudding, chips, peas and gravy. excellent! £9.10 including a soft drink. The place was packed!
I have just had one of my brilliant ideas! How about a Car4play works outing to a 'spoons? First round on Zero.
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>> www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/news/23274671.jd-wetherspoons-39-pubs-sale---see-full-list/
Had quite a few evenings down the years in Penderels Oak, Holborn, which is on the list. It was our go to for staff reunions for a while. Last there in May 16 for a retirement do.
Used to be government offices I think. Both the Shakespeare's Head (Kingsway) and Knight's Templar (Chancery Lane) are other Wetherspoons a hop, skip and a jump away.
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I used them 3 times last year. Twice in Dovercourt (Harwich) and once in Oswestry - both times were fine. The nearest one is in Rhyl (5 miles away) not for me ;-)
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Our local one is The Sedge Lynn, its a former Temperance billiard hall with a roof like an old Nissen hut from the war but much bigger and more ornate. Only been in once.
The name came from the big Victorian house next door, demolished to build a cinema.
Ted
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>> I can't see the middle classes substituting their gastro pubs for a night out in Wetherspoons though
>> Former Wetherspoons customers will ... stay at home
Which makes their pubs slightly nicer places to be, I've found recently. The types who can afford to go out on the town are mostly frequenting the stylish, higher priced places now.
That, or our local 'Spoons will be included in the next round of closures (it's not in the current one).
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Wetherspoons - The Pub chain you love - CGNorwich
