^ I read yesterday PH are offering a free 3month Premium subscription 😁
Until recently I went to my local Wetherspoon a couple of times per month. Being a university city, the place was usually rammed with young ladies barely able to afford to dress themselves but the beer selection was usually excellent and extremely cheap so I suffered it. Post-virus I doubt I'll be able to afford to go out at all so it's all academic. Is Pornhub free in the UK yet?
"A man of little significance"
^ I read yesterday PH are offering a free 3month Premium subscription 😁
Cheers..
Jase
Xnxx is my go to.
Cheers..
Jase
Their full English brekkie is not to be sniffed at, value wise.
The only time I go to a 'Spoons is at Gatwick North.
Equally their pizza are excellent and not far off the typical pizza chain in terms of quality. I occasionally pop in for a margarita pizza and a pint of Brewdog Punk IPA with my son on a Saturday afternoon. Otherwise, I dont frequent Wetherspoons.
At just over seven squid its great value especially given the high quality beer that you can have with it.
But, Im going have to rethink my habits after this news.
The truth is Wetherspoons take on buildings that no one else wants or can find an economic use for (Old Cinemas, Banks etc). In a previous life I was involved with the development of their pubs; it was often listed buildings that had sat empty or derelict for quite some time, over 20 years in many instances, that they acquired - very challenging and expensive to develop but they made the numbers work when others couldn't. The pubs and customer demographic are certainly not to everyone's taste but there would be many more city and town centre historic buildings empty and decaying without JDW.
As for the personality, Tim Martin is a self-made man who has spent his entire life proving people wrong; he certainly has a level of self-belief I have experienced in few others.
Useless fact - The name Wetherspoon was used for the business as it was the name of a teacher of Mr Martin who told him early in life that he was a waster who would make nothing of himself.
Now for that, I admire him. I have a teacher from many moons ago that drive me after he called me mediocre in a school report.
Still wont drink in his pubs though, no matter how good the beer. I like a nice ambience as well as a cheap pint. Chavs, winos and scantily clad size 14 in size 10 dresses doesnt do it for me.
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
Didn't know that, but I named my first car after my English Teacher at school. To put it mildly, he was a bully and a prat. He positively discriminated against me because I used to stand up to him and it all backfired on him making him look stupid, (long story). It always gave me great pleasure 'inserting the starting handle' and giving it a good turn, imagining the front of my care was his ar$e!
As for 'spoons', don't like their pubs at all, but the food and service in the outlet at our local airport is exceedingly good - but then, there's no other option!
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
I liken it to going for a drink in Asda. I would love for this to become a Ratner moment for both Martin and Ashley but I imagine it won't make much difference.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
The NewsThump take on the story...
https://newsthump.com/2020/03/26/wet...-staff-sacked/
Anyone know what Wetherspoons or SD weekly wages bill is?
Lets not forget this heinous human also owns:-
House of Frasier
Evans Cycles
Jack Wills
To name but a few of his businesses beside Sports Direct.
I shall be swerving those in future too alongside Whetherspoons.
Have no time for Ashley or Martin, although Martin was good in Father Ted
Maybe felt the heat of public opinion? Good though.
Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley has apologised to the government after saying its shops should stay open during the coronavirus lockdown.
He agreed to close its high street stores earlier this week in a U-turn, having previously argued that the company provided an essential service and should stay open.
In an open letter, he said he was deeply apologetic about the misunderstandings of the last few days.
He added: "Our intentions were only to seek clarity from the government as to whether we should keep some of our stores open. We would never have acted against their advice.
Mr Ashley also said that his Frasers Group would offer its entire fleet of lorries to help deliver medical equipment and supplies for the NHS and other key workforces.
So clever my foot fell off.
Damage limitation effort
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Disgraceful behaviour! I think companies like this should exploit the law as far as possible to recover their debts, and then refuse to supply spoons in the future, (and try to persuade other similar small breweries to do the same). Without small independents like this spoons would find it hard to compete with the big boys.
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
When they re-open I'll be doing my usual of popping in, ordering 4 pints of Guinness and then apologising that I've forgotten my wallet and walking out. Petty but it cheers me up.
The problem is that the unscrupulous Tim Martin knows he has them over a barrel (pardon the pun).
This is often an issue when very large companies that have market dominance have many small suppliers - supermarkets do it all the time.
They know that the little guy ultimately has little option but to accept their terms, no matter how unfair and immoral they are.
The law should prevent this, but it doesn't.
So clever my foot fell off.
Indeed there are, there has been a bit of an explosion of such outlets (micro pubs)...and you think they are all currently paying all their suppliers; and are all the small brewers all currently paying all their suppliers?
As I said, I'm not trying to justify it, it's just the reality of normal business, never mind in these extraordinary times.
What a total shyster.
Don't just do something, sit there. - TNH
Ignore this whole situation for a moment.
Many,many people look down on Wetherspoons ...it's downmarket,crap,wouldn't be seen dead in one etc etc. Quite frankly I think it's pure snobbery. As I think has been mentioned before, Wetherspoons has made a business model out of taking interesting buildings that might otherwise be left vacant and turning them into a pub that sells good beer at decent prices. It also allows those on lower incomes to be able to go out and enjoy themselves for very little. Yes, there are some Wetherspoons that are crap but then that is also true of 'regular' pubs.
Now....taking Tim Martin's recent actions into account......nothing has changed regards the actual pubs. All that has changed is people's views on the owner and they will,if they choose,vote with their feet. But will the lower income families etc choose to do so? I doubt it. Why go to a normal pub and pay 12 or so for a burger plus another 6 for a pint of beer when they can go to Wetherspoons and get a pint and a burger for about 5?
Most of the forum members on this thread seem to be in the 'wouldn't go there if you paid me' camp anyway ,so them all saying they will boycott them is meaningless.
Last edited by village; 27th March 2020 at 15:34. Reason: Correct name! D'oh!
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
People tend to pick and chose what they boycott. You can find immoral business practices across most large organisations. People will buy lots of goods that have been manufactured in inhuman conditions (didnt Apples factory have suicide nets?)
I would say I have a generally good conscience and tend to treat others how I would like to be treated, but at the moment it doesnt affect my day to day decisions as a consumer, although I will make an effort to shop local instead of chains where possible.
As a business model I really can't see much wrong with Tim Martins approach to selling beer, there's a decent range of ales, the food whilst not inspiring looks fair value, no music and silent gambling machines, people can socialise and relax, it's an appealing formula, the pubs are mostly well run with a pretty dedicated staff, however he's now shown his true colours regarding staff and suppliers but I don't knock the formula.
But you seem to be totally ok with Martin drip feeding his opinions to his customers, spreading his personal anti EU vendetta in his magazine and on beer mats, together with providing his customers with only certain right leaning newspapers, in an environment where the unwritten rule was always no politics or religion.
Like it or not - and I know you don't, the fact is that the referendum was a battle where truth was the casualty, Fromage, Gove, Bozo, Davies, Mogg and yes Tim Martin together with the rag top papers manipulated the public, you might be okay with that even though Britain is going to shit in a hand cart, but try not to think that we're all so gullible.
For the record I haven't been in a ''Spoons'' since the referendum, and if Martin was to go belly up tomorrow I might just PMSL.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
There isnt much difference for the staff whether he goes belly up or not at the moment.
However he would go down with little loss to him, screwing over his suppliers as well as the other shareholders, so not a good thing.
Id love if the small breweries could afford to stop supplying him AND take him to court, but its unlikely to happen.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Whilst 'spoons' take volume, they do it aggressively. We have a couple of small independent bars/food places that have had great footfall from using micro/small beer brands and decent food. Much better than the chain places - I hope they come out of this in one piece.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........