Wetherspoons
|
The Moon Under Water in Hounslow |
J. D. Wetherspoon plc () (commonly referred to as
Wetherspoons) is a
British pub chain founded by
Tim Martin. It is based in
Watford and is listed on the
London Stock Exchange, where it is a constituent of the
FTSE 250 Index.
Wetherspoons pubs have a standard pub
menu throughout the country and serve a variety of low priced
cask ales, having over 650
Cask Marque accredited houses. There is often a local ale available. Pubs in the chain rarely play background
music, and usually do not have
televisions or screen live
sports and when there is a television, the sound is muted. This policy seems to have been reversed recently with newer opening pubs featuring the above, and, whilst being totally non-smoking inside, usually have a patio area for smokers (see below). The chain has formidable buying power and until recently did not stock
Jack Daniels,
Bacardi or
Southern Comfort products because of conflicts with suppliers. The company is based in
Watford in
Hertfordshire.
Many of the features aimed for in Wetherspoon pubs, such as quiet bars and reasonably-priced lunches, are influenced by
George Orwell's essay
The Moon Under Water, in which Orwell described his conception of the perfect pub. Several pubs in the chain bear the name "The Moon Under Water." At odds with this aim however, many of the pubs in the chain are very large compared to other non-chain pubs, and in fact the Moon Under The Water in Manchester was once the largest pub in the world.
Many of the pubs are in large converted buildings that were not pubs before, such as
cinemas, banks, churches or supermarkets.
|
The Coronet in Islington, a former cinema, now a Wetherspoon pub |
The decor and fittings tend to be in a faux-
Victorian public house style with the addition of photos of the local area and information boards concerning local history. There is a pride in the standard of decor in the toilets, some of which have won national awards.
Wetherspoons have a policy of offering low price products; they will often claim to be offering among the lowest priced coffee or burgers of any national chain. The price of cask and tap beer is almost always lower than other pubs and the pre-mixed drinks can be considerably cheaper depending upon the brand.
The name 'Wetherspoon' was that of a school teacher of founder Tim Martin's in
New Zealand, who once wrote on a report that Martin would amount to nothing. The JD part came from JD out of
The Dukes of Hazzard, apparently one of Martin's favourites.
On
January 24 2005, JD Wetherspoon announced they would be banning smoking throughout the chain, the first UK chain to do this, with all new openings from that date to be non-smoking, 60 others were to become non-smoking on
May 19 2005 and phased in all other branches through to May
2006. In the end, their
May 19 2005 date was too ambitious and was not met. However, all new openings and refurbishments will be non-smoking, and, as of April 2006, JD Wetherspoon has almost 90 non-smoking pubs.
The company also own a chain of new-style bars, under their "Lloyds No1 Bar" brand. These bars play contemporary
music (along with corresponding music videos that are displayed on wall-mounted televisions) and often have a small dancefloor. Lloyds Bar has a similar food menu to the normal Wetherspoons outlets, though both the food and drink tends to be slightly more expensive.
*
Pub chain*
Tim Martin (businessman)*
JD Wetherspoon*
Lloyds No1
