JD Wetherspoons and me; a real love - hate relationship

This is an article I've not only been meaning to write for a long time, it’s also one that has taken rather a lot of man hours to write and complete. It's a post about our old friends JD Wetherspoon, the well-known and highly successful pub chain who have outlets the length and breadth of the UK, but at the same time somehow manage to attract controversy. I first became aware of Wetherspoons pubs back in the early 1980’s, and primarily through entries in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide, as well as local guides. At the time they were primarily a London-based operation, which often traded under the name JJ Moon's. Today of course they are a national chain with a reputation for taking on old buildings such banks, cinemas, theatres, and shops and converting them into pleasant places in which to drink.

From the word go Wetherspoons pubs have always sold cask ale, although initially the beers stocked were mainly nationally known brands, such as Courage Directors, Greene King Abbot and Youngers Scotch Bitter - whatever happened to that?  The pubs later became much more adventurous with the beers they sold, and today the line-up on the bar will often include a selection of locally brewed cask ales. Many outlets offer special promotions, of even “meet the brewer” evenings, and the entire group takes part in the beer festivals (two per year), that are a major feature of JDW.

Today the company operates getting on for 900 pubs spread across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom. There are also a handful of outlets across the Irish Sea, on both sides of the border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. The vast majority of Wetherspoons outlets, or "Spoons" as they are often known, were not previously pubs but involve conversions of buildings that previously had other uses. Included here are premises such as shops, cinemas, theatres. Some are so large they are often referred to as drinking barns. Unkindly, perhaps, but there is probably more than a grain of truth in this description.

Whatever their origin, Wetherspoons outlets are hugely popular, and attract a large number of devoted fans. They offer cheap beer, often at a pound cheaper per pint, than competing pubs. As we have already seen, they stock a good range of cask ales, keeping and serving them in first class condition. It is perhaps little wonder then that, 200 Wetherspoons pubs feature in the current (2023) CAMRA Good Beer Guide. All Wetherspoons outlets offer a range of cheap meal options, with various price promotions available at different times, and on different days. Their Thursday night, Curry Club has become something of a national institution, and Spoons was always a good fallback position for a cheap breakfast. For those who prefer not to have their eardrums blasted, by recorded music of any genre, JDW provide a quiet atmosphere in which to enjoy a few drinks, and a chat with friends, family, or both. More importantly, they provide a safe, non-threatening and secure environment in which to do so.

I used to be a fan, especially during the group’s early days, often making a point of visiting different JDW pubs in other parts of the country. I even attended an appeal hearing at Maidstone Crown Court in support of Wetherspoons, who were planning to open a new pub, in Tonbridge, the town I have resided in since the mid-1980’s. The appeal was successful, the court granted JDW their licence, and several months later the Humphrey Bean opened it doors, in Tonbridge’s former main Post Office building.

A decade or so later, I attended the 2010 CAMRA National AGM, which took place on the Isle of Man. One of the key motions for debate was one which sought to restrict, or even remove the link between CAMRA and Wetherspoon’s whereby vouchers are issued to members in order to obtain a discounted a pint of beer. I thought at the time that removing this incentive would alienate the younger members of campaign. There were a substantial number of cash-strapped students amongst this group, many of whom were probably attracted to join CAMRA because of the Wetherspoons voucher offer.

The motion was defeated, and the voucher scheme continued, but I do remember former CAMRA national chairman Chris Holmes, who at the time ran the highly successful Castle Rock Brewery in Nottingham, speaking out against what he viewed as unfair competition from Wetherspoons. He claimed that CAMRA’s role in supporting these vouchers, and the discounted pints they offered, compromised the group’s impartiality. Despite this claim, I voted against this motion, but with hindsight, I feel I was wrong.

It probably wasn't that long afterwards that my opinion, and views of the chain began to change. Initially, this was due to the way that JDW operated their pubs, with particular reference to the shortage of staff behind the bar, the lack of people collecting empty glasses and plates, coupled with not cleaning the tables. Plates of half-eaten food, badly stacked glasses, and sticky marks on the tables, didn't help with either, and whilst I’m sure none of this was intentional, it tends to point at not employing sufficient staff.

I’m well aware that staffing costs are amongst the highest overheads, for any business, and running the pubs on low cost basis, allows JDW to knock out beer and food at bargain basement prices, but there has to be a happy medium. There is also the issue of a hard core of drinkers who are in there from the off, necking back pints of Stella from 9am onwards. This is not a normal lifestyle by any stretch of the imagination, and whilst not wishing to come across as judgmental, the “beer for breakfast” brigade can sometimes be loud, or even leery, depending on how much they’ve already consumed.

I remember being asked by one such individual if I could lend him a fiver. I had considered reporting him to the pub’s management, but the fact he didn’t grasp the concept behind the word “loan” was enough to get rid of him, especially when I asked when he’d be able to pay me back! 

An isolated incident, perhaps but sadly not, as I can relate several other similar instances. Annoying as the above issues are, especially when combined with a lack of staff, it was the decision by Wetherspoon’s founder, chairman and chief executive Tim Martin, to throw his weight behind the Leave Campaign, during the 2016 EU referendum campaign, that persuaded me that I didn’t want to drink in his pubs anymore. It wasn’t a sudden decision, despite Mr Martin being one of the few British business leaders to back Brexit, it was a case of him not knowing when to stop.

There were the photo opportunities with the likes of Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, both serial fantasists, and in Johnson’s case, a serial liar, as well, but the final straw for me, came with Tim Martin’s Twitter announcement that, “We've placed 500,000 beer mats in our pubs with a hard-hitting message on Brexit to parliament”. Martin was not just pushing a damaging, no-deal Brexit, but calling for a total boycott of European goods and services. (Where did he think Stella came from?) This was back in the late autumn of 2017, and I responded with a boycott of my own, writing in a blog post, “As a direct result of Tim Martin’s xenophobic, anti-European rhetoric, I will no longer be spending my hard-earned cash in any of his establishments. I have already destroyed my Spoon’s vouchers, and after 45 years membership, I will also seriously consider whether I wish to remain a member of CAMRA.”

Five and a half years later, I relented, partially to see whether anything had changed within JDW, but also because I was trying, unsuccessfully as it happened, to find a pub offering reasonably priced, lunchtime food in Henley on Thames. The Wetherspoon’s-owned, Catherine Wheel, came up trumps, as reported in the previous article, although this lavishly restored hotel, in upmarket Henley on Thames, hardly compares with your local JDW outlet in a so-called former “Red Wall” town such as Scunthorpe or Whitehaven.

Tim Martin’s support for Brexit has already come back to haunt him, especially when it comes to recruiting and retaining staff. The poisonous rhetoric, directed at our European neighbours by many Vote Leave supporters, was sufficient to persuade many workers from the EU that they were no longer welcome in Britain. This view was reinforced by many Brexit supporters, who were of the opinion that these people from eastern Europe were over here, occupying much of the available social housing and pinching their jobs as well. It was irrelevant that the jobs they were referring to were the sort that your average, Sun-reading loafer had no intention of applying for themselves.

Profits at JDW took a tumble, although the damage caused by a succession of Covid lockdowns, rising interest rates, and supply chain issues was largely responsible for this. Problems in obtaining goods has been exasperated by the government’s ludicrous decision to take the UK out of both the Customs Union and European Single Market, thereby creating barriers to trade, where none had existed before. There was no mention of this prior to the referendum, although there were claims that Brexit would remove EU red tape – yeah, right!

We now have a situation where many who voted leave now regret that decision, and many MPs on both sides of Parliament, believe that leaving the Customs Union and Single Market, was a grave mistake. They won’t admit that in public, of course, for risk of upsetting the dwindling numbers of Brexit supporters that abound up and down the country, but the tide is slowly turning against this decision, despite the best efforts of the Express, the Mail and the Torygraph.

Tim Martin too has become very quiet, possibly because he is now concentrating on his business, rather than right-wing politics. So whilst I have now dropped my rigid boycott of Spoons, I shall still look on them as "any port in a storm," so to speak. Instead, I will continue directing my support towards independently owned pubs, or those run by small breweries such as Harvey’s, Hook Norton, Adnams etc. - places that are run by local people for the benefit of local people.

The final word goes to Wetherspoons, as there is no doubt that Tim Martin is an extremely successful businessman, who has taken the traditional pub model, kept the best bits and then turned the rest of it on its head. Since their founding 40 years ago, JWD have become a national institution and part of the British psyche. Love them or loathe them, they are not going away, so it will be interesting to see how the group progresses from here.

 

 

Hooray Henley

Last Fridays trip to Henley on Thames was only my third visit to this pleasant, riverside town, since I was born. Arriving in Henley last week and walking a short distance into the centre of the town, brought back memories from childhood of my first visit to the town. It was the sight of the imposing Victorian town hall which dominates the central square, that transported me back to when I was at primary school. I was with my parents and younger sister, and we were on our way to Pembrokeshire, for a family holiday.

We drove all the way from our home near Ashford, in a converted Austin A35 van, which was our four-wheeled method of transport, at the time. Somehow the four of us managed to squeeze into the vehicle, along with sufficient luggage to last us over a two week stay on the caravan site overlooking the small seaside town of Saundersfoot. Our journey was mainly on A-roads, as the only motorway we encountered was the short-elevated stretch of the M4, that took us out of west London.

The motorway came to a halt to the east of Reading, so having driven up from Kent and right through central London, dad was ready for a break, especially after our 5 o’clock start! Mum had packed up a picnic for us to eat on the way, which was something of a family tradition. She also acted as navigator. This was back in the day when, if you were a member of one of the motoring organisations, the AA in dad's case, you could write to them, in advance, and request a journey planner. This would then be posted back to you ready for your journey.

The planner was essentially a small, thin flip chart, with a black and white linear map showing road numbers and relevant junctions, together with a section of text on each page. It was simple but effective, and the 1960’s equivalent of Google Maps. As a back-up, dad also brought with him a number of Bartholomew’s Road Maps, cloth backed, to prevent the map from falling apart at the folds, and with a scale of half-inch to one mile, ideal if you wanted to get the bigger picture.

My parents must have decided between that Henley on Thames would be a good place stop for breakfast, and I can still remember pulling up outside that town hall in order to make use of the public toilets in the basement. We then drove down to the river and parked up, overlooking the Thames. The breakfast part off the picnic (there would be more to follow for lunch), was unpacked from the Tupperware box - mum swore by Tupperware for keeping food fresh, and we sat there in the van enjoying a selection of filled roles. The latter were almost certainly meat paste, pork luncheon meat, accompanied by that extra that no picnic of the era could be without a hard-boiled egg or two.

My sister and I amused ourselves by throwing odd scraps of bread to the ducks, and six decades later there were still plenty of ducks bobbing up and down on the Thames, when Matthew and I walked along the river bank. Obviously, a lot of water has flown under the bridge, in between those visits, but four and a half decades ago, I made my second visit to Henley. This would have been in 1980, when my CAMRA friend Nigel and I drove to Henley, in a hired van, to pick up some pre-ordered casks of Brakspear’s, from the town’s brewery. The beer was part of an order for what was probably the first Maidstone Beer Festival. As part of the same trip, we also called in at Wethered's Brewery in nearby Marlowe.

There were no specialised beer agencies back then, so it was normally necessary to collect beer direct from individual breweries. It was fun calling at these places, and after loading up, enjoying a pint or two, in a local pub. Back in 1980, Brakspear’s Brewery, sited just a stone’s throw from the river, was thriving, but seeing the brewery 43 years later, was a sad occasion for me. The buildings themselves remain intact and appear well maintained, but the insides have been completely gutted. The brew-house, for example, is now a luxury boutique hotel managed by the Hotel du Vin group, whilst the maltings, on the opposite side of the road have been converted into luxury apartments. Finally, the mineral water factory & bottling plant next to the brewery now seems to contain offices.

I described briefly in the previous article, just how easy it is now to reach Henley by train, and rail seems popular with the travelling public, and as proof of this, the small shuttle train from Twyford, was packed out with students, plus visitors like ourselves. I was always aware that Henley was a very upmarket town, and this seemed evident by the large number of varied independent shops we noticed as we walked into the busy and vibrant centre. The only supermarket we saw was a Waitrose, - what else? tucked away close to the station.

After looking around at the town’s shops, its former brewery and the river, it was time for some liquid refreshment, and what better than a pint of Brakspear’s? Even though the beer is no longer produced in Henley, it would be rude not to enjoy a few pints of it in its former hometown. Being close to the river we walked alone the embankment till we came to the Angel on the Bridge which as its name suggests, is virtually on the main bridge across the Thames.

As we approached, we noticed the pub had a lower terrace looking out across the river, but we entered from the door leading straight off from the bridge. We discovered a small and comfortable bar to the left, with another small room to the right. There were two cask ales on sale – Well’s Bombardier and Brakspear’s Gravity. The latter is the new, and to my mind rather ridiculous, name for Brakspear’s Bitter. I opted for the latter as I have never been a fan of Bombardier. Matthew noticed the Pilsner Urquell font, so he went for a part of that, but before pouring our drinks the barmaid asked if we would be drinking inside the pub or out on the terrace.

I wasn't quite sure at first why she wanted to know, but after guessing correctly, I said “Presumably it's plastic outside.” “Correct” was the reply, so inside it was, as who wants to drink out of a horrible plastic beaker? Mind you plastic might have improved the taste of the beer, because it certainly wasn't the best pint of Brakspear’s I’ve had, and not what I expected to find in its hometown. We had a quick look around the rest of the pub, before opting to sit in the small room close to the bar, where a welcoming log fire was blazing away in the grate. Had the beer been better I might have been tempted to stay for lunch, but working on the basis of you win some you lose some, decided to move on.

Before leaving, I spend quite a bit of time looking at What Pub, trying to find a place to eat which offered a reasonably priced menu. This was Henley on Thames though, and prices certainly seemed to match the location. All we both really wanted was somewhere serving basic pub grub, rather than a place with a posh a la carte menu. One or two places that looked reasonable, weren’t serving food until 3 o'clock or later - how bizarre! I decided then, much to Matthew's astonishment that we would head along to the Catherine Wheel, the local JWD outlet in Henley. This imposing former coaching inn was just a short walk away, right in the centre of town, as one would expect from a building of this stature.

The pub dates from the 15^th Century and has slowly expanded over the years. In 1679 the proprietor became mayor of Henley, and the pub grew considerably during the19^th Century  when it served as the town’s premier coaching inn. Today, it is a relatively small hotel, owned and run by Wetherspoons, which has 30 guest bedrooms. The Catherine Wheel is certainly a grandiose place and impressive place and Wetherspoon’s have done a good job in both preserving and bringing out the best features of this rambling old coaching inn.

Matthew and I made our way into the right-hand bar and, as the time had gone 2:00 pm, went for the Friday afternoon meal deal - or at least I did. My choice was an admittedly small steak and kidney pudding, served with mash peas and gravy.  Matthew, somewhat predictably, had burger and chips, along with a glass of something cold, yellow, and fizzy. I opted for a pint of Mutiny from Rebellion Brewery, described on Untappd, as a full bodied, red coloured premium ale. It wasn't bad, and at just under a tenner for both beer and the meal, I couldn't really complain.

So why was Paul going into a Wetherspoon’s pub, especially given his well-known antipathy towards the chain's tousle-headed owner? It would take too long to explain here, but when I finally get around to writing my definitive article on Wetherspoon’s, you will realise that this is just another chapter in my love hate relationship with the chain.

The afternoon was wearing on, so there was time for another quick look around Henley, and a final pint before the train home. We walked up to the old Town Hall, took a few photos for posterity's sake, and then walked back to the Three Tuns, a charming little Brakspear’s pub, that we noticed earlier. We discovered a long narrow pub with a corridor running down the left-hand side. We nipped into the front bar, where it was yet another pint of Gravity. Fortunately, the beer was in much better condition than it was at the Angel. Matthew had another lager, and with drinks in hand we managed to find a seat close to the window.

We chatted briefly with a man sitting next to the window. He was waiting for his lady friend to arrive. His black Labrador dog, that was lying under the table, was also waiting expectantly, and was almost beside itself with excitement when his mistress finally arrived.  The man ordered a pot of tea for his companion (not the dog), plus a Guinness for himself. It was all very civilised, but then so is Henley.

Matthew and I had just the one pint before drinking up and making our way back to the station. Our visit had been a good one, even though we only scratched the surface of Henley. With so much more of the UK to explore, it’s unlikely I shall find time to return, but you never know!