To not want to eat in Wetherspoons?

[giveitarestplease]

Popped out with BIL and OH today, I absolutely despise Wetherspoons but they love a bargain and aren't too fussy.

I'm not a snob in anyway shape or form I just can't stand it. I eventually went with them and sat in there and waited until they finished.

I just hate the old dirty pubs and how fast the rancid food comes out 🤢 the alcoholics that have been sat there since the moment they opened the doors on the morning.

I'd much rather go to one of our local independent cafes and have a nice lunch and I know it's not coming out of the microwave. I know it's not the same price bracket but you know what I mean.

They always laugh and joke and call me a snob and say I think I'm better than everyone else. But I'm really not and I don't think that.

@Technosaurus

If they want to go to a Wetherspoons I have a funny feeling they're not there for the food.

THATs why they don't give a shit about your hoity toity café plan. They want a pint and a laugh rather than a load of sneering snobby remarks over the latest sourdough toast fad.

Fwiw I'm a drinker but have boycotted Wetherspoons for years due to Tim Martin. Regardless of my political persuasions, there are plenty of good folk who go there for an agreeable pint and a reasonably priced meal. Good luck to them.

How fucking bizarre cafes are hoity toity now!? I go to a cafe for a laugh with friends and have never sneered over sourdough. What a gross generalisation. I boycott spoons for the same reasons as you, but would never choose it because the food is all rehydrated and microwaved (I worked there as a student) and the atmosphere is dead. Plus they often literally stink. But some people love it and will overlook it for a dirt cheap pint and a dry burger.

I think it depends on the 'Spoons. Some of them seem to thrive on being dirty and smelling of stale beer. My SIL used to work in one and refuses to eat the food having seen how it is prepared. I agree that independents often have a higher quality offering for the same money. I don't think that's snobbery if your local 'Spoons is a hideous dive.

@pollymere

I think it depends on the 'Spoons. Some of them seem to thrive on being dirty and smelling of stale beer. My SIL used to work in one and refuses to eat the food having seen how it is prepared. I agree that independents often have a higher quality offering for the same money. I don't think that's snobbery if your local 'Spoons is a hideous dive.

That's odd. My friend son works in catering (including a spell at spoons), and says that the kitchen hygiene roles at spoons were the toughest of anywhere he's worked. Yes, it's not haute cuisine by any means, but if the staff are abiding by the rules, there's no reason not to eat there because of food prep concerns.

Ive never been to such a weatherspoons your local sounds more like witherpongs.

I agree that independents often have a higher quality offering for the same money.

Can you print me in the direction of an independent who will serve you a 100% British beef burger and chips plus a glass of wine or pint of beer for under £7? As I've yet to find one that even comes close.

Thanks, thirdelephant.
Yes I am perfectly happy with that.

In return, do you want a definition of ‘patronising twat’?

all the people vigorously defending Wetherspoons are Tim Martin's secret lovers.

She is correct about the locals/alcoholics they will be there from opening time, every spoons has them. And if you need a pint with your lunch you’re well on your way to join them.

I’d never go there again as this tosser is the reason for empty shelves and prices for basics shooting up!

I’d have ignored them and gone to where I wanted by myself, said I’ll meet by the car when I’m done.

I love a good Wetherspoons, especially those that do a full English. You're missing out OP!

@liveforsummer

I agree that independents often have a higher quality offering for the same money.

Can you print me in the direction of an independent who will serve you a 100% British beef burger and chips plus a glass of wine or pint of beer for under £7? As I've yet to find one that even comes close.

The meal with wine or beer at Wetherspoons is £8.65, not under £7. Stop exaggerating. www.jdwetherspoon.com/~/media/files/pdf-documents/menus/currentmenus/menu_1169.pdf

And British beef - are you sure about that? Would you trust a company that has been caught selling zebu meat as beef?
www.thecaterer.com/archive/pub-chains-accused-of-serving-zebu-meat

Or used suppliers who were passing off foreign meat as British?
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5402447/Meat-supplier-Wetherspoons-fire.html

Their track record might suggest that JD Wetherspoons have a less than perfect grasp of their supply chain. There’s a reason why the food is cheap. If the ingredients are responsibly sourced and the staff are being treated properly, a burger and chips should cost at least a tenner. If something is cheap to you, something or someone else is paying.

Is it so hard for people to grasp that areas vary?
Some places have nice, clean pleasant Wetherspoons whilst other places have total shitholes.
It was the same with the Debenhams thread. Everyone slating Debenhams for being dirty, dark and old fashioned. My local Debenhams was a modern building. Clean, fresh, with great products and a fantastic cafe where I would sit alone many, many times. Would I sit alone in my local Wetherspoons- not without a handgun. It's a shithole full of alcoholics and a carpet you need excellent leg muscles to pull yourself across as it's sticky.
Plus I really don't want to walk in through the cloud of fag smoke as punters stand in front of the entrance smoking.

every spoons has them

That's some impressive research you have done there!

@liveforsummer

I agree that independents often have a higher quality offering for the same money.

Can you print me in the direction of an independent who will serve you a 100% British beef burger and chips plus a glass of wine or pint of beer for under £7? As I've yet to find one that even comes close.

I would wonder how that’s possible while using quality ingredients and paying staff fairly

@MissNothing1991 - No, they are alcoholics. I know some of them as we live in the same town. And there is a definite “alcoholic pallor” on older men, and smell of stale alcohol, who sit in the same seats all day and only fall out the door as it closing.

There isn’t judgement or dislike there, just not the atmosphere I want to spend my time in.

The meal with wine or beer at Wetherspoons is £8.65, not under £7. Stop exaggerating. www.jdwetherspoon.com/~/media/files/pdf-documents/menus/currentmenus/menu_1169.pdf

You do realise that there are different prices at different wetherspoons at my nearest wetherspoon what he mentioned is 6.95 so is under £7, so no they weren't exaggerating.

Nope, you’re wrong, this is on their website

@TreborBore

Nope, you’re wrong, this is on their website

You have to put in the name of the individual Wetherspoons pub into the website in order to get the menu prices. They vary according to locality.

Nope you are wrong, completely wrong.

This is a screenshot from their app, as I said prices vary but everyone near me is under £7.

Againstmachine I'm in south London and same price in my local Wetherspoon.

The meal with wine or beer at Wetherspoons is £8.65, not under £7. Stop exaggerating. go.mumsnet.com/?xs=1&id=470X1554755&url=www.jdwetherspoon.com/~/media/files/pdf-documents/menus/currentmenus/menu_1169.pd

Well you would of course pick one in central London to try and prove your point 😆. The one in our normally expensive city is indeed 6.95. Definitely not lying. And the zebu meat was in the past. The burgers at the time did not claim to be British beef. I worked there at the time, it stated on the menu that it was Argentinian!

@StrychnineInTheSandwiches

all the people vigorously defending Wetherspoons are Tim Martin's secret lovers.

I can't stand the man. But I have a thing about truth, so when people repeat the lie about what he said during lockdown, I won't let it go unchallenged.

Obviously I wish he'd cared about the lies that were told prior to Brexit, but two wrongs don't make a right.

A 'spoons wouldn't be my first choice of place to eat, but the average one is nowhere near as bad as people want to paint them, so I challenge those opinions too.

I don't mind Spoons, definitely vary by location and get some colourful characters in some but our local one is fine, food and service are good, it's cheap and kids enjoy it!

My eldest works in a spoons kitchen. She’s 18, being trained, being paid more than the living wage, has good colleagues, a manager who is kind, and hasn’t had her head ripped off for recently having to have time off for a D&V bug her brothers gave her.

Martin’s politics are not ideal, and I wouldn’t choose to use it as my local, but the snobbery of the OP is more grim than any microwave meal.

My view is he’s paying out more on her wages than we ever spend there, so on we go. Most of her colleagues are or were remain voters too. Just because the company mouthpiece is a cunt doesn’t mean all the staff are.

Oh well to make your point you chose not to eat. I'm sure the people you were with will get over it. Don't have a problem with Wetherspoons myself

@Againstmachine

Nope you are wrong, completely wrong.

This is a screenshot from their app, as I said prices vary but everyone near me is under £7.

That’s for takeaway, not an eat in price. Go away JD Wetherspoons.