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.

I don’t really mind crap food every now and then but I refuse to step inside Wetherspoons because Tim Martin is such a fucking prick. You do sound a bit of a snob OP with how you worded it but I agree with you about spending money locally and independently rather than giving TM so much as a penny.

I have a massive soft spot for Wetherspoons tbh (lots of great times as a student and with extended family and friends in various branches over the years), even though I would consider myself a 'foodie'.

I'm not as enthusiastic these days due to Tim Martin's political standpoint but I doubt I'll never set foot in the place again.

Ours is pleasant...the food is always hot, cheap and reliable, and like another poster, it's somewhere I'm comfortable going on my own which I did quite a bit pre-Covid as had to take teen DD to a regular thing nearby and wasn't worth the drive home.

If you don't like it, fair enough, your description is snobby and largely inaccurate.

You really do sound like a snob, OP, though, despite your protestations to the contrary. I think they're ok. I love the story about their carpets.

But i won't go in for Tim Martin/Brexit related reasons. I have had fish & Chips there in the past, it was fine as was their beer (good selection too).

The other reason i don't like them is that they seem to, universally, have a 5 mile hike to get to the toilet.

My hometown (market town originally, now dominated by a university) has a large Wetherspoons. It's the largest drinking establishment in town (former supermarket). Theres also a Greene King shithole and a couple of others, formerly lovely cosy pubs with character but now all ripped apart and refurbished to cater for students. Spoons is the cleanest, busiest and by far the nicest and one of only two that serves food. I like it whats not to like about cheap gin?

I don't care about the owner's politics, tbh, of any establishment. And I thought TM's HR department furloughed his employees and he said they could also work in a supermarket if they wanted?

I worked a year in wetherspoons, I categorically will not eat there. I know what goes on in the kitchen.

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

Wow, where do you live? I've been in a lot of 'spoons and they are generally in old buildings that have been repurposed. The 'spoons in Llandudno for example is in an old theatre, the building is beautiful, not "dirty". I'm also not sure what is rancid about say, a jacket potato with beans and a side salad. Could you expand?

As I said on another thread earlier this week; if you want to convey how "too good" for 'spoons you are, then you need to 'accidentally' spell it Weatherspoons. It shows us all how you would never darken the door of such a shithole, and therefore don't know how to spell it correctly.

I like the 'ask for Angela' that Spoons do, so anyone can get help if they're feeling uncomfortable.

Pizzas are fine, fish and chips fine, vegan choices available.

They do vary between areas. Ours in the day time, is full of famillies and older people. The free refills on tea, coffee, hot choc, make it a good place for a catch up.

I'd rather go than Costa.

Independent cafes are great but they are more pricey, the word 'artisan' appears to mean expensive.

The brexit thing is annoying, though let's face it plenty of people do vote for it.

You do sound snobby OP because you obviously want to make a point of it by starting a thread. Same as all those people that bang on about McDonald's being a pile of shit. Just don't eat there, offer to take your relatives to the independent cafe and pay.

@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.

I often go to Wetherspoons for a breakfast and I don’t drink, so you’re generalising to huge extent (ie talking shite)

Good for you?

@Lalliella

Totally agree. They’re generally shit-holes, the food is microwaved crap and Tim Martin is a gammony cunt.

But apart from that, you like Wetherspoons, right?

Why does wanting to eat nice food make you a snob? It’s a British thing for sure-no one in Italy would call you a snob if you expressed disdain for greasy microwaved food. I’d rather go out less frequently but eat nicer things.

@giveitarestplease

Also I live in the West Midlands maybe our Wetherspoons up here is just a bit different then?

Most Wetherspoon are shit. I'd rather be thirsty and hungry than go in one. Sticky floors, manky tables and in my local one the clientele are rough as 10 bears.

@SatsumaPumpkinFace

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.

Where the hell did you go? All the Wetherspoons I've been to are not like this, or are you exaggerating a tad to get your point across?

Where do you go, every Weatherspoons I've throughout the UK have been exactly how the OP described

Massively U. You're out with family. Just get a plate of chips or whatever and carry on with your life, rather than making the people around you feel uncomfortable. Perhaps they "love a bargain" because they are on a budget?

I’ve been in ones in London and Manchester and the lakes that have been really quite nice.

Also been in other ones where have walked straight out again…past the shambling alcoholics.

Also been in ok ones where it’s been a good place to cheaply fill up students on beer and food when visiting them.

I love a veggie burger from Wetherspoons and I’m quite a foodie! I just enjoy what I enjoy and don’t get too caught up about where it comes from / etc. I can eat at McDonald’s one day and a “posh” restaurant the next. Sometimes I find the food in upmarket places really disappointing too. Too fussy and trying too hard!

I used to work in Wetherspoons and yes there are some horror stories but then I’ve worked in restaurants and hotels for most of my life, some 5 star ones with very good reputations and they’re often no better - a kitchen is only as good as the people working in it! Even places with 5 star hygiene ratings cut corners (although I won’t eat anywhere with less than a 5 rating, even so)!

There’s nothing wrong with cheap food if it tastes nice. And if it’s not your thing that’s fine too!

Some are like the Op describes, the one in Cowley, Oxford is grim (and Margate). However, for a quick (some of the time), cheap bite, they serve a purpose.

I have happy memories of eating at various spoons in Birmingham circa early 2000s, but I’m not sure why posters are telling the op she is BU because the ones they’ve encountered are nice. They really are not all of the same standard.

Where I live no the Wetherspoons is a magnet for the areas’s hard drinkers (used to walk past every morning on the way to work and see the same people sitting with their pints) and obnoxious characters. Walking past it in the evening isn’t very pleasant, and we’ve seen the clientele urinating (sometimes in broad daylight) outside. Not a rough area at all, but as I say, this pub seems to attract a particular crowd. It might be spotlessly clean inside, with lovely staff and other customers who are perfectly fine, but I’ve seen enough over the years to never want to go there. It has also put me off their other pubs in general as I think they are operating what is essentially a blight on this town. There was a definite improvement in the area when it was closed during Covid. Not good for staff or decent customers for sure, but for many of us a net positive.

I also have an issue with Tim Martin. Don’t care what the politics of small business owners is, but Martin is not a small business owner and he used his position to be particularly bullish about brexit. He was using the business itself to campaign for it, it being something I strongly disagree with. I don’t need to support that.

Finally, amused at some of the brittle replies on here. No, op is not a knob for disliking Wetherspoons - and the one about an oh deserving better was particularly good. People don’t like stuff you like. It isn’t the end of the world.

while telling his staff at the start of lockdown to “go get a job in Tesco” if they weren’t happy about not being paid through covid (until he was forced to)

This isn't true. I can't believe people are still spouting it.

Do you know how many newspapers had to publish retractions after the above was proven to be untrue?

And, for the love of all that is holy, there is no A in Wetherspoons - just stop it!

I would never go inside a wetherspoons but that’s for political reasons. No idea what the food is like.

@BurscoughBooths

I refuse to set foot inside Wetherspoons. I don’t care if that makes me a snob, that brexit supporting hypocritical tosser is not getting a penny from me.

Yep, totally with you on this one.

@TimeForTeaAndG

I'm with you. Though I also now don't frequent Wethersoons because Tim whatshisname is a dickhead who doesn't deserve my hard earned cash.

^ this with bells on

I don't think you're exaggerating Op, my nearest branch is directly next door to a parole office and the customers are always clearly troubled individuals in a bit of a state. There are people who as you say go in first thing in the morning and don't leave until closing time so they're worse for wear and the atmosphere is intimidating. The food has been dreadful for around 10 years though bleurgh. I really don't think it's snobbish and hopefully your money is put to better use at your local cafe instead.

Some wetherspoons are nicer than others, I've been to some rubbish ones and some where the atmosphere is alright and the food is ok.
I like going there to have a drink and some standard fare, although I agree the owner is a nob.

Nothing wrong with not wanting cheap and nasty food.