To praise Wetherspoons

[itsnotmeitsu]

And no, I've not been to one tonight. I've spent the day on my own, at home. But when I visit it's always the same one, which is in a lovely listed building. As a caveat, I only go there on a Sunday lunchtime, so can't account for what it's like on a Friday/Saturday night.

The pub chain seems to have a bad reputation, but from what I've seen it can be a place for those, who would otherwise feel very isolated, to find a bit of life and get outside of their home, whilst being able to afford the drink and food prices. I would feel comfortable to spend time in the couple of Wetherspoons I know of as a woman on my own, or an elderly person just wanting to be in a social atmosphere, reading a book and having a cheap drink, or topping up my endless cups of coffee or tea, and not be sitting at home feeling like I was the only person in the world.

My DS is a manager for one and loves it. He is autistic and they have been fantastic with him.

😢where are you based ? It’s okay I’ve been a lot on my own, they have free WiFi ……💐

Where is that ? Stunning glass

I like that that it says everyone is welcome even if you just want to be in the warm waiting for the bus or quickly need the loo.
the kids meals are great as well when you don’t want your child to have fast food. It may be fast but at least there’s veggies 😂

My DP had early fasting bloods, so we went to our local one afterwards for breakfast. I've had eggs Benedict at twice the price that haven't been as good. Two miners Benedict, extra mushrooms and refillable coffee for £14. They blind tested curries, had Indian Chefs taste them and whetherspoons got ok reviews, but came out top for overall value. If you've got £30+ to splurge on food, fair enough WS might not be your choice. As said by a pp, our whetherspoons trains from within, gives the option for students to swap venues and pick their hours/feed them. I know people who have gone from serving to management all paid for. Do people really know the politics of their local restaurant owners? As for Brexit ruining the hospitality trade, it's upped wages and t&c's because of a staff shortage.

I want to go to my local Wethies now! Haven't been in a while. It is reliable and always feels safe. Ours is named after the beautiful old cinema it is housed in. The toilets are up a sweeping staircase. Love it.

I'm never out of my wetherspoons. Lovely old cinema building and still has the original projector in it.

On Facebook there is a group with nearly 500k members that you can join and add your table number and people can send drinks. The owner of the group also does homeless feeds where people send food/sealed drinks and he takes them to charities. He was actually in the wetherspoons magazine for that.

As a woman who spent 20 years living in hotel rooms in random cities due to her job, Spoons was my saviour

1. It wasnt going to spend my entire days earnings in food
2. Its was ok - knew what I was getting
3. The bottle of prosecco was the same price as in the supermarkets
4. As a single female I never felt out of place sitting there with my book/laptop for a few hours**

caveat - the spoons in barking I was propositioned by I assume an immigrant who wanted to marry me. Spoke very little english. Might be a stereotype but they were african I ain't the sort of woman a stranger meets and proposes to on the same day.

DS2 worked in Spoons when he was at university and they treated him really very well. He was doing a nursing degree so couldn’t say “I’ll do Friday and Saturday nights” they accepted this and gave him shifts that fitted round him.

He was made a team leader after a year or so, and if my memory serves me correctly he was paid more than the NMW. He enjoyed his time there, tbh, and doesn’t have a bad word to say about them. Just before he graduated he was asked if he wanted to stay on as shift manager but obviously he wasn’t going to throw his degree away, but it goes to show that you can work your way up if you want to.

We walk past a big Spoons on the way to school. DS loves seeing how many electric wheelchairs are parked up by 8.15am. Glorious. They do a lot of good.

I've never been in a Weatherspoon's but I will be trying one after reading this thread.

Yes the owner is a massive twat, but the food and drink is reasonably priced, there is an extensive menu including a great kids menu and being able to order and pay on the app is an absolute godsend when you’re on your own with small children.

Me and my friend went to the one on Victoria station before going to see Abba Voyage! Was impressed, tasty food, delicious bottle of wine all reasonably priced.

Sure he does

They're convenient as hell a bit like McDonald's - you know exactly what you are getting and you know how far in advance you have to plan for a 'trip' to the ladies 😂 always a massive trek.
I love that Birmingham airport and really expensive parts of London have them.

I'm far too poor to concern myself with the owners personal politics .

Also my spoons has a seat right beside the ladies so 10 steps to there and then 10 steps to outside for a smoke. Perfect location.

I think I've found my tribe here!

I love spoons, we've eaten at many a fancy place but as a family we live a trip to Wetherspoons. The kids love that they can can decode half way during dinner they want onion rings and they magically appear at the swipe of my phone, dh loves that he isn't sent to the bar 5 times, I love that I send older dc our table number and they treat us to rounds.

We've been in plenty independent pubs that are pretty shit with Wetherspoons we know what we are getting.

My daughter worked in a couple ( as did many of her friends) and they all adopted certain lonely customers and made a fuss of them. They sounded very grateful to have that space to come and speak to someone.

The one in Keswick is nice by the way- it's in the old police station so you can sit inside the cells.

Yes! They also have a poster up in the ladies about being a safe space for everyone to go into if they feel uncomfortable or need staff to call them a taxi or if they feel uncomfortable on a date. I think that's great.
I'm vegetarian and I always get a good choice of options to eat in there too. When I was being strict with what I was eating could always get a good low calorie option in there too.
I've been in a few on my own and eaten and always felt very comfortable and at ease

YANBU. I don’t mind it but can see why people like it. The food is a bit rubbish but you get what you pay for. It’s usually always busy so can be a pain finding a table.

@GladioliandSweetPeas

Don't be put off visting weatherspoons just because you are single,
you don't even to have a meal ,
you can just have a alcoholic or non alcoholic drinks too,

I quite often have breakfast of porridge and maple 🍁 syrup on my own,
local whetherspoons and the potters wheel in swansea the Jacknory table at the back too,
what you need to do @GladioliandSweetPeas is to check out the quieter times like breakfast times which is up to 12, or find a table that's somewhere in a cosy corner or something similar to that,

Also bring your mobile charger with you as there is a few tables next to electric sockets so you can charge your mobile up too, whilst you are enjoying eating food or having a drink,
also another tip is to bring along your favorite magazine or book like I do sometimes with your 🎧 headphones, cancelling noise ones even better,

You could even listen to Internet Podcast or YouTube video or zoom meeting whatever

Don't let being single stop you

Whetherspoons is one of the most safest pubs to go to,
they even in their women's toilets 🚻 if you are on a date and it turns weird on that date or if any woman on a night out, experinces a creep giving her a bit of hassle headwork stress,

you can just use a designated speacial code in the womens toilets,
to ask for help and help will come for you in that type of situation and a taxi will come to your aid too.

@GladioliandSweetPeas

also as a single woman,

I often vist the cinemas theatres and even travelled to London on my own and stayed in quirky interesting hotels too.

Also I have visited arts and crafts workshops and creative writing and poetry workshops and interesting talks too as a single middle aged woman

There's quite a lot of plus points to being single
as a single woman i don't have to put up with either an Arsehole of a Partner mood swings or behaviour ect..
i don't have to take into consirderation his feelings or wishes if I want to do something or go somewhere.

Caley Picture House in Edinburgh is the nicest one I've been to so far.
Whenever I visit a new city, Wetherspoons is the first place I'll head to as I know exactly what I'm getting & I can sit there & decide where to go & what to do.
I hate making expensive mistakes & other pubs can be really poor in comparison.

www.instagram.com/reel/C0E2PuBChkD/?igshid=ZWI2YzEzYmMxYg==

The OP reminded me of this