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What are they doing right/
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With our local pubs closing down almost daily all over the country, one has to ask what are Wetherspoons doing right?
It can't be the cheap beer.
With our local pubs closing down almost daily all over the country, one has to ask what are Wetherspoons doing right?
It can't be the cheap beer.
Answers
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What are they doing right?
They employ people on minimum wage and with mediocre training.
They offer bad quality but cheap food
They offer cheap beer.
They serve people until they can't stand up any more and don't care about the consequences.
The sooner companies like this have to contribute proportionally to the policing costs, the better.
They employ people on minimum wage and with mediocre training.
They offer bad quality but cheap food
They offer cheap beer.
They serve people until they can't stand up any more and don't care about the consequences.
The sooner companies like this have to contribute proportionally to the policing costs, the better.
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I have to take issue with Gromit on the cause and/or effect of Wetherspoons (JDW).
I do not believe that JDW pubs are causing the closure of the large number of locals that are failing. All JDW branches are in High Streets – locations where there are few “local” boozers. Wethers have been around for 30 years, and have been numerous for at least fifteen. Many people who frequent them do so not because they prefer them to their local, but because:
(a) Their local has probably closed or
(b) if it has not it is probably a draughty doss-house which opens and closes when it feels like it, serves food from 12-2 Monday-Friday (if it does so at all) and its clientele is limited to “Jobseekers” swilling pints of lager whilst standing on the doorstep (with the door propped open) smoking.
JDW branches have their faults. However, in most of them (and I’ve visited around sixty) the seating is plentiful and comfortable, you get a wide variety of beers, served properly at a reasonable price. Yes they do buy in short-date beer (and this sometimes leads to it going “off” before the barrel is finished) but if such a pint is served it is readily changed without quibble.
Their food is not gourmet (with most main dishes costing a fiver or less you should not expect it) but you know what you’re getting. They serve breakfast and their full menu is available to 10pm (how many locals do the same?).
Go to most large airports and you will find breakfast available at JDW outlets from 4am, when most of the other caterers struggle to their feet at around 6:30.
In short, as Steve says, they do what people want. The days when boozers can survive simply selling pints of lager are gone, and those pubs that did not realise this are gone too. And they would have gone whether Tim Martin opened his pubs or not.
I do not believe that JDW pubs are causing the closure of the large number of locals that are failing. All JDW branches are in High Streets – locations where there are few “local” boozers. Wethers have been around for 30 years, and have been numerous for at least fifteen. Many people who frequent them do so not because they prefer them to their local, but because:
(a) Their local has probably closed or
(b) if it has not it is probably a draughty doss-house which opens and closes when it feels like it, serves food from 12-2 Monday-Friday (if it does so at all) and its clientele is limited to “Jobseekers” swilling pints of lager whilst standing on the doorstep (with the door propped open) smoking.
JDW branches have their faults. However, in most of them (and I’ve visited around sixty) the seating is plentiful and comfortable, you get a wide variety of beers, served properly at a reasonable price. Yes they do buy in short-date beer (and this sometimes leads to it going “off” before the barrel is finished) but if such a pint is served it is readily changed without quibble.
Their food is not gourmet (with most main dishes costing a fiver or less you should not expect it) but you know what you’re getting. They serve breakfast and their full menu is available to 10pm (how many locals do the same?).
Go to most large airports and you will find breakfast available at JDW outlets from 4am, when most of the other caterers struggle to their feet at around 6:30.
In short, as Steve says, they do what people want. The days when boozers can survive simply selling pints of lager are gone, and those pubs that did not realise this are gone too. And they would have gone whether Tim Martin opened his pubs or not.
Oh, and I forgot to address the points Vic made:
Yes, they do employ people on near to minimum wage. Tell me a large catering chain that does not. Nonetheless nearly all the JDW staff I’ve encountered in my travels are pleasant, and seem well trained. In the outlets I use regularly many of the staff members have been at the branch for a long time, so they must be reasonably satisfied with their lot.
Their food is inexpensive, but I would question that it is of bad quality. I’ve never had a bad meal in a Wethers, but I don’t expect a gourmet experience for a fiver.
They do offer cheap beer (as I mentioned in my previous post) and most people know how they are able to afford to. There is nothing to prevent other large chains from negotiating similar deals. However, most of them (unlike Wethers) are “tied” to a particular supplier – usually the one which was spawned when the Beer Orders forced the separation of brewing and owning pubs. The Beer Orders never achieved their aim and these conglomerates prefer to rip off their customers rather than negotiate deals which will enable them to sell beer at a decent price.
There is far less trouble in my local Wethers than in other establishments in the area. I think this is mainly because JDW attracts a range of age groups and does not specifically cater for younger drinkers. In any case, I should think that the amount of cash from sales which ends up with either the Exchequer orthe local authorities by JDW (and Tim Martin estimates this to be more than three quarters of the cash coming into his tills) is more than sufficient to cover any policing costs.
Yes, they do employ people on near to minimum wage. Tell me a large catering chain that does not. Nonetheless nearly all the JDW staff I’ve encountered in my travels are pleasant, and seem well trained. In the outlets I use regularly many of the staff members have been at the branch for a long time, so they must be reasonably satisfied with their lot.
Their food is inexpensive, but I would question that it is of bad quality. I’ve never had a bad meal in a Wethers, but I don’t expect a gourmet experience for a fiver.
They do offer cheap beer (as I mentioned in my previous post) and most people know how they are able to afford to. There is nothing to prevent other large chains from negotiating similar deals. However, most of them (unlike Wethers) are “tied” to a particular supplier – usually the one which was spawned when the Beer Orders forced the separation of brewing and owning pubs. The Beer Orders never achieved their aim and these conglomerates prefer to rip off their customers rather than negotiate deals which will enable them to sell beer at a decent price.
There is far less trouble in my local Wethers than in other establishments in the area. I think this is mainly because JDW attracts a range of age groups and does not specifically cater for younger drinkers. In any case, I should think that the amount of cash from sales which ends up with either the Exchequer orthe local authorities by JDW (and Tim Martin estimates this to be more than three quarters of the cash coming into his tills) is more than sufficient to cover any policing costs.
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