This provocative article on Sp!ked by Nathalie Rothschild is bound to ruffle a few feathers: A place where nobody knows your name - as Britain’s dark, smoky, friendly pubs close down, the anti-pub - the JD Wetherspoon - is taking their place.
That the chain is marching on in these credit-crunched times signals not a healthy growth of public houses, but the relentless rise of the anti-pub, which is a suck-up to, and a beneficiary of, our unhealthily killjoy times.And, as I posted here, I broadly agree. Wetherspoon’s are soulless, corporate eating and drinking barns – they are not real pubs.
The rise of JD Wetherspoon parallels the slow but steady decline of authentic, grimy, smoky, welcoming, rowdy and unruly real pubs. There’s nothing wrong with family-friendly cheap eateries, but publicans and their customers should be allowed to relax, to sing and talk loudly to friends and strangers, play games, misbehave and drink if they want to.
JD Wetherscum, no identity, no darts, no pool, no gambling, no shove ha' penny, no local loud customers, nothing to separate that pub from any other of the JD Supermarkets in the corporate chain.
Evil pure fucking evil to each an every person who loves their local real pub, every penny spent in this vile scum sucking chain helps kill your local off.
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4 people have spoken:
I thought you might like that one!
Yep, a bloody awful chain of clone pubs. I call them a supermarket in pubs clothing.
Sure they are cheap and provide jobs, but they are about as much a real pub as the drinks shelves in Tesco.
Last night I stopped in a real pub, paid far more than I would in Wetherspoons for my ale and yet had a far better night out.
I went to Whetherspoon pubs in London because of two reasons 1. they had good ale 2. they were friendly/not rough.
I got sick of "pubs" that didn't have a decent pint of ale.
Why do people go to Wetherspoons? Because they know that:
a) You will get a standardised level of service and drinks
b) You can get tea/coffee/hot chocolate at any time
c) You can get cheap food at any time
d) The toilets probably won't look like something from WW1
e) Its cheaper than other pubs
f) You won't walk in and find that all the locals look like a Millwall supporters club or that there's a resident drug dealer in the corner.
People go to Wetherspoons because they want to, like they go the MacDonalds and Tescos. They vote with their feet and their wallets. Its called free market capitalism. Try it.
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