Wetherspoons at 40: over and out
If you drink in Wetherspoons you’ll probably know that it’s the 40th anniversary of the opening of the first bar in Muswell Hill in 1979.
That was actually a Marlers bar and there is a complicated early history.
However before long Tim Martin, who at the point lived in the area, was extending his early Wetherspoons empire across the North London Borough of Haringey.
One or two of the original pubs remain, primarily the Tollgate in Turnpike Lane.
Back then I was a regular frequenter of Spoons pubs. Why? Because there wasn’t much else.
Martin ushered in pubs that served food all day, had no music and served real ale, both major brands and guests from smaller brewers.
Was it possible to find this combination anywhere else? No
Spoons sold beers like Greene King Abbot which at 5% was considered strong 40 years ago. Was this available elsewhere in London pubs? No
As time went on I visited Wetherspoons less and I think its fair to say that in London the only one I might stop by is the huge Crosse Keys in the City when there is a beer festival on.
I could say I’m boycotting Spoons because of the way they treat their workers and because of Tim Martin’s love affair with Nigel Farage. Just today Martin has been spotted hanging around outside a Brexit Party event in Sedgefield.
Certainly neither of those encourages me to visit. However many other places I might go instead (not all) wont be that different in at least some respects, just rather better at keeping it quiet.
The reality is that Martin remains very much with the model he had 40 years and continues to successfully roll that out across the UK it would seem.
However times change and while decades ago I would look forward to a pint of Abbot nowadays I wouldn’t be drinking it, or a pint either. Martin hasn’t really moved that much with the times, and no doubt either doesn’t want to or feels he doesn’t need to.
There is a further point. Prices for cask ale in Wetherspoons are considerably cheaper than elsewhere and Martin in a Brexit related stunt has recently announced a price cut.
The price of beer however is not determined by the EU but primarily by how much tax the UK Chancellor decides to put on it. Martin’s move is humbug which is rarely if ever good business.
Of course if you are one of the far too many on a limited income and enjoy a beer it is in the short term good news.
In the medium term however while large producers such as Coors and ABI can absorb tighter margins with Spoons on volume sales, small scale cask producers cant.
Taking back control is not I think about bankrupting small breweries or about turning a pub model that once aimed to be inclusive into a front for the Brexit Party.
Excellent piece Keith charting forty years of UK capitalism in boozing. I toi avoid Spoons today but the 80s model was attractive until socialist breweries arose. Still waiting.
I have never, to my knowledge, entered a Wetherspoons. I have heard their beermats are plastered all over with the face of Farage. I have seen Tim M on Question Time more times than I would like to remember. That’s enough for me.