Wetherspoons at 40: where did it all go wrong?
You may or may not have noticed that a beer festival is underway in all Wetherspoons pubs to mark the 40th anniversary of the chain.
I haven’t yet stopped by and quite probably wont although 10 years ago I would certainly have made several visits.
As I’ve noted before I was on board at the beginning drinking in Marlers bar in Muswell Hill (which became the first Wetherspoons) in 1979.
The model that Tim Martin rolled out, first across Haringey in North London and then, over time, across the UK was ground breaking.
The pubs had no music (and then no TV or games machines either). Food was sold all day at reasonable prices and the beer range covered some regional/national cask beer staples such as Greene King Abbot and a changing selection of local cask beers.
40 years ago this model could be found nowhere else. It broke new ground and was popular, broadening out the range of people who might visit the pub.
Four decades on there is a problem, because Tim Martin’s song remains much the same, but the world and the world of beer does not.
There are now TVs (usually with the sound off)and games machines. The all-day food remains, and while the quality can be debated, Spoons has gone to some lengths to detail exactly what is in each item. The vegan range has recently been expanded.
On the beer front too it is much the same. While Spoons do serve (of course) good value Punk IPA on keg there is not much of a nod to developments in the beer world over the last 10 years. The quality of the cask ale can vary too. In some Spoons pubs it can be very good but that is far from always true.
Meanwhile Tim Martin has moved on from someone known as promoting the model of pubs described above and perhaps most of all speaking up for cask beer in pubs when not so many did, to being better known as a Brexiteer who is to be found sharing platforms with Farage.
It is arguably no worse than the traditional Tory Beerage except for the fact that 40 years ago that was the model of beer and pubs Martin broke from.
One might of course add that Wetherspoons don’t have exactly the best terms and conditions for employees though here they are in line with most of the rest of the industry.
Martin’s model remains relatively successful for now but I doubt it appeals that much now to younger drinkers in the same way Marlers did to myself 22 year old self 40 years ago. Decline and fall is in prospect.
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