Wetherspoons International Women’s Day Beer Festival
Wetherspoons are the marmite of pub companies largely due to the activities of founder Tim Martin.
I’m not here to defend him or his right-wing views on Brexit, but note he does at least pay his taxes.
Wetherspoons of course also does not recognise a trade union. It should do but its also worth noting that union recognition in the pub chain sector is, how shall we say, not as good as it could be. That’s not a get out for Martin though.
Spoons started out in Haringey in 1979 (Muswell Hill) and as a resident of the North London Borough I knew Martin when his main business objective was to open lots of pubs in, er, Haringey where he lived (and one in Hackney which is still open unlike most of the Haringey ones). He always had robust views but not so much on the right as now. Still material being determines consciousness.
Anyway this week is Spoons regular Spring beer festival (until March 16th). There is a list of 30 cask beers sold at reasonable (some might say too reasonable) prices.
I stopped by at lunchtime on Tuesday (my brother in law an inveterate Spoons visitor)rang. As he was in my local Spoons, 5 minutes’ walk away, Megan my partner and myself joined him for lunch.
The festival beer list is perhaps not what you might expect. All of the thirty beers have been produced not by a bloke with a beard but by Brewsters. I suspect it may be a first but even if isn’t its worth a modest cheer as Spoons have 800 pubs across the UK doing this.
I had a pint of a 4.5% pale from a Canadian brewery (somewhat topical) brewed by a Canadian Brewster at the Hook Norton brewery. A decent lunch time pint, £1.99. I’m a very infrequent Spoons visitor these days preferring independent bars but even if we accept that Martin is piggy backing on something that is hardly his cause, the exposure of Wetherspoons customers to beer produced by female brewers is worth a nod…
Leave a Reply