Wetherspoons

J D Wetherspoon plc (branded variously as Wetherspoon or Wetherspoons, and colloquially known as Spoons) is a pub company based in Watford, England, operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded in 1979 by Tim Martin, the company operates nearly 900 pubs,[3] including the chain of Lloyds No.1 bars, and a growing number of Wetherspoon hotels. Wetherspoon is known for converting unconventional premises into pubs. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.[4]

Not to be confused with Witherspoon or Weatherspoon.

J D Wetherspoon plc

Type	Public limited company
Traded as	LSE: JDW
ISIN	GB0001638955
Industry	Hospitality industry
Founded	1979 (1979)
Founder	Tim Martin
Headquarters	Watford, England, UK
Key people	Tim Martin (Chairman) John Hutson (CEO)
Products	Public houses and hotels
Revenue	£1,818.8 million (2019)[1]
Operating income	£131.9 million (2019)[1]
Net income	£72.8 million (2019)[1]
Number of employees	43,000 (2020)[2]
Website	jdwetherspoon.com

History

The Lord High Constable of England in the Gloucester Docks area of Gloucester

Tim Martin opened his first pub in 1979 in Colney Hatch Lane in Muswell Hill, London.[5] Many of the other early Wetherspoon pubs were also in the western part of Haringey. The name of the business originates from JD, a character in The Dukes of Hazzard, and Wetherspoon, the name of one of Martin's teachers in New Zealand.[6][7][8][9]

During the 1990s, Wetherspoon began a policy of routinely closing its smaller or less profitable outlets, often replacing them with larger premises close by. In 1998, Wetherspoon introduced the oversized pint glass to promote the "full pint".[10] This initiative was withdrawn, supposedly because customers were still asking for top-ups, but arguably because other pub chains did not follow its lead.[11]

In 2015, Wetherspoon was made to pay a total of £24,000 for "direct racial discrimination" to eight individuals who were refused admittance to one of its pubs in north London based on what a judge described as "the stereotypical assumption that Irish travellers and English gypsies cause disorder wherever they go".[12]

Decision to quit social media

On 16 April 2018, Wetherspoon deleted all of its social media profiles. Chairman Tim Martin cited the "current bad publicity surrounding social media, including the trolling of MPs and others" as a reason for the decision.[13]

Food and drink

Weekly food promotions include the Steak Club on Tuesday, the Chicken Club on Wednesday, the Curry Club on Thursday, Fish and Chips on Friday and Brunch on Sundays. Wetherspoon claims to be "the only large pub firm which opens all its pubs early in the morning", serving breakfast and coffee. The full food menu is available well into the late evening.[14][15]

Wetherspoon hosts two Ale Festivals in March/April and October each year, when a larger range of guest ales is available in each pub, and a Cider Festival in the summer.[16]

Properties and operations

Beckett's Bank in the Park Row area of Leeds, its name reflecting the building's former use

The Picturedrome, a converted cinema in the Kensington area of Liverpool

Many Wetherspoon pubs are conversions of existing buildings, including banks, churches, post offices, theatres and a former public swimming pool,[17] while other properties are listed buildings.[18]

Wetherspoon bars are situated in the passenger terminals of many UK airports, including Doncaster Sheffield Airport, Edinburgh Airport, Gatwick Airport, Glasgow Airport, Heathrow Airport, and Stansted Airport, as well as at several main railway stations, including Leeds, Liverpool Lime Street, London Cannon Street, London Liverpool Street, and London Victoria,[19][20] with a new bar due to open in Glasgow Central.[21] The main station buildings at Aberystwyth railway station were converted to a Wetherspoon pub Yr Hen Orsaf The Old Station and received a National Railway Heritage Award in 2003.[22]

Wetherspoon pioneered non-smoking areas in pubs before the Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005, The Smoking (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 and the Health Act 2006 in England and Wales became law in 2006.[23][24]

The first Wetherspoon's pub in Northern Ireland was The Spinning Mill in Ballymena, County Antrim, which opened in 2000. The first Wetherspoon pub in the Republic of Ireland, The Three Tun Tavern, opened in Blackrock, County Dublin, in 2014. Another opened in Cork City in 2015.[25][26][27]

In 2014, Wetherspoon opened a pub at the Beaconsfield motorway service area on the M40. The move was criticised for potentially encouraging drink-driving.[28]

Wetherspoon also owns a chain of hotels in the UK. In 2015, there were 34 hotels in England, Wales and Scotland, and also a pub and 100-room hotel in Camden Street, Dublin, Ireland.[29]

In 2015, Wetherspoon bought the Grade II* Listed Art Deco State Cinema in Grays, Essex which had been under threat of damage from vandalism and water ingress for a number of years.[30]

Every Wetherspoon pub has a unique carpet, drawing on the location, building and name. They are produced by Axminster Carpets and, having more than the usual six colours, have to be partially handmade on old fashioned looms, costing up to £30,000 – twice as much as stock designs.[31]

Mags Thomson visited every Wetherspoon in Great Britain from 1994 to October 2015. She reached a total of 972 which included 80 that have subsequently closed.[32]

In 2018, the company chose Wolverhampton as the location of the National JD Wetherspoon Museum. The existing pub would be expanded to take in the whole former Co-Op Department Store, to include a hotel and gift shop. In July 2019, they bought the former carbon nightclub in Galway city with the plan of opening a bar and restaurant. [33]

Brexit

The firm — whose founder is a strong supporter of Brexit — replaced champagne with British sparkling wines and Australian wines on 9 July 2018. The firm claims the goal of this is to sell cheaper drinks and to get cheaper alcohol to its two million weekly customers.[34]

COVID-19

The Ledger Building in Canary Wharf, London, closed during the COVID-19 pandemic

In mid-March during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the government initially advised members of the public to 'socially distance' and avoid areas like pubs, clubs, restaurants and gyms. As a result many pub chains closed. However, Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin rejected the government's advice and refused to close a single pub, saying that his instinct was that "closure won’t save lives but will cost thousands of jobs".[35] The government went on to order the closure of all pubs from 21 March.[36] Martin was later reported to have refused to pay its 43,000 employees for the period of closure until reimbursed by the Government, unlike other national chains, and encouraged them to find employment elsewhere, such as the supermarket Tesco.[37] The majority of staff were placed on the Government furlough scheme after its announcement.

Wetherspoon also told its suppliers in March it would not pay them until its 874 pubs were allowed to reopen after the coronavirus lockdown.[38]

References

1. "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). J D Wetherspoon. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
2. "Trading Update" (PDF). JD Wetherspoon. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
3. Phil Oakley (20 March 2019). "Has time been called on JD Wetherspoon's growth prospects?". investorschronicle.co.uk.
4. Martin, Tim (14 September 2012). "Good News Britain: We're putting the 'pub' in 'public'". The Daily Telegraph. London.
5. "Refurb for Tim Martin's first outlet". Property News. Morning Advertiser. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
6. Cumming, Ed (6 August 2017). "How Britain fell for Wetherspoon's" – via www.theguardian.com.
7. Refurb for Tim Martin's first outlet Morning Advertiser, 1 September 2005
8. The Real Pub Landlord The Observer, 3 March 2002
9. "The real pub landlord". The Guardian. London. 3 March 2002. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
10. "The Investment Column: Wetherspoon dips in growth glitch". Business, News. London: The Independent. 11 March 1998. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
11. "Full Pint Issue 6". CAMRA North London. 28 August 2002. Archived from the original on 4 June 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2010.
12. "Pub chain pays damages over traveller race bias". London Evening Standard. 18 May 2015. p. 10.
13. Christie, Sophie (16 April 2018). "JD Wetherspoon closes all of its social media accounts with immediate effect". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
14. "Wetherspoon toasts record sales". BBC News. 11 September 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
15. "Quality Food, Great Value – Food Menu – J D Wetherspoon". jdwetherspoon.co.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
16. "Wetherspoon's spring festival focuses on British hops". Cask Marque. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
17. "Pub Histories". Wetherspoons. Retrieved 30 March 2018.
18. Woodger, Andrew (2 July 2010). "Suffolk to get Wetherspoon's pub". BBC News.
19. "First look: See inside the new £2 million North Western pub at Lime Street". Liverpool Echo. 3 July 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
20. "JD Wetherspoon To Open 900th Pub Next Week". Retrieved 24 March 2014.
21. Sandelands, Drew (23 June 2019). "New Wetherspoons at Glasgow Central Station moves step closer to opening". glasgowlive. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
22. "Yr Hen Orsaf Aberystwyth". J D Wetherspoon. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
23. "Wetherspoon pubs ban smoking". BBC News. 24 January 2005. Retrieved 2 June 2008.
24. Tran, Mark (24 January 2005). "Wetherspoon pubs to ban smoking". guardian.co.uk. London. Retrieved 2 June 2008.
25. "Open for business: Wetherspoon's first Irish pub serves its first customers". The Journal. 8 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
26. Ciarán Hancock (30 June 2014). "Guinness pulled from menu at Wetherspoon's Blackrock pub". The Irish Times.
27. "Video: First look inside Ireland's first Wetherspoon pub". Independent.ie. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
28. "JD Wetherspoon opens first motorway pub". The Independent. 21 January 2014. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
29. "JD Wetherspoon to open hotel, bar at homeless hostel in Dublin". The Irish Times. 15 December 2014.
30. "State Cinema set to become a Wetherspoons pub". Thurrock Gazette. 22 January 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
31. The secret life of Wetherspoon’s freaky carpets The Guardian 10 January 2016
32. "One woman's 21-year odyssey to visit every Wetherspoon's". BBC News. 31 October 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
33. "National museum part of £7m city Wetherspoon plan". wolverhampton.gov.uk. 13 December 2018.
34. "Wetherspoon to replace champagne with British sparkling wines in the run-up to Brexit". The Independent. 13 June 2018.
35. Wetherspoons boss says UK pubs will stay open as long as possible The Guardian 20 March 2020
36. "PM orders shutdown of all bars and restaurants". The Times. 21 March 2020. p. 1.
37. Coronavirus: Millionaire Wetherspoon’s boss tells staff to consider working for Tesco The Independent 24 March 2020
38. "JD Wetherspoon refuses to pay suppliers until lockdown ends". The Guardian. 25 March 2020. Retrieved 29 March 2020.

External links

• Official website