Boycott Wetherspoons!

[Markiii]

indeed, at least it keeps all the nutballs in one place having one in your town though

[synsei]

No jukebox, no pool table, good beer, reasonable food and in our local Wetherspoons, polite staff and good company, what's not to like?

[Rare Bird]

[Markiii]

I'm sure they vary with area and many years ago I remember the one in Wolverhampton being a pretty decent bar

but the ones down by me in Herts, or the one I ventured into once in Manchester, no thank you

[walpurgis]

I've just been barred from my local wetherspoons

Maybe they just don't like you Jez.


Seriously though, I'm not keen on Wetherspoon establishments, I find them lacking in a real pub feel and devoid of atmosphere. Often they seem to draw a lunchtime crowd from local businesses and offices that do nothing to add to the experience.

I'm assuming it's a convenient place for you to pop in for a beer. The only thing you can hope for I suppose is a change of management, this happens often in pubs, so you may not have to wait too long. Some pub managers wear out their welcome by banning too many people and a natural sort of boycott occurs anyway.

Personally I've only ever been barred from one pub and that was for breaking a table over the head of a seriously piss taking git, many, many years ago.

[Rare Bird]

Drinking is the simplest thing on earth for me {as long as i can get a seat}

The Mission is to drink Beer till im pissed cos the goal is to extract the alcohol within the beer, this is what i drink for, don't care about atmosphere, refuse to socialise. So you know i kinda don't really care about the surroundings, however i'd rather not drink in a war zone for fear of spilling the sacred juices..

Others obviously go out to pubs for different reasons..

[Andrei]

Well that's what you get for insisting that Solid State is better than Valves!

[Marco]

I've been boycotting them for years. The McDonald's of pubs. Absolute shite.

+1. I wouldn't be seen dead inside one!!

Still, the treatment Jez has received (based on believing his side of the story) is a disgrace. What happened to the old saying of 'the customer is always right'?

Now, having worked in retail for many years and knowing how difficult it can be sometimes dealing with the general public, I would always add 'within reason' to the above and leave out the 'always', hence 'the customer is right within reason', as there are some total assholes out there who have no consideration for anyone but themselves.

However, in any company, the paying customer should always have the right to complain about their experience of dealing with that company, via following an appropriate complaints procedure, in the case of large companies, and/or with smaller companies, by contacting the owner/manager directly, whereupon all evidence from that complaint is then judged on its merit by said company, in order to ascertain, without prejudice, who is in the right or wrong.

The fact that this procedure isn't possible with Weatherspoons, and that 'the powers that be' there can simply ban who they like, willy-nilly, is a total disgrace, and unacceptable.

Marco.

[synsei]

+1. I wouldn't be seen dead inside one!!

Marco.

Why not? Like brewery owned chains they ain't all the same. If you are ever down this way I'll take you into our local for a brew and a meal, I think you would be very pleasantly surprised, especially with the wine list

[Marco]

Why not? Like brewery owned chains they ain't all the same. If you are ever down this way I'll take you into our local for a brew and a meal, I think you would be very pleasantly surprised, especially with the wine list

Lol - of course I would certainly take you up on your kind offer, Dave. Cheers!

However, I don't normally drink in 'chain pubs' (in fact, I don't go out much to pubs in general, preferring to drink at home), but when I do it's almost always to a quaint (privately owned) country pub, which not only serves superb real ales, but equally superb FOOD

Andre and I agree on so many things, not just with hi-fi, but our drinking habits are POLES APART!!

For me (and Del) the primary reason for visiting a pub is to eat a really nice meal, and if the beer happens to be good it's a bonus, otherwise we'll just order a bottle of wine. In that respect, establishments such as Weatherspoons, tend not to 'cut the mustard', as the menu is full of the usual, mass-produced, generic pub food we would avoid like the plague. However, that said, there are sometimes exceptions.

Do you have to pay for your food in advance in Weatherspoons? If so, that would be another reason not to go, as I abhor that practice. I like to be the one in control of the food I'm paying for, so that if it's crap or below standard, I can complain and retain the option of not paying for it, rather than that option being removed from the beginning....!

We have an 'old man's' pub right next door to our house and one (an Ember Inns establishment, similar to 'Brewers Fayre') about 3 mins walk away... Do we go to either of them? No - NEVER, simply because they're just not our thing. However, each to his or her own.

Here are two of our 'locals', which epitomise what we look for in a pub: http://www.boatondee.com/

http://www.brunningandprice.co.uk/pantyrochain/ Check out the photos section: http://www.brunningandprice.co.uk/pantyrochain/gallery/

Marco.