Wetherspoons
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J. D. Wetherspoon (usually called Wetherspoons) is a pub chain based in the UK.
The chain aim to undercut the prices of other pubs in the country. Wetherspoons pubs have a standard pub menu throughout the country, and never play background music. The chain has formidable buying power and does not stock Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort or any Bacardi products because of conflicts with suppliers.
The company is based in Watford in Hertfordshire. Its premises, although a chain of pubs, do show surprising sensitivity to the history and character of the local incumbent areas. Usually, the pub is named after a famous local character or gentryman. The decor inside is the typical faux-19th Century style, without looking too false as Mitchells & Butlers' O' Neills chain of pubs may appear. In some ways, they have taken over the market that the late 1990s Firkin pub chain had, before it was discontinued by Bass after 2000.
The prices of ales are up to half that of comparable pub brands, and the pre-mixed binge-drinker-friendly drinks up to a third. Indeed, with large-scale binge-drinking in its hey-day, Wetherspoons pricing structure, although welcome for most moderate-drinking people, does not give the Police headache-free evenings.
History
JD Wetherspoon got it's name from the Chairman, Tim Martin's Teacher in New Zealand named Mr. Wetherspoon, who once wrote on a report of his that he would never amount to anything. The JD part came from JD out of The Dukes of Hazzard. Apparently one of Tim's favourites.
Recently the chain have launched a number of new-style bars, under a their new Lloyds No1 Bar brand, including those in Newcastle and Middlesbrough. These new bars play contemporary music (along with corresponding music videos that are displayed on wall-mounted televisions) and often have a small dancefloor that is used at weekends. Lloyds Bar has a similar food menu to the normal Wetherspoons outlets and, in keeping with Wetherspoons tradition, the prices tend to be below those of other bars of this type.
On January 24th 2005. JD Wetherspoon announced they would be banning smoking throught the chain, the first UK chain to do this, with all new openings from that date to be non-smoking, 60 others will become non-smoking on May 19th 2005 and phased in all other branches through to May 2006. In the end, their May 19th 2005 date was too ambitous and was not met. However, all new openings and refurbishments will be non-smoking, and, as of June 2005, JD Wetherspoon has 23 non-smoking pubs.
External links
- JD Wetherspoon (http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk)