Wetherspoons. Britain's living room.
Wetherspoons has no music, prison lighting and carpet from the 80s, usually in a converted bank or bingo hall. It has the cheapest pint in town and may be the most important social space in Britain.
THE GIST ON WETHERSPOONS: "Britain's Living Room"
Who is in a Spoons at 11am on a Tuesday?
Students, pensioners, solicitors, monks with prams, all in the same room and none of them out of place. Tell me where else in Britain that happens.
Was any of it on purpose?
None of it. No music saves on the licence. No fancy interiors saves on the fit out. Cheap pints because they buy in bulk on long term contracts. Cinemas and banks because they were cheap.
Everything that makes Wetherspoons what it is was a cost cutting decision. Tim Martin wasn't trying to create a shared space. He was trying to run pubs as cheaply as possible.
Why does it work?
By cutting everything that costs money, he accidentally cut everything that keeps people out. Door policies, curation and aesthetics all cost money.
Strip all that away and you have a place with no reason to turn anyone away, where everyone feels comfortable. A proper boozer. Every co-working space and community brand spends millions trying to manufacture belonging. The best way is to remove the barriers, not write a mission statement.
Best pub: Spoons or a fancy gastropub?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
Why does Wetherspoons have no music?
It saves on the licence.
Was Wetherspoons designed as a shared space?
No. Tim Martin was trying to run pubs as cheaply as possible, and cutting costs accidentally removed what keeps people out.
What do brands try to manufacture that Spoons has?
Belonging.
See you on the next one.
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