Wetherspoons - Cheap but crap, that's how we like it! (J.D. Wetherspoon in general)

Member Name: puddingmancan

Product:	J.D. Wetherspoon in general
Date:	15/10/09 (127 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap food and drink

Disadvantages: No atmosphere

JD Wetherspoons was set up in 1979 and seemed to go below the radar for most people for many years. However, in the last decade Wetherspoons bars have been cropping up all over the place, with one or more in nearly every town / city centre.

Wetherspoons made its name selling cheap drinks. One of the ways it did this was by not paying out on an entertainment licence (meaning no music). Today Wetherspoons have kept to the no music policy, even though premises laws have changed and they'd no longer have to pay and, therefore, would not need to compromise on their food/drink prices.

Drinks
The drinks in Wetherspoons tend to be the cheapest around, undercutting the competition from a couple of pennies to a pound cheaper. For this, they do not differ in quality.

Food
The food situation is the same as most of it competitors. It's not good food, but it is cheap! Most of the food is pretty much microwave dinners, but what do you expect when you can get a main meal for ₤2.99. The burgers, steaks and salads seem fresher, so I tend to stick to them. I'd say the food is good enough to line your stomach before a night out, or for a quick cheap lunch, but I'd never go out for dinner and even contemplate Wetherspoons unless a big drink up was on the cards.

Atmosphere
As previously mentioned there's no music in Wetherspoons and this does affect the atmosphere. You can't just sit down and chill out with some tunes in the background, its either talk to who your with or sit in silence. It's even worse on a busy night where theres just the ambient noise of everyone talking and you end up having to shout to be heard by your friends.

Conclusion
At the end of the day Wetherspoons is a great place to go for cheap drink and food, but not much else. Its main reason for being seems to be for starting a night out as it's not really an enjoyable place to be. You're probably not going to have a great night out if you just stay there. Unfortunately, most of the places where people used to start their night, such as the local pub, are going under as a result of not being able to compete with the prices found at Wetherspoons.

Summary: Good place to start your night