Spoons go dark.

[bgmnts]

Potential game changer or naff attention grabbing?

http://metro.co.uk/2018/04/16/wetherspoon-close-900-pubs-head-offices-social-media-accounts-trolling-7470251/amp/

[itsfredtitmus]

Depends if there's a Moon

[Beagle 2]

They're right that it's a waste of time. I don't know why everything feels the need to have a "social media presence". You buy a bottle of vinegar and it invites you to follow it on fucking Twitter.

[itsfredtitmus]

I used to follow the Weetabix on the go account great bunch of lads

[Nowhere Man]

I mean they've got a bit of a point, its hard to see a twitter or Instagram feed resulting in a major difference in numbers of people walking into their local wetherspoons. They might want to at least keep one of them for advertisement shite though.

[Icehaven]

There is no greater lover of Spoons than I, and I use Facebook a reasonable amount, however I've never felt moved to look them up on it. Given the reach of Spoons' 'brand' and the number of their pubs 100,000 followers isn't actually that many either, it's probably not far off how many people pass through the Square Peg in Brum of a Saturday. As someone says above I can see why they probably think it's more trouble than it's worth, particularly if you consider how they've had their fingers burnt recently a few times with fake FB/Twitter accounts spreading false stories about them doing things like banning staff from wearing poppies etc. They've had to issue vocal denials as so many people blindly believed and shared them, so if the advantages aren't worth the potentially bad (albeit fake) publicity I guess it makes sense to just be able to say ''We don't do social media so you know any accounts or stories in our name are bullshit. Now drink your gone-off ale.''

[imitationleather]

Were their social media accounts used as a way for Mr Wetherspoon to push his anti-europe, anti-tax, pro-Brexit agenda like Wetherspoons News is? I guess not because I can't see him voluntarily giving up an avenue for that type of chat.

[Icehaven]

Were their social media accounts used as a way for Mr Wetherspoon to push his anti-europe, anti-tax, pro-Brexit agenda like Wetherspoons News is? I guess not because I can't see him voluntarily giving up an avenue for that type of chat.

Dunno, but he's still got the Spoons news magazine for that.

[Bad Ambassador]

[tag]Button Moon Xtreme[/tag]

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

[tag] enthusiastic heroin user leaves thread disappointed [tag]

[ASFTSN]

Dunno, but he's still got the Spoons news magazine for that.

At least 8 pages in fine print, in high-vis black and yellow about Brexit last time I looked in one.

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

It's Brexit all over again.

[Konki]

Never really got the appeal of The Spoons. I get that the beer is cheap but the ones near me are always too busy and I find them really soulless. Also there was a row in the one down the road last year (I think) which resulted in a fatal shooting on the pavement outside.

[ASFTSN]

Never really got the appeal of The Spoons. I get that the beer is cheap but the ones near me are always too busy and I find them really soulless. Also there was a row in the one down the road last year (I think) which resulted in a fatal shooting on the pavement outside.

In many parts of London, depressingly enough they're often the closest thing in feel to a 'real' pub with anonymity and gloom.  Most of the others are either ultra-try hard wannabe gastropubs/winebars or hipster places.

[BlodwynPig]

I do like their labyrinthian quality, dreams of getting lost in the vast dark oak corridors...fantasy dispelled by smell of toilet and sticky carpet and loads of louts bustling around. A near empty spoons is best...sink into a oversized leather clad chair and disappear from the world for a while.

[Replies From View]

Spoons, eh?


SPTTTPPHHPTTTTTHHHOONS.

[imitationleather]

I do like their labyrinthian quality, dreams of getting lost in the vast dark oak corridors...fantasy dispelled by smell of toilet and sticky carpet and loads of louts bustling around. A near empty spoons is best...sink into a oversized leather clad chair and disappear from the world for a while.

The Montagu Pyke in Soho is the most labyrinth of all the labyrinth Spoons I've been to, with a ridiculously high ceiling that's like being in a colonial-era building in Latin America. It's also really, really dark, and when entering on a blazing sunny day it takes a little while for my eyes to adjust and I go temporarily blind.

Amazingly convenient to have what is essentially a free public loo right in the centre of Soho, though. Even when I'm nearby and don't need a poo I always make sure to summon up the effort to produce one. It would seem rude not to.

[bgmnts]

In many parts of London, depressingly enough they're often the closest thing in feel to a 'real' pub with anonymity and gloom.  Most of the others are either ultra-try hard wannabe gastropubs/winebars or hipster places.

Jesus.

Not an expert but that could be one for the desolation thread.

[NoSleep]

I get that the beer is cheap but the ones near me are always too busy and I find them really soulless.

They replaced the souls with spirits.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I do like their labyrinthian quality, dreams of getting lost in the vast dark oak corridors...fantasy dispelled by smell of toilet and sticky carpet and loads of louts bustling around. A near empty spoons is best...sink into a oversized leather clad chair and disappear from the world for a while.

What's in all those rooms? I've been in several where there have been rooms above the bar marked staff only that must span the entire building. What's up there?

[BlodwynPig]

What's in all those rooms? I've been in several where there have been rooms above the bar marked staff only that must span the entire building. What's up there?

Yesterday's dreams. Longform sighs. A million beer mats.

[ollyboro]

Never really got the appeal of The Spoons. I get that the beer is cheap but the ones near me are always too busy and I find them really soulless. Also there was a row in the one down the road last year (I think) which resulted in a fatal shooting on the pavement outside.

Spoons is the McDonald's, or Gregg's of the booze world. They're all 6/10 places and you know what you're going to get. When I worked around the country I would always be on the lookout for a genuine local boozer, but would often have to settle for a Spoons. Fair enough. But out of the 100+ Spoons I visited I can barely remember anything memorable happening in them. I don't think I've ever made conversation with a stranger in a Spoons. Unlike the Hull boozer where I met a pisspot who told me he'd been the  announcer for the Rumble In The Jungle, or the pub on Watford High Street where the most pissed fucker in there was about four minutes away from giving birth, and a tall bloke had a dwarf on his shoulders at the bar. Then the was the really REALLY aggressive rugby fan somewhere near Basingstoke who wanted to kill Wayne Rooney, or the theme pub somewhere in the Midlands which had the theme of death....etc etc. Spoons pubs never leave an impression.

[Ian Drunken Smurf]

My last memory of a 'Spoons was in 1998, when I was IDed aged 21 outside the "Perkin Warbeck" in Taunton by a pimply bean pole bouncer. As I shown him my ID that showed me to be 21, I remarked "I've been drinking legally here since this place was still a snooker club". Inside there were tanked up squaddies and local have-a-go-heroes kicking off. Stayed for a pint and never been to a Spoons since.

[Psmith]

Only been in one.It used to be The Prince of Wales Theatre/Cinema.
Quite impressive surroundings ,they've gutted it and left the high decorated ceiling.
Ambience of an  empty airport terminal.Only enlivened by a few drunken common people.

[Paul Calf]

The Montagu Pyke in Soho is the most labyrinth of all the labyrinth Spoons I've been to, with a ridiculously high ceiling that's like being in a colonial-era building in Latin America. It's also really, really dark, and when entering on a blazing sunny day it takes a little while for my eyes to adjust and I go temporarily blind.

Amazingly convenient to have what is essentially a free public loo right in the centre of Soho, though. Even when I'm nearby and don't need a poo I always make sure to summon up the effort to produce one. It would seem rude not to.

It's also allegedly the pub where the impromptu piss dungeon was discovered:

https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/vdybgj/deep-inside-the-chain-pub-piss-dungeon

[Dr Trouser]

Only been in one.It used to be The Prince of Wales Theatre/Cinema.
Quite impressive surroundings ,they've gutted it and left the high decorated ceiling.
Ambience of an  empty airport terminal.Only enlivened by a few drunken common people.

I remember when that was a perfectly acceptable porn cinema before it got ruined.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

In many parts of London, depressingly enough they're often the closest thing in feel to a 'real' pub with anonymity and gloom.  Most of the others are either ultra-try hard wannabe gastropubs/winebars or hipster places.

Which parts? I can't recall having any difficulty finding at least a 6/10 pub anywhere in the centre, outside of maybe Canary Wharf. And that's preferable to a Spoons.

Apparently it's £3.40 in Sam Smiths pub in London now, so Spoons is probably the last remaining place for a cheap pint.

[Paul Calf]

The lesson being that you get what you're prepared to pay for.

See also: the music industry.

[Paul Calf]

And £3.40 is cheap for a London pint. You can't compare it to pubs outside Central London whose costs are a fraction.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

And £3.40 is cheap for a London pint. You can't compare it to pubs outside Central London whose costs are a fraction.

The point is more that it cost £2.90 2 years ago so that's a massive increase.