Think about the carpet. With 800 pubs, that's arguably 800 of the loudest, ugliest carpets in existence. Wetherspoons buys them by the mile. Some say the patterns are designed to hide spills. Others say they just hate our eyes.
And the prices. A typical Wetherspoons menu lists 40+ ales. They go through millions of pints a year. Their buying power is absurd. That's why you can get a pint for under £3 in some spots while the pub down the road charges £6.
Map shows the 35 Wetherspoons pubs up for sale across UK | News UK
Then there are the conversions. Many Spoons aren't purpose-built. They're old banks, cinemas, post offices, and even a church. The Sir John Betjeman in St Pancras station is a converted Victorian booking hall. The Philharmonic Dining Rooms in Liverpool was a Victorian gin palace. Each one has a history, even if the present is all sticky tables.
The closure counter
In 2026, Tim Martin shut down another 13 pubs. He's aiming for 100 closures total. Why? He says it's about "demographics." The reality? High rents and changing habits. Young people drink less. Old people stay home. The Spoons empire is shrinking, but slowly.
Here's a quirky fact: the oldest Wetherspoons pub still trading is the Sir Richard Steele in Camden, London. It opened in 1979. That's almost 50 years of cheap chips and noisy locals. The newest? It changes monthly. They open tiny ones in railway arches now.
