Wetherspoons

Wetherspoon (business name J D Wetherspoon plc) is a pub chain operating in the UK and Ireland, with headquarters in Watford, Hertfordshire. Founded in 1979 by Tim Martin, the company owns just under 1000 outlets. The chain's pubs offer cask ale, low prices, long opening hours, and no music. The company also operates the Lloyds No. 1 chain and a number of Wetherspoon Hotels. The chain has become known for converting large, unconventional premises into pubs. Premises tend to be large by British pub standards, and use an open plan layout. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

The chain began supporting cask ale when it was unfashionable to do so.

History

In 1979, Tim Martin opened his first pub, on Colney Hatch Lane in Muswell Hill, north London. Many of the other early Wetherspoon pubs were also in the western part of Haringey. The J D Wetherspoon name comes from one of Martin's teachers in New Zealand who could not control his class, Contrary to popular belief, the Wetherspoon name did not come from the teacher telling Tim that he would never succeed in business. The name came from when Tim was running his first pub in Muswell Hill. "I decided to call it Wetherspoon's after a former teacher - not because the teacher in question at my primary school in New Zealand had said I would never make it, as some people think, but because he was too nice a fellow to be running our particular class and he couldn't control it. So I thought: I can't control the pub, he couldn't control the class, so I'll name it after him."