Properties and operations
Though some are new-build or late twentieth century properties, many Wetherspoon pubs are conversions of existing historic buildings which have become redundant, including banks, churches, post offices, theatres and a former public swimming pool, with many properties being listed buildings.[32] Pubs are furnished thematically according to the heritage of the building or location, and have routinely won design awards.[8] This has been seen as part of Wetherspoon's wider engagement with local history, which includes the prominent display of posters on local history, a dedicated pub history page, and unique carpets.[5]
Wetherspoons has opened outlets in the passenger terminals of some UK airports, including Doncaster Sheffield Airport, Edinburgh Airport, Gatwick Airport, Heathrow Airport, and Stansted Airport, as well as at several major railway stations, including London Waterloo, Leeds, Liverpool Lime Street, London Cannon Street, London Liverpool Street, and London Victoria.[33][34] The main station buildings at Aberystwyth railway station were converted to a Wetherspoons pub, Yr Hen Orsaf The Old Station, and received a National Railway Heritage Award in 2003.[35]
The first Wetherspoons pub in all of Ireland was The Spinning Mill in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, which opened in August 2000.[36] The first Wetherspoons pub in the Republic of Ireland, The Three Tun Tavern, opened in Blackrock, County Dublin, in 2014. Another opened in Cork in 2015.[37][38][39] The Three Tun Tavern closed in January 2022 after it was bought by a consortium of former and current Irish rugby players, including Rob Kearney and Jamie Heaslip.[40]
In 2014, Wetherspoons opened a pub at the Beaconsfield motorway service area on the M40. The move was criticised by road safety charities for potentially encouraging drink-driving.[41]
Its largest pub is the Royal Victorian Pavilion in Ramsgate, in a building which was originally a concert hall, and later a nightclub.[42]
Wetherspoons also operates a chain of hotels. In 2015, there were 34 hotels in England, Wales and Scotland, and also a pub and hotel in Camden Street, Dublin, Ireland.[43]
Every Wetherspoons in Great Britain was visited by Mags Thomson from 1994 to October 2015. She visited 972, which included 80 that had subsequently closed.[44]
In 2018, the company announced plans to open a National JD Wetherspoon Museum in Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. The existing pub, The Moon Under Water on Lichfield Street, would be expanded to take in the whole former Co-Op Department Store, to include a hotel and gift shop.[45] Plans were approved in April 2020.[46]
In 2022, the company announced it was selling 32 of its sites, including that at the Beaconsfield motorway service area.[47]
Carpets
Each Wetherspoons pub has one or more unique carpets, inspired by the pub's name, location and building. They are made by Axminster Carpets and, sometimes having more than the usual six colours, have to be partially handmade on old fashioned looms, costing up to £30,000 – twice as much as stock designs.[48] These have been the subject of a book, Spoons Carpets, by Kit Caliss[49][50] and a colouring book, Colour Your Own Spoons Carpet.[51]
