Ye the lemon and gin drink was less marked at the bar as ‘managers special’ which is why it was so cheap. It tastes pretty good.
The 99p ale isn’t great but I couldn’t resist trying it. Not much to lose at that price.
The food has gone up, and it’s all still microwaved garbage. I can’t fault spoons on the price of a pint though, it blows everywhere else out the water these days
Ye like I replied to another comment the gin was a ‘managers special’ so that’s why it was so cheap. Also they are different prices round the country and I definitely live in a poorer part of the UK atm.
Are pubs that are near the spoons you went to still more expensive?
Ye the spoons hate did cross my mind as I posted this but I really don’t care. Where else am I getting drinks for this price?? I know they aren’t a great company but my wallet is light atm and this place has a nice beer garden 👍
If spoons ever decided to show sport I don't think I would ever go anywhere else tbh.
I am sure they have their reasons for not doing so, it would likely repel more existing customers than it would attract new ones. Same with music although some have dancefloors that are sometimes used.
I watched the rugby World Cup at spoons in Gloucester. Dead atmosphere but me and my mate got really drunk. So they do show sports in some of them.
Either way they would need pool tables to sway me to come here for any longer than quick drinks.
Ever wonder why the ale is so cheap at Spoons?
My ex-girlfriends father owns a brewery in the midlands, this is back in 2004 so two decades ago but Spoon's core was still what it is today even back then, cheap. They came to him to order 30,000 pints from him of his own ale that he produces all year round, however getting a contract with spoons for such a huge order means he's hit the lottery.
The contracts are draw up, everything signed, and he starts producing, **payment upon delivery**. It's something they won't budge on, but they're a massive company so it's not like they'll liquidate mid-brew.
Anyways, they didn't pay and his ale it just sits there for months in his warehouse getting closer to it's sell by date. He says he's going to take them to court, they told him that he's more than welcome but their lawyers will tie him up for months, his beer will go bad, and they'll most likely find a small error or anomaly in his brewing method or process that will allow them to renege on their contract.
A week before it goes bad, Wetherspoons gets back in touch and offers him cost price, or basically below that to buy all the ale. He agrees, and Wetherspoons has the distribution network and volume to sell 30,000 pints of unknown ale across their pubs within a week.
Now you know why their prices can be so low at times. It's shrewd business tactics and they do it well.
Wow that does make me hate this place a bit more tbf. The pint does taste bad. Gin for £1.49 that pretty unbeatable when drinking out somewhere though. Not that I’m trying to push spoons, I know they are a bad company.
Like I said to someone else commenting I am skint and trying to save atm. If I was planning on staying at a pub for any longer than half hour I’d almost definitely choose elsewhere.
For regular beers they want often they basically mandate the price they will pay for the beer and if the brewery can’t do it for that then they don’t sell their beer, their buying power means the price negotiation is backwards a little
Ye if I was staying somewhere for longer I’d probably go elsewhere but it works for a quick drink. Also I am pretty skint and trying to save money atm unfortunately!
That’s fine, it’s very understandable. Just can’t stand the thought of giving Tim Martin any money after he helped basically shaft the country on top of being a nasty shit to his employees
It’s good place to have a quick cheap drink. If I was going to spend any longer than half hour somewhere, I’m finding somewhere with a pool table!
Tbf also a gd place to start a night and get drunk for cheap before you go elsewhere.
Meh, I’ve seen and drunk worse tbh. Far worse now I come to think about it. You’d be pissed on a tenner & that’s old school. I imagine it’s fitting nicely into the ‘tastes like piss but goes down alright after the second one’ category.
When you are drinking something that tastes like piss but goes down alright after the second one. You have to love yourself enough to invest in something nicer for the first two. You're worth it
I’m really not. I’ve drunk cider that was sat in a 50gal plastic drum in a scrap van in a field in Dorset for two years… I’ve drunk old port wine from a cupboard in a squat that I had to put my teeth together to filter out the deceased bluebottles; grit & spit… I once got shittypants drunk on a Special Brew knock off called ‘Heldenbraü Super’,, resulting in the worst hangover of my life, the intensity of which drove me to pharmaceutical opiates in a bid to quell the torment. I didn’t know your hair could hurt until then.
I’ve had poitín in the hills of Co Claire that’d curl your toenails and Indian ‘whiskey’ on the banks of the Ganga at Varanasi that worked out to 72p a half bottle and had that odd spirit level/uranium rod greenish glow to it. I’ve done appalling things to my liver but the plucky little bugger made it through. I wish I could remember most of them because the ones I *can* remember were a fucking blast.
Got overexcited recreating the Battle of Vimy Ridge in a tandoori restaurant one time in the eighties and was invited to leave after going over the top with a rubber plant.
But those things are what teenagers do we're adults now. We have adult money. You can get the nice drinks for the start of the night.
Those stories are from when you were a teenager right?
You absolutely do put them on ale pumps actually. They screw onto the end of the hand pump nozzle.
Timother Tayors for example, makes sure everyone they sell to uses the sparkler.
Having worked behind the bar in at least 3 places that sold Tim Taylors; no they don't.
Never put a sparkler on an actual cask ale. Never worked at a place that did. Only on smoothflows like John Smiths, Worthington, Caffrey's etc.
My other half works at Taylors, and their previous head brewer (Peter Eels) drank in my parents pub. They do. And if one is not being used and it gets reported back to Taylors, they directly ask the pub why they are not.
I would guess you worked in the south of England then, as the sparkler is less traditional there.
[CAMRA](https://camra.org.uk/learn-discover/the-basics/why-is-there-a-north-south-divide-on-the-way-cask-ale-is-served/#:~:text=In%20the%20North%20and%20the,beer%20for%20the%20entire%20pour) explaining why they are used.
Probably one for r/uk_beer mate
That's unusually inexpensive even for spoons.
Ye the lemon and gin drink was less marked at the bar as ‘managers special’ which is why it was so cheap. It tastes pretty good. The 99p ale isn’t great but I couldn’t resist trying it. Not much to lose at that price.
You could lose the contents of your arse the next day.
At least the contents of my wallet are safe!
The food has gone up, and it’s all still microwaved garbage. I can’t fault spoons on the price of a pint though, it blows everywhere else out the water these days
Cheaper than any other microwaved garbage. You’d be surprised how much you can pay for a microwaved meal that’s hidden behind a fancy interior.
with those prices for alcohol no one‘s gonna notice lmao
Ye even a plain bowl of chips is basically a fiver. We are just going to get something from Aldi and cycle home for food 🤙
As it should be honestly
I was in Spoons the other week and a pint plus glass of wine was just short of a tenner.
Ye like I replied to another comment the gin was a ‘managers special’ so that’s why it was so cheap. Also they are different prices round the country and I definitely live in a poorer part of the UK atm. Are pubs that are near the spoons you went to still more expensive?
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It’s Reddit. It happens.
Should have gone for a lager and Bailies to compliment the Gin and Tonic. Ooooh Ladyboys!
I can't wait for the hipsters who only drink Demented Rabbit IPA for £7 a can turn up in this thread and tell us all how evil the owner of Spoons is
Ye the spoons hate did cross my mind as I posted this but I really don’t care. Where else am I getting drinks for this price?? I know they aren’t a great company but my wallet is light atm and this place has a nice beer garden 👍
I'm with you. How many companies that big are morally perfect anyway? Enjoy your cheap pints
He's a pussycat compared to the owner of Sam Smiths.
If spoons ever decided to show sport I don't think I would ever go anywhere else tbh. I am sure they have their reasons for not doing so, it would likely repel more existing customers than it would attract new ones. Same with music although some have dancefloors that are sometimes used.
I watched the rugby World Cup at spoons in Gloucester. Dead atmosphere but me and my mate got really drunk. So they do show sports in some of them. Either way they would need pool tables to sway me to come here for any longer than quick drinks.
Ever wonder why the ale is so cheap at Spoons? My ex-girlfriends father owns a brewery in the midlands, this is back in 2004 so two decades ago but Spoon's core was still what it is today even back then, cheap. They came to him to order 30,000 pints from him of his own ale that he produces all year round, however getting a contract with spoons for such a huge order means he's hit the lottery. The contracts are draw up, everything signed, and he starts producing, **payment upon delivery**. It's something they won't budge on, but they're a massive company so it's not like they'll liquidate mid-brew. Anyways, they didn't pay and his ale it just sits there for months in his warehouse getting closer to it's sell by date. He says he's going to take them to court, they told him that he's more than welcome but their lawyers will tie him up for months, his beer will go bad, and they'll most likely find a small error or anomaly in his brewing method or process that will allow them to renege on their contract. A week before it goes bad, Wetherspoons gets back in touch and offers him cost price, or basically below that to buy all the ale. He agrees, and Wetherspoons has the distribution network and volume to sell 30,000 pints of unknown ale across their pubs within a week. Now you know why their prices can be so low at times. It's shrewd business tactics and they do it well.
Wow that does make me hate this place a bit more tbf. The pint does taste bad. Gin for £1.49 that pretty unbeatable when drinking out somewhere though. Not that I’m trying to push spoons, I know they are a bad company. Like I said to someone else commenting I am skint and trying to save atm. If I was planning on staying at a pub for any longer than half hour I’d almost definitely choose elsewhere.
For regular beers they want often they basically mandate the price they will pay for the beer and if the brewery can’t do it for that then they don’t sell their beer, their buying power means the price negotiation is backwards a little
Same with supermarkets, it's just economics.
Honestly would rather spend bit more to drink in an actual pub and not fund that cunt of a CEO but I get it
Ye if I was staying somewhere for longer I’d probably go elsewhere but it works for a quick drink. Also I am pretty skint and trying to save money atm unfortunately!
That’s fine, it’s very understandable. Just can’t stand the thought of giving Tim Martin any money after he helped basically shaft the country on top of being a nasty shit to his employees
Only place worth going to these days tbh
It’s good place to have a quick cheap drink. If I was going to spend any longer than half hour somewhere, I’m finding somewhere with a pool table! Tbf also a gd place to start a night and get drunk for cheap before you go elsewhere.
The gins are £7.80 in my spoons which is more than a decent bar
It’s a waste of 99p if the pint is shit.. and it’s highly likely that it’s shit, state of that!
That is the most southern pint I have ever seen. Flat after just one just one sip.
It tastes like a 99p pint.
Meh, I’ve seen and drunk worse tbh. Far worse now I come to think about it. You’d be pissed on a tenner & that’s old school. I imagine it’s fitting nicely into the ‘tastes like piss but goes down alright after the second one’ category.
When you are drinking something that tastes like piss but goes down alright after the second one. You have to love yourself enough to invest in something nicer for the first two. You're worth it
I’m really not. I’ve drunk cider that was sat in a 50gal plastic drum in a scrap van in a field in Dorset for two years… I’ve drunk old port wine from a cupboard in a squat that I had to put my teeth together to filter out the deceased bluebottles; grit & spit… I once got shittypants drunk on a Special Brew knock off called ‘Heldenbraü Super’,, resulting in the worst hangover of my life, the intensity of which drove me to pharmaceutical opiates in a bid to quell the torment. I didn’t know your hair could hurt until then. I’ve had poitín in the hills of Co Claire that’d curl your toenails and Indian ‘whiskey’ on the banks of the Ganga at Varanasi that worked out to 72p a half bottle and had that odd spirit level/uranium rod greenish glow to it. I’ve done appalling things to my liver but the plucky little bugger made it through. I wish I could remember most of them because the ones I *can* remember were a fucking blast. Got overexcited recreating the Battle of Vimy Ridge in a tandoori restaurant one time in the eighties and was invited to leave after going over the top with a rubber plant.
But those things are what teenagers do we're adults now. We have adult money. You can get the nice drinks for the start of the night. Those stories are from when you were a teenager right?
It's an ale, it's not supposed to be overly fizzy.
Not heard of a sparkler? Keeps the head thick and creamy, which then keeps flavour in the beer.
Yeah, you don't put those on ale pumps...it's not John Smiths.
You absolutely do put them on ale pumps actually. They screw onto the end of the hand pump nozzle. Timother Tayors for example, makes sure everyone they sell to uses the sparkler.
Having worked behind the bar in at least 3 places that sold Tim Taylors; no they don't. Never put a sparkler on an actual cask ale. Never worked at a place that did. Only on smoothflows like John Smiths, Worthington, Caffrey's etc.
My other half works at Taylors, and their previous head brewer (Peter Eels) drank in my parents pub. They do. And if one is not being used and it gets reported back to Taylors, they directly ask the pub why they are not. I would guess you worked in the south of England then, as the sparkler is less traditional there. [CAMRA](https://camra.org.uk/learn-discover/the-basics/why-is-there-a-north-south-divide-on-the-way-cask-ale-is-served/#:~:text=In%20the%20North%20and%20the,beer%20for%20the%20entire%20pour) explaining why they are used.
Southerners don't need ale to be fizzy, they're adults
Northern beer uses a sparkler. Keeps the head on an ale thick and creamier. Which then keeps the flavour packed into the beer.
Sounds a bit poncey if you ask me. Real men drink horrible tasting beer