Another find in an old scrapbook - the flyer and tasting notes from Wetherspoons 'Thriller' Beer Festival in 1996. Back in the day they weren't the giant pub chain they are today. My nearest Wetherspoons was Maidstone and I drove up there one weekday evening to see what all the fuss was about. I still have pint glasses, a cigarette lighter and even the decorations from the walls which I collected after they had finished with them. 'Monster' and 'Wicked' beer festivals followed in subsequent years but the release of the first Harry Potter films resulted in a wizard themed festival and the Halloween festivities ended. Either that or religious types persuaded them to stop!
Wetherspoons often took over rather grandiose buildings that have a lovely atmosphere, however their tendancy to offer very cheap food (often unhealthy options of variable quality) and discounted beer, put many local traditional pubs out of business. And now their tendency to open earlier in the mornings mean that a lot of alcoholics and tramps to choose the chain as a preferable location to drink than a park bench or graveyard. And then in the evenings at weekends you get the underage drinkers and young drinkers aiming to get sh*tfaced and laid on a budget which make these once trendy places to frequent something akin to having a ringside seat in both a bareknuckle fight and projectile vomiting competition. Classy!!!
Wednesday 12th October 2011
