London's Most Historic Wetherspoons Pubs 

I was fortunate enough to go in there a couple of years ago and would rank as one of the most impressive Wetherspoons I've been to. Interestingly, it was the only Wetherspoon that could be used as a wedding venue. Alas, no more ☹️

The Tunbridge Wells wetherspoons is worth a look. In the restored Opera House. Where they still occasionally perform Opera's. The next one is The Magic Flute. February 18th 2024.

I enjoyed going there while I was at law school many years ago

That's a pity, it was a rather grand pub

I was talking to someone about what they are doing with their life and they said I help alcoholics. Drug addicts. Homeless people. And mentally ill people and I replied are you a counsellor and they said no I work in weatherspoons

I think people thought Weatherspoons were capitalising on hard drinkers without realising they were providing beverages at affordable prices in a clean and sociably conducive environment. Alcohol doesn't agree with me, but I respect the business model.

Mukhumor they sell coffee as well

@@OscarOSullivan Excellent.

Like Ryanair,,I don’t think they know what they are moaning about,,

Meals over priced microwave food you clearly have no clue.

@@apocalypticweasel9078 Overpriced compared to what other pub/outlet?

@@geoffos42 its microwave food you can get at any supermarket an is therefore impossible to compare to another pub.

They have closed down quite a few Wether spoons the last couple of years, very sad. They can be hit and miss food wise... I will Never have eggs in the Clapham Junction one again, they were disgusting.

@@apocalypticweasel9078 Oh, right. I didn't realise that other pubs don't use microwaves.

Yes I almost included the Ice Wharf on the list but decided in the end it was just a tiny bit too far out of the centre. Yes you're right they often do take on iconic buildings in a given town - friends keep telling me about the one in Ramsgate which does look quite impressive in the photos.

@@TweedyPubs Not been to the one in Ramsgate, but in the same county, at Whitstable, there's" The Peter Cushing", which is a massive 1930's Art Deco cinema! I was recently in Colchester and "The playhouse"was very interesting, a converted Victorian theatre.

There is one in Keswick in the Lake District, that is the former police station, where you can actually sit in one of the old cells with your pint.@@TweedyPubs

Less pubs more beer halls

Except that it does have unbearably loud music!

Thanks Al! Yes they're quite a different style of pub to what I'd normally choose but I do think they have something going for them!

Thanks L&J! I think I probably ought to give the beer selection a little bit more of a longer mention in future - it is after all the main reason most people go to the pub!

Same here

Yes I had similar thoughts about the netting - I'm sure there is a good reason for it! The maintenance costs for some of these sites Wetherspoons pubs have taken on must be huge - I would guess you need some fairly specialised plasterers for somewhere like the Hamilton Hall.

Thanks Cedric! As others have commented this style of pubs may not be everyone's cup of tea - the large, cavernous interiors most of them had possibly don't feel very "pubby"... I generally prefer old fashioned pubs with nooks and crannies but once in a while having a very different style like this is actually quite refreshing.

Thanks! Wetherspoons pubs do seem to be a bit divisive - some people love them, others really aren't keen... I personally would usually rather be in a pub which has been a pub for at least a century! ...but I do think some of these "'Spoons" have something interesting and a bit different to offer, and if nothing else the beer is much cheaper than everywhere else!

@@TweedyPubs I’ve always been curious about them in terms of what was there ‘before’. Which this video so eloquently captures. Over the years I’ve only visited a couple of them when I lived in the UK (so up until 2009). One was in East Grinstead and another in a town (whose name escapes me) on the way back from a visit to Stonehenge/Woodhenge. I must admit I’m pretty ambivalent about them generally, as a chain.

Thank you, really glad to hear you're enjoying the videos! I did a video about Cambridge a while back, and think I briefly considered including the Regal, but at that time I was being a bit more purist about only including "genuinely" historic pubs... Making this video has changed my mind a bit though, and in future I will throw the odd 'Spoons into the mix here and there, where the building is particularly noteworthy.

Thanks as always for the kind words Rob!

Thanks Evan - very glad to hear this has provided some useful suggestions!

Great to hear that!

Thanks Clark! I enjoyed doing the research for this video, to my surprise I found the history of the Shakespeare's Head particularly fascinating thanks to that excellent website about the history of the now defunct bank. Sorry to hear that segment may have dredged up an uncomfortable memory though!

Yes Wetherspoons pubs certainly are a divisive topic! The Marmite of pub companies, perhaps. I agree, they certainly have done a lot for preservation of some interesting historic buildings, and I believe in some cases when they took them on they were in a very poor state with rather dismal prospects. Further to that it's interesting that there has been a round of sell-offs, particularly in the last year, and particularly in London. When I first started planning this video I had assumed I would be going to a pub called the Knights Templar in Holborn, plus also I was considering a former cinema in Holloway which Wetherspoons had converted. Both have quite recently been sold on to new owners, and in both cases they've remained as pubs. So that sort of suggests once they've proven these sites can work that they can have a future even beyond Wetherspoons' ownership of them. I'm the same with wanting nooks and crannies. Some of these places I visited in this video were visually impressive, others had surprisingly interesting histories, but I don't think any of them felt hugely "pubby". That said I would probably go back to at least the Metropolitan Bar and the Hamilton Hall again. Even if they're not exactly what I have in my mind's eye as the ideal pub, they are certainly interesting spaces in which to have a pint... and a very cheap pint at that! I thought the Wainwright Gold was OK - yes I'd obviously have preferred something a bit browner. I checked the hops online and it's apparently Magnum, Traditio (sic?) and Hersbrucker. They're all German varieties, which I don't object to in principle, and as far as I can tell not closely related to the dreaded Cascade/Citra which are at the root of the grapefruit scourge, although the tasting notes do mention citrus.

@@TweedyPubs Another excellent video, thanks Tweedy. The Coronet in Holloway still has the balcony from it's days as a cinema. Unfortunately unlike the Orchestra Mezzanine at the Hamilton Hall (i never knew that was what it was for - thank you for that) i've never seen it open. They seem to have far less faith in the ability of their patrons to avoid harming themselves/others after a few beverages.

@@vincefont4765 Thanks Vince! I was considering including the Coronet on the list, even though it's a bit out of the centre, but to my surprise I discovered it's no longer a Wetherspoons pub! I think it was very recently sold to a new owner, but I believe it has already reopened. I believe the interior is largely unchanged, but as it's not a 'Spoons any more I would guess the prices have gone up a fair bit!

Thanks Paul! I'm similarly a bit conflicted about Spoons, they're not usually pubs I would go to but I think the act of trying to be open minded to make this video did make me rethink that. In terms of the beer, other than the couple of false starts earlier in the day, pretty much all of these pubs had a better than average beer selection for London nowadays in terms of the sort of thing I like, and the prices are unbeatable. There are definitely a couple of interiors I was really struck by here as well. So I could easily see me going back to at least a couple of the pubs featured here next time I'm in those parts of town.

I concur

I've never been to that pubs - but I do like the Windsor and Eton Brewery's beers, so next time I am in that neck of the woods I'll bear that in mind, thanks!

I stopped by there today - great place, and a calm, relaxed atmosphere. Food + pint for £8.36. Also at the moment (Friday 26 Jan - Sunday 4 Feb) they have a beer festival with many guest beers on tap.

I almost included the Ice Wharf on the shortlist for this video, but in the end decided to include the Montagu Pyke instead, at least partly just because it made the transport logistics a bit easier! Perhaps I will do a follow up at some point as I think there are other Wetherspoons pubs outside of central London which might be interesting.

Thank you for those kind words, and thank you for spreading the word!

Oh wow now you mention it Keith that does ring a vague bell!

@terrymurphy2032 Cheers for that Terry. I travel a lot ,so always looking for a good watering hole ! Weatherspoons save some great old buildings. Not too mention a good selection of beers ! Take care.

@@terrymurphy2032 Another takeover,Terry !

@@TweedyPubs 👍

This one is a beautiful pub

Thanks Seán, that's a great idea!

Thanks Flying Hedgehog! Yes I had come across the Coach House at some point when researching another pub video, but I don't think I've ever been there. It's interesting how many ex-Spoons there are in London now, what with the Knights Templar in Holborn, the Coronet in Holloway, the Capitol in Forest Hill and the list goes on... Almost worthy of a video in itself!

@@TweedyPubs Hi apologies I meant to say The Gatehouse... Which also houses a small upstairs theatre ..I have noticed Michael Palin there many times.

The building the Rockingham Arms is a part of is of note: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Central_Heights

@@LordFinsbury Thanks, I did not know that. It's still a crummy place to drink.

Yes I enjoyed that - definitely the best beer of the day. Actually that ruby mild in the last pub was also quite good, even though I sounded a bit lukewarm about it in the video.

Thanks Ronnie! Yes I was in two minds about whether to make this video or not, and I agree the vast majority of Wetherspoons pubs aren't what I have in mind when I imagine my ideal pub... but I do think these are some really interesting buildings with interesting histories and I have to take my hat off to Wetherspoons for their ongoing efforts to preserve them.

Mostly the only way to drink cask beer in Ireland

Thanks John - great minds think alike!

Thank you!

Thanks Thomas - I love Lewes and have been many times but I love the Lewes Arms so much that I hardly ever get round to visiting any other pubs! I should correct that though.

Thanks Ronnie, I think you make some interesting points there, and yes there has been a lot of discussion generated by this video which makes me all the more pleased I got over my initial quibbles and decided to just go ahead and make it. I probably have a bit of a London bias to thinking about pubs, given it's where I live, and here it is much harder to get a sense of the phenomenon you mention of a Wetherspoons pub opening and putting other more traditional boozers nearby out of business... but I think that is quite a key thing to bear in mind when understanding some people's negative feelings towards the chain. It sounds like Wetherspoons opening up a pub isn't a guaranteed recipe for success for them either though. It has been interesting to see in the last year or so Wetherspoons selling off some of its locations, which were presumably not very profitable for them, and particularly a few fairly well known examples in London like the Knights Templar. Several of these in London have been bought by other companies and continue to be operated as pubs, which is an interesting development, as they weren't pubs before Wetherspoons converted them. It will be interesting to see if other companies can make a success of locations which Wetherspoons were apparently struggling with. On kids in pubs - I have slightly mixed feelings - and I think it really depends on the pub. Country pubs with a big garden which have always been quite food leaning are quite a different case from backstreet city boozers where it's pretty much standing room only. I think that shift goes back a lot further than Wetherspoons though - a pub I covered in the video about Hoxton was rebuilt in the 1930s, apparently with a clear intention to make it more family friendly. I think another issue there is that pubs used to be more divided into separate spaces internally, whereas for some time now the trend has (unfortunately in my opinion) been more towards large sprawling open plan interiors. So if kids were allowed in it used to be easier to corral them into one place. I remember going to pubs as a kid with my parents, and perhaps there was just one room where kids were allowed, but the public bar was very much adults only. This is still the case in some country pubs, but is perhaps getting rarer. My local here in London has a no kids after 7pm rule. That feels like quite a good compromise. Although I do find the older I get the more I'd rather be drinking in the afternoon than the evening!

I'm so glad that sentence ended with "according to my wife"!

This was a carefully curated list, I'm sure there are some in London which can be a bit rough around the edges. In fact even these ones featured here could be if you catch them at the wrong time. I looked up the Hamilton Hall on RU-vid before I went to film this video, and almost all of the videos are of it being absolutely swamped by a very rowdy football crowd, throwing glasses around etc. Definitely looked a bit scary!

I know what you mean, they're not usually the pubs I normally go to by choice but I tried to be open minded in this video and I think at least a couple of the pubs featured here are places I would go back to in future.

@@TweedyPubs In fairness I spent a few decent evenings in The Moon Under Water in Leicester Square early in my adult life. And I do respect that for many people, especially those on pensions or fixed incomes, Wetherspoons represents a dependable and affordable social hub. But at this stage in my life, any pub with fruit machines is out. Thanks for another great video!

@@Maitreya0208 Yes I agree, I find the fruit machines really unfortunate too - it's not that I have any objection to gambling but they're just such an eyesore! If only pubs could instead have some kind of authentic antique Victorian era gambling apparatus instead!

I only picked the best looking examples (or the ones with the most interesting histories) for the video, there are certainly some in central London which are more like the ones you describe there. I think there are also some splendid examples outside of London - I haven't been yet but the one in Ramsgate looks magnificent to me. Even the lavishly decorated ones shown in this video can get a bit scary if you're there at the wrong time! Before making this video I searched for other videos of Hamilton Hall, and nearly everything on RU-vid seemed to be from a time when a few thousand football fans piled in and started throwing drinks around. Perhaps that's a very rare event and I suppose it could happen to any pub.

Thank you! I made a video about St. James's: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-twdwNO6oZrI.html ...if you want the short answer though I would say the Red Lions (both of them!).

That's pretty much what it was modelled on!

Thanks James, I know what you mean about the price of a pint in a lot of pubs in London these days, it's a bit shocking sometimes! You should definitely go for the tweed!

I did consider it but apparently it's no longer a Wetherspoons pub! A very recent change of ownership I believe. It's interesting that there's now a good handful of ex-Wetherspoons pubs in London, that are still operating pubs, but weren't originally pubs before Wetherspoons brought them to life - I almost wonder if that's worthy of a video in itself...?

Any particular recommendations there?

Fish n chips@@TweedyPubs