Get there spoon! JD Wetherspoon superfans who have been to nearly 400 of the chain’s pubs launch desperate race to tick off the 39 bars facing closure while they still can
- Wetherspoons superfans Phil and Julie desperately trying to see all locations
- The couple have visited 395 but were shocked by news of 39 pub closures
- Now, they’re trying to tick off the 39 pubs facing closure for ‘one last drink’
- Each of the available locations will stay open throughout the sales process
A JD Wetherspoon superfan couple are desperately trying to visit 39 of the iconic chain’s pubs ahead of their impending closures.
Phil Fox, 74, and his wife Julie, 71, have visited 395 Wetherspoon pubs over the years and were ‘shocked’ to learn of the proposed sale of their local watering hole.
The dedicated couple are now in a race against time to tick off the 39 pubs facing closure before they’re sold off.
The 39 pubs set to shut down – after the chain’s bosses warned it stands to lose up to £30m due to rising staff wages and repairs – will remain open during the sales process.
JD Wetherspoon currently operates more than 800 pubs across Britain. Those up for sale include the Thomas Leaper in Derby, to the Bankers Draft in London, and the Billiard Hall in West Bromwich.
The couple, who celebrated their 40th anniversary in a Wetherspoons, were saddened to note their local, The Percy Shaw in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was earmarked for closure.
And now they say they will seek out each of the pubs earmarked for closure for a final farewell drink.
Phil said: ‘We were quite shocked to hear the news really. One of them is our local, the Percy Shaw, in Halifax. It’s a sign of the economic times.’
Phil Fox, 74, and his wife Julie, 71, have visited 395 Wetherspoons over the years and were ‘shocked’ to learn of the proposed sale of their local watering hole
Wetherspoons announced 39 locations throughout England will be sold off and closed
The dedicated couple are now in a race against time to tick off the 39 pubs facing closure before they’re sold off
Pictured: Wetherspoons mad Phil Fox at the The John Russell Fox Wetherspoon in Andover
‘I’ll be having a look at the list, and we will try to go to places which are expected to close, especially in the New Year when we’re looking for places to go.’
The couple have recently returned from a weekend trip to Derby, where they were able to cram in six trips to different Wetherspoons locations.
Phil said he would be ‘gutted’ if any further pubs were added to the list. He meets up once a month with some of the ‘lads [he] used to knock around with in his teens’.
‘It’s somewhere for us old fellas to go. Rather than having daycare, we have Wetherspoon, and if they close them down, where will folks of my age go?’
The couple initially set out to sample 100 of the bars but have notched almost quadruple that figure after travelling the length and breadth of Britain in search of pints.
But they’ve since visited a whopping 395 Wetherspoon pubs and hope to make it 400 by Christmas.
The couple, who celebrated their 40th anniversary in the chain, were saddened to note their local ‘Spoons, The Percy Shaw in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was earmarked for closure
The couple initially set out to sample 100 of the bars but have notched almost quadruple that figure after travelling the length and breadth of Britain in search of pints
The couple took this phoot when they visited the Coliseum Picture Theatre Wetherspoon in Cleethorpes
The couple took this picture at the The Dog Beck Wetherspoon in Penrith during their quest to visit as many of the pubs as they can
The furthest the couple from Brighouse, West Yorkshire, have gone to quench their thirst during their 18-year ‘hobby’ is a pub in St. Ives, Cornwall – nearly 400 miles away.
In the past, the retired pair have celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary at newly opened pubs, while also regularly scheduling holidays so they can add to their tally.
Grandfather-of-five Phil said he fell in love with Wetherspoons almost 20 years ago when his car broke down and he’d ducked into one of their boozers for some respite.
Phil said: ‘We were on our way up to our daughter’s place in Newcastle, and we were going up through The Dales and my car started playing up.
‘I went for a wander round the town, and we went into this pub, and we couldn’t get over the price of everything – how cheap it was!
‘That was the first time I really realised what a Wetherspoons was, but I’m sure I’ve been in them before that.’
Phil said he struck upon the idea of counting up how many Wetherspoon pubs he and his wife had visited after he retired at the age of 60 in 2007.
Phil said he would be ‘gutted’ if any further pubs were added to the list. He added: ‘I would be gutted, really upset. I meet up once a month in the pub with some lads I used to knock around with in my teens’. Pictured: The Richard Oastler Wetherspoons pub in Brighouse, Yorkshire
The couple are pictured here at the Joseph Morton Wetherspoon in Louth
The Plough & Harrow in Hammersmith is also being put up for sale. A pub or inn has stood on the location since the 15th century
He said: ‘I just said, ”I wonder how many Wetherspoons we’ve been in?” We sat there and by the time we’d had another drink, I said we’re up to about 60 odd.’
‘We just decided we’d try and do 100 and then call it quits – that’s how it started.’
Of all the pubs Phil has visited with Julie, a former Sun page three girl and retail worker, he ranks The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, in Keswick as his favourite.
He explained: ‘It’s a converted magistrates court and police station. You can sit in the converted two cells and drink and eat.
‘Where the magistrate sits, you can sit there, and where the defendant sits, there’s just enough room for a small table, so two people can sit in there.’
‘This one’s also got an all-slate bar, because a lot of slate used to come from up in Cumbria, and it’s absolutely gorgeous.’
A Wetherspoons spokesperson confirmed earlier this year 32 locations would hit the market, but increased that number to 39 earlier this wek.
In a recent update to investors, the pub chain confirmed that it has opened one pub and sold five in the past 14 weeks, earning £1.9million.
But the company warned that costs are increasing, despite like-for-like sales being up 9.6% compared to this time last year.
Wetherspoon has more than 800 pubs and hotels across the UK and Ireland.
The company said trading for the most recent period was closer to its expectations but admitted that October had been a slow month.
The Cross Keys in Peebles will also face closure as it is listed for sale. Wetherspoon say it is the oldest pub in the town, with a triangular plaque on the entryway bearing the date 1693
A spokesperson for JD Wetherspoon confirmed that the properties will remain open as Wetherspoon until they are sold.
Savills and CBRE have been appointed to manage the sale of the seven venues which most recently hit the market including five freehold and two leasehold units.
Senior Director at CBRE Toby Hall said the added pubs would be appealing to buyers.
‘These additional properties are all substantial, well-located pubs which are fitted to a high standard. Most of the properties are coming to the market for the first time in many years which should give them a broad appeal to both local and national buyers.’
This is in addition to the 32 pubs that were put on the market at the end of September, including venues in Battersea and Islington.
The General Sir Redvers Buller is the first Devon pub to face closure. Regular customers at the pub say they are ‘absolutely horrified’ by the news.
One customer said that the pub, which is based on Crediton High Street and is named after Victoria Cross recipient Redvers Buller, was ‘a good asset’.
Another regular asked where they would go to socialise if the pub closed: ‘Where will we go for our coffee breaks, let alone our beer?
‘It’s about the only meeting place in the town,’ she said, disappointed at Tim Martin’s decision.
‘Everything comes down to money, doesn’t it?’
The Coronet in Holloway is one of the pubs which will be put up for sale. Toby Hall, Senior Director at CBRE said the pubs would have ‘broad appeal’ to general buyers
This four-storey Georgian red brick, which was built on the site of the home of the wealthy Leaper family, was previously a bank. The Thomas Leaper pub is now up for sale
Which Wetherspoon Pubs Will Be Sold?
These Wetherspoon locations are set to be sold off:
Barnsley – Silkstone Inn
Beaconsfield – Hope & Champion
Bexleyheath – Wrong ‘Un
Bournemouth – Christopher Creeke
Cheltenham – Bank House
Crediton – General Sir Redvers Buller
Derby – Thomas Leaper
Durham – Water House
Fareham – Lord Arthur Lee
Fraserburgh – Saltoun Inn
Halifax – Percy Shaw
Hanham – Jolly Sailor
Hammersmith – Plough & Harrow
Harrow – Moon on the Hill
Holloway – Coronet
Hove – Cliftonville Inn
London Battersea – Asparagus
London East Ham – Miller’s Well
London Eltham – Bankers Draft
London Forest Gate – Hudson Bay
London Forest Hill – Capitol
London Hornsey – Toll Gate
London Holborn – Penderel’s Oak
London Islington – Angel
London Palmers Green – Alfred Herring
Loughborough – Moon & Bell
Loughton – Last Post
Mansfield – Widow Frost
Middlesbrough – Resolution
Peebles – Cross Keys
Purley – Foxley Hatch
Redditch – Rising Sun
Sevenoaks – Sennockian
Southampton – Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis
Stafford – Butler’s Bell
Watford – Colombia Press
West Bromwich – Billiard Hall
Willenhall – Malthouse
Wirral – John Masefield
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