Tom Nicholas

Video: British Pubs are in Crisis. Can Wetherspoon Save Them? (Patreon)

Published:

2025-06-08 16:50:22

Imported:

2026-06

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Hello all!

I'm very proud to share my latest video with you all. And, this time around, we're going to the pub.

Or... lots of pubs.

Continuing my informal series in which I investigate various different British institutions (which last time involved a trip to the House of Lords), I decided to make a little film about the Great British Pub. And, in particular, the UK's most iconic pub chain: J.D. Wetherspoon.

I say "little film", I mean a 90 minute documentary for which I undertook a bunch of different interviews and attempted to make it from the UK's most-southerly Wetherspoon to its most-northerly Wetherspoon, whilst only eating, drinking, and sleeping at Wetherspoon pubs along the way.

For the Brits among you, hopefully this is a fun, sideways look at a chain you're likely very aware of. For those of you watching from elsewhere in the world, hopefully it's a kind of weird British version of Supersize Me.

Making massive pieces like this is super expensive and very risky. It takes a lot of person hours to research, film, and particularly edit; and everyone on the team works very hard to make them happen. So, thank you very much to everyone who supports my work on here for making it possible. We've got some really cool stuff lined up for the near future!

Enjoy! And, if you enjoy, please share it with your friends and enemies!

Tom

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British Pubs are in Crisis. Can Wetherspoon Save Them?

Watch my debut feature-length documentary BOOMERS on Nebula here: https://go.nebula.tv/tomnicholas Get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/tomnicholas British pubs are in crisis. Can J.D. Wetherspoon save them? Come with me on an 800 mile road trip to find out... Written, directed, and presented by Tom Nicholas. Filmed and edited by Georgia Burrows. Additional research and production assistance by Jack Carter. *Chapters* 00:00 Meet Tim Martin 02:19 Day One: The Rise and Rise of Wetherspoon 31:34 Day: Stack 'em High, Sell 'em Cheap 01:05:08 Day Three: Cask Ale and the Culture War Watch this video ad- and sponsor-free on Nebula at https://nebula.tv/videos/tomnicholas-closing-time-can-wetherspoon-save-the-great-british-pub?ref=tomnicholas *Blurb* J.D. Wetherspoon, or simply "spoons" to its friends, is a British institution. With over 800 pubs in towns and cities across the country, it's not only a regular haunt for many Brits but has also made its way onto the itineraries of many tourists too. But, Wetherspoons is also controversial. It stands accused of imposing an identikit pub experience on high streets across the country, whilst putting smaller, independent pubs out of business. And that's before we even get into the company chairman, Tim Martin's views on Brexit and the European Union. Join me on a ridiculous, 800 mile pub crawl across the length of the country to find out whether Wetherspoon can save the great British pub, or whether its ruining pubs for everyone. Support my work on Patreon at https://patreon.com/tomnicholas Twitch: http://twitch.tv/tom_nicholas Twitter: http://twitter.com/tom_nicholas Instagram: http://instagram.com/tomnicholaswtf Patreon: http://patreon.com/tomnicholas Website: http://www.tomnicholas.com Select footage courtesy of Getty Music from Epidemic Sound