Yahoo News 'I paid £79 to stay at a Wetherspoons hotel and it went exactly how I expected'
A night spent in Wetherspoons is often a fuzzy recollection of cheap drinks, lairy carpets and monumental toilet expeditions up or down several sets of stairs. Whether you're there for after-work drinks, a boozy Thursday curry club night, or a pit stop at the start of a big night out, a night at the local 'Spoons' is a relatively easy choice.
But even if you're not a fan of the budget pub chain, there's no doubt Wetherspoons' reputation for cheap pints, vast food choices and a guaranteed lively atmosphere has found a legion of fans. So while their pubs might be a popular choice for a night out, many 'Spoons' regulars will never have stayed overnight in one of the chain's hotels.
The first J D Wetherspoon hotel opened in Shrewsbury in 1998, nearly a decade after the first of the chain's pubs opened. There are now 56 Wetherspoon hotels dotted around the UK and Ireland, with the Brocket Arms in Wigan being the only one in Greater Manchester.
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The Brocket Arms is just a short walk from Wigan town centre and has 28 en-suite bedrooms. My partner and I checked in on Friday, having already paid £79 for one night - breakfast not included.
As we walked in via the separate side entrance to the pub just before 7pm, the Friday night at Wetherspoons was already in full swing. An empty reception desk greeted us, so after several minutes, I ventured into the bustling bar area to let them know we wanted to check-in.
Apologising for the wait, a polite staff member checked us in, and we were on our way up to the ominously numbered room 101. But would it be a similarly tortuous experience as behind the doors of room 101 in Orwell's dystopian cautionary tale?
Some signs were there, particularly the sizeable chunk of missing plaster by the door. First impressions of the room itself were underwhelming.
Everything promised appeared to be present - tea and coffee making facilities, hairdryer, iron/ironing board, fresh towels, complimentary biscuits and water. But the room had the distinct feel of a student dorm rather than a budget hotel.
The furniture was sparse but functional, with hardwearing carpet and a solid mattress. But at least the WiFi worked, and the bathroom was reasonably clean. But when we'd dropped our bags and took a moment to look around, its flaws were apparent.
The plaster was flaking off - or missing entirely - from around the inside and outside the door, making the whole place feel shabby and unfinished. The paint at the bottom of the bathroom door had also curled and fallen off.
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More disturbingly, there were curious brown stains down the bottom of the bed; the less thought about, the better. The duvet also had the remnants of past spills wiped away but still clearly visible. My girlfriend then informed me her pillow smelled like a stranger's head.
Not wanting to spend more time in the room than we had to, we walked down to the bar to eat. What was surprising, and welcome, was despite the rooms being right above a sprawling and heaving Wetherspoons pub on a Friday night, there were no bar sounds emanating from below. Something we hoped would continue to be the case as chucking out time wasn't until 1am.
And it's sitting down and ordering food and drinks where the Wetherspoons experience shines. You'd be hard-pushed to find more reasonably priced food and alcohol, all with the convenience of ordering from an app straight to your table - or booth as we opted for.
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Two double American cheeseburgers and chips, two alcoholic drinks and two desserts came to just over £30. And yes, the food was homely rather than spectacular, as you would expect from a 'Spoons', but it was tasty and the portions were filling.
A special mention also has to go to the desserts. The new salted caramel sticky toffee pudding priced £4.99 was divine - easily as good as puddings I've eaten at more than twice the price. The warm mini chocolate brownie at £2.98 was also delicious - and Wetherspoons should seriously consider starting a regular pudding alongside their well-established curry club nights.
Needless to say, this left us stuffed. As the pub lights dimmed, heralding the atmosphere was about to get very Wetherspoons 'after dark', we hauled ourselves back to room 101.
While the room's solid mattress didn't make for the most restful night's sleep, it was the fact we were sleeping above a pub that became the greatest barrier to sleep when its drinkers vacated at closing time.
For almost an hour after, a rowdy drama played out on the road below the window. The shrieking and sobbing of young drinkers waiting for taxis would have some guests stuffing pillows into their ear canals. Luckily, the drunken melodrama eventually passed, and with no noise from the corridors or nearby rooms, we drifted back to sleep.
We were up and out well before the 11am check-out and into the bar for breakfast. With the lack of noise coming from the rooms the previous night, we were surprised to see so many people sitting down and already enjoying their breakfasts - making me think they may have come just for breakfast.
Like the rest of the food menu, the breakfast options are vast and cheap. From endless variations on the traditional full English - including vegetarian and vegan options - there were American-style pancakes, muffins, wraps, porridge, fruit and a myriad of ways to order eggs.
Sadly, the new Fiesta brunch option I had ordered wasn't available due to a shortage of "halloumi-style cheese". But the scrambled eggs on toast with extra hash browns were okay. For £1.56 each, you also get endless hot drink refills, and it was good to see there were also non-dairy milk options.
So for a Friday night stay in a hotel close to Wigan town centre, did the Brocket Arms justify its £79 fee? Well, with a similarly priced Premier Inn right in the middle of the town centre (breakfast also not included) - alongside other equivalently priced hotels - booking a basic room above a Wetherspoons pub wouldn't be my first choice.
All-in-all, if more attention was paid to the fittings and furnishings of the rooms themselves, then £79 wouldn't have been so bad. But from the tired and poor state of our room, it just came across as a lack of care. That said, there are limited free parking spaces at the hotel, which we didn't use, and the hotel's staff couldn't have been more pleasant and helpful throughout.
