I haven’t wittered on about JD Wetherspoon venues for a couple of weeks, so it feels about time to post something. This is the Thomas Waghorn in Chatham which I visited on the first May Bank Holiday.
It’s a grand building which is located in the town’s former main Post Office.
The information panel outside the pub and the chain adds on their website:
“The well-known statue (erected in 1888) by the bridge over Railway Street commemorates the ‘postal pioneer’ Thomas Fletcher Waghorn – the Chatham-born naval officer and merchant seaman who developed a new postal route from Great Britain to India. His 6,000-mile overland route replaced the 16,000-mile sea journey, reducing the time taken from around three months to just 35–40 days.”
As mentioned, JD Wetherspoon opened it in 2016 and they spent £2.2 million on the building and the conversion, so a fair commitment.
It’s a large venue inside with this space in front of the bar and they’ve also got an open kitchen. There is an upstairs area and a garden with a choice of around seven real ales and numerous craft beer options.
My obligatory carpet photo and it was all a bit grimy.
This was around £9 which really is decent value for fish & chips and a bottle of Staropramen. All tasted as expected, was at the appropriate temperature and was served promptly. The Staropramen was agreeable and actually served in a clean glass, those larger ones are often not particularly well presented.
It’s fairly well reviewed online for a JD Wetherspoon venue, but I felt the need to check as usual.
“I am not happy with the way my son and his friends were treated by the staff at The Thomas Waghorn, my son bought an alcoholic drink Mango loco that cost him over £9 & his friend only had a drop of it(only put a tiny drop of it on her finger, she didn’t have a sip of the drink at all) & my son & his friends were kicked out of the place. My son is 18 & a half & I am not impressed with how the situation was dealt with by the staff, I certainly will not be going there ever again as my son has come home in tears as has my niece(who was with my son). This situation should have been dealt with more understanding rather than with rudeness”
Or just don’t let children have any alcohol in a pub maybe…..
“Me (17) and my partner (18) came here for their birthday and they ordered two drinks, both for them. The waiter took the drinks away and offered us juice instead. He then told me with a very smug look on his face that he couldn’t give me a refund as it says in ‘small print’ on the website. This has never been a problem anywhere else.”
I can’t imagine what the problem was here given one was 17….
“WARNING: Filled with old racist men waiting for death. Hateful 20 IQ door staff discriminate at random. Miserable bar staff who cant pour pints they’re so overworked. Reheated freezer food. Literally every surrounding bar in the area is better.”
I don’t think this customer likes the pub…..
“I was simply kicked out because staff did not like my children around”
I would be interested to know what these children were doing….
“Atmosphere of a wake.”
Good, venues can have too much frivolity sometimes….
“Found a 5p in the salt that we sprinkled on our food”
I’m not sure that I’ve seen a review mentioning something like that before….
“The young male server in his 20s who I’ve been told is possibly called Robin ( not sure how accurate that is and dude was also probably autistic) that seemed to really struggle with understanding humour and very obvious good humoured sarcasm had genuinely ruined my evening out with my friend and partner. He was so patronisingly rude and unpleasant that I eventually stopped ordering through the app and went straight to the bar just so he would stop serving my table. He very clearly had a huge attitude problem with power tripping from his server position as he continued to be rude and in a poor rendition of what he thought was an Essex accent said to me “I didn’t see your drink at the end of the bar lovey” in a mocking tone and in reference to myself making a joke about wanting a beer like my friend. Also he asked my partner “If things go down the wrong holes often” when she was choking on her food. Weird to make a sexual innuendo at a person who’s actively choking. For the first time in my life I wanted to talk to the on shift manager as the server was actually bordering on hostile after our 4th encounter which was extremely strange. This is the first time he’s done this as he in a poor attempt at humour called my friends partner fat on another occasion and once couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that someone at our table didn’t want ice cream with their brownie so he legitimately stood there staring in confusion and contempt for 2 minutes I’m silence whist our table watched him in confusion”
Well, I like a bit of drama…..
“Manager refused to deal with my issue after being presented with a side dish that was included on my main plate and so tiny it was like a the kitchen staff had been dared to do it. He wanted more money to rectify it and refused to give me his name when I asked for it, stating I could describe him on the complaints form instead. He was a child but had no self awareness and shouldn’t have been in a management position. Harry Potter specs, curly black hair and an attempt at a man’s stubble? I think? He was very forgettable?”
Those last couple of lines are hideous, how customers think it’s somehow acceptable to talk about team members like that…. Anyway, I digress.
The pub did though hit the newspapers a couple of years ago when two elderly customers were confronted by a duty manager and thrown out for using drugs. Anyway, JD Wetherspoon formally issued an apology and said that the duty manager had made a mistake. However, one of the two had phoned the pub manager up and was rude, and so JD Wetherspoon said he was permanently barred for that instead.
The venue could do with a bit of a deep clean, but it was cheap, welcoming and everything seemed to be served efficiently. It’s a decent venue as well and I’m not sure that many other operators could have made this work.