Are you a Wetherspoon lover or hater? LEE BOYCE and SIMON LAMBERT have very different opinions on the pub giant…

This week, JD Wetherspoon said it expects full-year profits to be near the “high end” of forecasts.

It’s safe to say the pub chain, run by its outspoken founder Sir Tim Martin, is a marmite establishment, with more than 800 sites across the country that many love to hate.

So which side of the Spoons fence are you sitting on? Lee Boyce and Simon Lambert may agree on a lot of things related to finances, but it’s safe to say they have different views when it comes to the pub giant…

Lee says: When I walk into Wetherspoons on my usually bustling local street (The Roebuck in Rayleigh, Essex, if you’re wondering), I know exactly what to expect: good value for money, friendly staff and an unpretentious experience.

Yes, I understand why people don’t like the chain. After all, it is the Tesco of the pub world, given its size: a behemoth of hearty pints, smart carpets and cheap eats.

By my rough calculations, there is one Wetherspoons for every 58,000 adults living in Britain.

Recently, I sat in the Roebuck, drinking cans of Lagunitas IPA for £1.49 on sale, washed down with a couple of pints of £2.50 Doom Bar beer, with my best friend.

We had every intention of going somewhere else, but there was no reason to leave. The pub was packed with customers both young and old which created a good atmosphere and despite this the service was fast.

And where else in the South East can you get a packet of dry roasted nuts to share for 75p each?

The food is cheap and, of course, not a gourmet delight (the southern fried chicken strips with Jack Daniels sauce should be highlighted here), but that’s a problem I have with many modern pubs: they have become restaurants that sell pints

Let me also sing the praises of Stansted Wetherspoons Airport here. I use this airport frequently as it’s only 40 minutes up the road, but you have to fight your way through the winding duty free and the small corral of travelers waiting for boarding information.

Meanwhile, most food establishments are too small. The beacon of light? Wet spoons. Before flying to Athens in March, I had a leisurely, cheap breakfast upstairs at The Windmill, with free refills of hot drinks for £3.40. Perfect.

Hot drinks refills at my local Wetherspoons? £1.56. You can’t argue with that when coffee shops now apparently charge around £3.50 for a latte. These top-ups are affordable and especially appeal to retirees who still want to meet friends and socialize, but on a tight budget.

Indeed, Mr Martin joked yesterday: “Sales of Lavazza coffee are increasing and free refills are believed to be responsible for spontaneous displays of breakdancing among retired customers.”

I also like the lack of distractions, meaning not a lot of TV screens or loud music. Some of the pubs are also a delight, including those at the old cinemas and theatres, the Winter Gardens and the opera houses; They can be authentic works of art.

And although The Roebuck doesn’t have a garden, I’m often at Blue Boar, Billericay, which does. On a sunny afternoon, it’s a good place to meet friends and catch up over some cheap pints.

I’m lucky that there are a lot of good independent drinkers in my city that I also visit, and I think Wetherspoons helps keep the prices down in these establishments.

When I go back to Essex I can basically have a few drinks without breaking a £10 note. Near the This is Money office in Kensington, it’s now hard to get a pint for less than £7. That’s painful. I feel like I’m cheating the system when I’m on Spoons.

I even enjoy their thick magazine, and often get lost in a wealth of stories from their pubs across the country.

I’ve had cocktails in many exotic and fancy bars around the world, but, for all the reasons above, even if I became a multi-millionaire, I would never give up simple Spoons.

Plus, there’s no better place to listen to conversations from all walks of life. It’s a journalist’s dream.

Sir Tim Martin – Founded Wetherspoon in 1979, and it’s safe to say he has made his mark on the pub industry.

Simon says: The last time I went into a Wetherspoons, Lee Boyce forced me in and made me leave a perfectly good pub to go there.

It was late last year and we had gone pencil sharpening with some mates before a Christmas party near Holborn.

This is a part of London with wonderful old pubs galore and we popped into the Ship Tavern which is tucked away in a passage behind the station.

It had everything you’d expect from a London pub – a history dating back to the 16th century, wood paneled walls, nooks to find a spot in, decent beers and although it was quite busy it had that fantastic December night atmosphere.

But when it came time for a second round, a problem occurred.

Apparently the place we were all in was too tight so we should get another one at Wetherspoons down the road.

I protested. But on the basis that my call to enter The Ship had already been answered and that it is only fair to give others their pub shout, I agreed.

And so we’ve swapped the kind of cozy traditional London pub you’d recommend to a friend for Shakespeare’s Head, a cavernous Wetherspoons drinking barn at the end of the same street.

I realize I risk sounding like a snob here, but my extremely infrequent patronage of JD Wetherspoon stores is not because I look down on them or their regular customers.

I think the Tim Martin chain and its prices are a great option for people and I commend him for keeping so many pubs open at a time when many are closing.

But I also think Britain has lots of great pubs to spend time in, although I have limited time to do so so I have to make the most of it.

I’d also rather spend a little more money at a local pub and support it when I can, than get cheap beer, sandwiches and burgers at a big chain.

And while you’re unlikely to find me in a Wetherspoons, I wouldn’t normally choose a big High Street pub or an out-of-town venue run by other big pub companies either.

I prefer a small pub, rented or freehold, with a suitable landlord or landlady, where its character shines through, even if the end result may not be perfect.

I love pubs of all kinds and in my youth I worked in quite a few.

My favorites have always been the ones where you can settle in, see the regulars, have a decent pint, chat to those behind the bar and enjoy the unique community feel that this great British pub offers.

In this sense, I am very lucky that my local is a Hertfordshire country pub, the Elephant & Castle, in Amwell, a 15-minute walk across fields from my house.

It’s run by a small independent local brewery called Farr Brew, so it has beers on tap and low ceilings, nooks to find a table, an old well in the middle of the pub, log fires in winter and a large beer garden. for summer.

That’s my kind of pub.