
UK Pub chain JD Wetherspoon shuts its social media accounts - blowski
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43781281
======
planetjones
I suspect this is more to do with not wanting to handle or let others see the
negative comments against wetherspoon e.g. about their Brexit stance or
quality of their food. They are a notoriously difficult place to complain to
and usually tell you to take up any complaints with the local manager. I found
this out first hand when it was the branch manager himself who served me the
worst scrambled eggs on toast I have ever seen! Head office was not
interested.

Trade at wetherspoon will not be affected by moving off social media and,
indeed, others will not see criticisms directed against Wetherspoon e.g. in
replies to their social media messages.

Plus this is a good bit of advertising for them by coming off social media.

~~~
setquk
That sounds about right. The one place I went where the burger was solid as a
rock after sitting under a lamp for 20 minutes. Complained and was told that I
just needed to chew it more. Asked to see the manager and was told she was the
manager.

No twitter to whine about this on means more complaints silenced.

Just don't go there.

~~~
bennyelv
On the other hand it is _very_ cheap. If you pay £2.50 for scrambled egg on
toast with a refillable coffee then you're not so put out if it isn't that
great.

If you've paid £5 that's another matter.

My worst pub food experiences have always been in far more expensive places.

~~~
setquk
Yes true. At the bottom end of the price range it’s not bad.

I prefer these days to eat somewhere I pay afterwards however as the
motivation not to serve you a plate of crap is higher.

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lawlessone
They're facing some backlash over campaigning for Brexit too which might have
something to do with this.

~~~
mseebach
That seems unlikely. The Brexit vote is almost two years away now, and if
anything, the negotiations have never looked better (not that that's a high
bar). Why only now, and why in a so weirdly unrelated way? If they were sorry
about Brexit support, just, uh, say it? Perhaps do some Europe-themed
promotions?

It seems much more likely that social media simply isn't a very high ROI
marketing channel for them, and they're capitalising on general unease
following the CA debacle.

~~~
pjc50
> negotiations have never looked better

In the sense that we're going for "no substantial change but lose our vote"
Brexit, rather than one of the various flavours of "disaster Brexit"?

At least the UK has conceded that there must be no border in Ireland and that
EU residents have a right to remain. It's the non-EU immigrants that are
getting it in the neck this week, including the "Windrush generation".

~~~
threeseed
No. The UK has said there must be no hard border in Northern Island.

But what they are basically proposing is a soft border with number plate
recognition etc. Which everyone at the EU working group literally laughed at.
Because it is a ridiculous and dangerous suggestion especially when you think
through the scenario of what happens if cameras are destroyed over and over
again. Police will be required to protect the cameras and then you have an
armed borer.

~~~
pjc50
You're absolutely right that the soft border is ludicrous.

The draft agreement: [https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-
political/files/d...](https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-
political/files/draft_agreement_coloured.pdf)

"A common regulatory area comprising the Union and the United Kingdom in
respect of Northern Ireland is hereby established. The common regulatory area
shall constitute an area _without internal borders_ in which the free movement
of goods is ensured and North \- South cooperation protected in accordance
with this Chapter"

They're free to submit daft proposals all they like but until then this is the
one that's been agreed on.

(That document lists Gibraltar and the various islands, but also one nobody's
mentioned in the news so far: "Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia
in Cyprus").

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kerrsclyde
Wetherspoons phone app is excellent. You can order food/drinks and they arrive
at the table immediately (quicker than going to the bar!). This would seem to
be a more effective use of modern technology, rather than a me too social
media presence.

~~~
pjc50
My employer ([http://www.zonal.co.uk/](http://www.zonal.co.uk/)) is
responsible for the backend for that. It's wired into the same point of sale
and kitchen screen systems as if it had been rung up at the bar.

~~~
Doctor_Fegg
Oh, now that's interesting. So does that mean the app gives full access to all
the products and deals available at the bar? Does it include guest
beers/ciders?

The reason for asking: I drink real cider and Wetherspoons fairly consistently
sells it (most pubs don't), out of a bag-in-a-box in the fridge. But the
majority of Spoons meals are now sold on a "meal+drink" basis. How you buy
this with a real cider is something that perpetually perplexes their staff,
and seems to vary from pub to pub.

~~~
pjc50
It's a subset of the products, because they need to have extra information set
up for them like product photos.

There's two ways it could be set up, which are either "promotions" (if the two
things appear anywhere on the same bill, they're automatically grouped) or
"recipes" (choose one item from column A and one item from column B). I
suspect the real ciders are simply left out of the right categories by whoever
does the data maintenance, maybe because they change frequently.

~~~
Doctor_Fegg
Interesting - thank you. Will try it next time I'm in a Spoons and find out
what happens!

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north_east_dev
I doubt anyone has ever based a decision to go to 'Spoons on what they saw on
social media.

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ntlk
Previously they deleted their entire customer email database [1], so they
certainly have a history of making bold decisions when it comes to digital
marketing.

[http://www.wired.co.uk/article/wetherspoons-email-
database-g...](http://www.wired.co.uk/article/wetherspoons-email-database-
gdpr)

Edit: grammar

~~~
s_dev
They basically decided they weren't going to pay to secure and maintain the
data and since GDPR is coming in to effect it makes such a DB a liability to
the company.

In which case the appropriate course of action is to simply delete rather than
pay some peanuts and act surprised when the DB ends up in the public sphere. I
can only commend them. Too many businesses decide to hold on to private
identifiable data as though it were a prize bond waiting to mature.

~~~
algesten
Exactly. GDPR is around the corner and any private data without explicit
consent to be targeted for marketing is going to be useless at best, a
liability at worst.

Explicit consent means the company must be able to prove the user consciously
agreed to receive marketing. Which is excellent. 1) the burden to prove it
lies with the one holding the data and 2) you can't tuck it away in legalese
fine print.

I bet a lot of companies are going to do like wheterspoons and just purge the
data rather than attempt to make it legit.

------
isostatic
> "It's becoming increasingly obvious that people spend too much time on
> Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and struggle to control the compulsion," Mr
> Martin added.

This coming from a chain of pubs known for people arriving at 9AM, and spend
the next 12 hours buying cheap beer

~~~
gaius
As opposed to buying booze for a fraction of the price at a supermarket and
drinking for 24 hrs?

If there is a national drinking problem, it’s not caused by pubs...

~~~
lawlessone
It's a social activity

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quantumwoke
Somewhat counter-intuitively, closing social media accounts can have a
positive effect on one's business. Young people of today increasingly are
valuing word-of-mouth and social cachet more and more. The value proposition
of a 'secret' or 'underground' pub quickly becomes apparent.

The latest trend that I've experienced is the use of private ephemeral
messaging in the form of Snapchat accounts that are given out at bars. This
makes it possible to get both the community benefits from social media as well
as the mystique from being part of a 'secret club'.

~~~
lawlessone
> The value proposition of a 'secret' or 'underground' pub quickly becomes
> apparent.

It's Weatherspoons, its the McDonald's of pubs.

~~~
gaius
Very popular with students

~~~
eertami
I think that maybe geographically dependent.

I went to uni in Nottingham and the clientele was a mix of middle-age stag/hen
parties and the older working class - I never saw or heard of students going
other than as a toilet stop.

But that's a city with a selection of good and reasonably priced pubs, whereas
in say London it makes sense due to just how much cheaper it is.

~~~
dbbk
Wetherspoons is very popular with students in Nottingham. Every time I go in
the Gooseberry Bush it's half students.

~~~
eertami
I should've added that my observations were only from the city centre pubs,
Uni of students (not Trent) and are a fair few years old.

Maybe the 9k fees have really taken a toll, but I struggle to get why anyone
would go to a spoons when you've got The Organ Grinder and The Hand & Heart
only 8 minutes away...

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DanBC
It's interesting that there's no mention of the targeting of children, which
has recently got a bit of attention in England.

