A People's Palace
Apr. 7th, 2023 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo Tim Martin is a card. You've got to love a card. They liven things up. They stir the pot. They get up people's noses. They do things their own way.
Tim Martin owns Wetherspoons. He named his business after a teacher who once told him he'd never amount to anything. This jokey, larky, up-yours spirit runs through the company like a sparkly seam of fool's gold.
He has views. He funded Brexit, he objected to the covid lockdown. He says things like (I paraphrase) "I may not be right, but this is a democracy, innit!" From what I can winkle out he's a pretty good employer- as employers go.
The big Wetherspoons in Eastbourne town centre occupies what used to be a garage. This is a Wetherspoons trait. Martin buys up old buildings that used to be something else and converts them. I'm writing this post because yesterday we went to the Cornfield Garage (that's it's proper name though people just call it Wetherspoons) with the gang from the Meeting House- and I was intrigued. It was crowded and noisy- there's a lot of reverb on account of it once having been a garage- and many of the clientele were old and infirm. You order at the bar or through an app and the food is cheap- and surprisingly good. I should have paid attention to the carpet. Each one is unique and woven in Axminster at great expense, featuring motifs relating to the history of the building. I imagine the Cornfield Garage has a carpet with little old cars all over it (I like old cars. They're a minor passion of mine) but I need to go back and check. Every Wetherspoons is a free house (meaning not tied to a brewery.) I drank Abbot Ale which is brewed in Bury St Edmunds.
Martin has created a chain of people's palaces. He's a one-off. I dig him. I dig his company.
Hooray.
Tim Martin owns Wetherspoons. He named his business after a teacher who once told him he'd never amount to anything. This jokey, larky, up-yours spirit runs through the company like a sparkly seam of fool's gold.
He has views. He funded Brexit, he objected to the covid lockdown. He says things like (I paraphrase) "I may not be right, but this is a democracy, innit!" From what I can winkle out he's a pretty good employer- as employers go.
The big Wetherspoons in Eastbourne town centre occupies what used to be a garage. This is a Wetherspoons trait. Martin buys up old buildings that used to be something else and converts them. I'm writing this post because yesterday we went to the Cornfield Garage (that's it's proper name though people just call it Wetherspoons) with the gang from the Meeting House- and I was intrigued. It was crowded and noisy- there's a lot of reverb on account of it once having been a garage- and many of the clientele were old and infirm. You order at the bar or through an app and the food is cheap- and surprisingly good. I should have paid attention to the carpet. Each one is unique and woven in Axminster at great expense, featuring motifs relating to the history of the building. I imagine the Cornfield Garage has a carpet with little old cars all over it (I like old cars. They're a minor passion of mine) but I need to go back and check. Every Wetherspoons is a free house (meaning not tied to a brewery.) I drank Abbot Ale which is brewed in Bury St Edmunds.
Martin has created a chain of people's palaces. He's a one-off. I dig him. I dig his company.
Hooray.
no subject
Date: 2023-04-07 12:07 pm (UTC)I ended up way better qualified than him and ended up a way more senior teacher! :o)
no subject
Date: 2023-04-07 12:12 pm (UTC)