What do Wetherspoons and George Orwell have in common? Well, aside from getting sozzled on the cheap (ten pennies scored three pints back in Orwell’s day), they also share a mutual hatred of hearing music while guzzling low-priced booze.
According to Spoons folklore, there’s a reason why you’ll rarely hear music being played in one of its pubs, and it’s pretty darn highbrow.
Rumour has it, Spoons founder Tim Martin ruled that tunes shall not be played in his chain because Orwell considered it a total mood-killer.
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As per the Liverpool Echo, Martin was inspired by a 1946 essay Orwell wrote for the Evening Standard titled The Moon Under Water.
An ode to his favourite pub, Orwell listed all the things that made his go-to backstreet boozer so special, and one of them was the fact that it didn’t play music.
Victorian architecture, a burning fire and liver-sausage sandwiches also featured in Orwell’s list of what constitutes the perfect pub.
Speaking to the BBC about Orwell’s love of pubs back in 2016, DJ Taylor, Orwell’s biographer, said: “The whole question about Orwell and pubs is very interesting. It was a symbol of working class life that he tended to sentimentalise."
A representative for Spoons had no comment when approached by LADbible about the chain’s no-music policy.
The report is in stark contrast to the banger-heavy offering of Spoons outpost The Mile Castle in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which according to TikToker @seniora_melina, turns into a club come nightfall.
In a clip shared on social media earlier this month, punters can be seen busting moves in the packed-out venue, complete with disco lights, a DJ and stone-cold banger Destination Unknown blasting in the background.
Text written over the clip reads: “Okay but since when did Wetherspoons become a CLUB???" and hundreds of people commented on the footage.
One person wrote: “I know the Mile Castle top floor on a weekend when I see it.”
Weirdly, not everyone was a fan of the idea, with another commenting: “Omg not Mile Castle, last time I went they played The Greatest Showman remix and I vowed never again.” Sounds like a night made in heaven to us.
It seems the Wetherspoons nightclub has been going for some time, with one lucky attendee gushing about the night in a 2017 TripAdvisor post.
They wrote: “Set on three large sized floors this a classic Wetherspoons with a twist.”
Topics: Food And Drink
Aisha Nozari