The Thomas Sheraton — Restaurant in England

Steve Thompson

AN OPEN LETTER – TO JD WETHERSPOON

I have dined in your establishments many times but I write to inform you that I will never do so again and nor will any of my friends or family.

The reason for this is that my stepson has the misfortune to work in your Thomas Sheraton bar in Stockton and I am now aware of the basis upon which you operate and profit.

He is “employed” on a zero hours basis and earns barely enough to feed himself. Not long after joining your establishment he got into trouble with his rent due to the extremely low wages and was evicted from his home. I blame the basis of his employment with you for this. He now lives 2 miles away from your bar and is obliged to walk this distance to and from work as he does not earn enough to afford public transport. Yesterday my wife was obliged to buy him new shoes as he had worn holes in his existing ones. I think it is appalling that you do not provide your kitchen staff with appropriate footwear. If you feel that this communication is becoming a stream of negative comments then I urge you to read on as I have more to say. This 4 mile round trip trudge is sometimes made to attend a one hour shift. Unbelievable, a day’s work of just ONE HOUR. Furthermore, if he attends expecting a longer shift this is sometimes not the case as he is sent home if trade is slack. He, your employee takes all the risk, you the employer take none. You’ll note that I do not mention his name. This is for fear of reprisals. Before you scoff, let me tell you this: When he first joined you, after two months of working every single weekend he politely enquired if he might have a weekend off. He was given the weekend off but worked no other hours either. A genuine ZERO hours. This was clearly a reprisal and he has never asked for the weekend off again.

The only way he can survive on such grindingly low wages is by getting benefits top ups. In order to do this he must provide pay slips which you do not provide. He is obliged to download them and print them himself and given that he will never be able to afford a computer and printer so long as he works for you, he must go to the library. I put it to you that it takes him more effort to work for you for a pittance than it does me to fulfill a full time job.

Clearly your business model requires that the public purse subsidise your employee’s wages. This to my mind makes your firm and others like you one of the benefit scroungers we hear so much about these days.

Yours sincerely

STEVE THOMPSON

please...

We tend to come into this Wetherspoon with relative frequency when we pass through Stockton. It is usually pretty good, however, today's visit goes down as one of the single most disappointing experiences I have had in any Wetherspoon, and this comes from someone who was worked with the company for 13 years, and whose wife also used to work for the company.

The pub was at best, steady when we came in, I wouldn't have said it was overly busy and still wasn't when we finished. We ordered 5 meals and drinks using the app. 20 minutes after ordering, 4 of the 5 meals turned up, one of which was incorrect. 2 minutes afterwards, our drinks turned up. 5 minutes or so after that, the 5th meal turned up, this was also incorrect and then we had to wait another 5-10 minutes for it to come out again. Most of the food (barring the late arrival) was either cold or in the case of the burgers (see picture) incredibly dry and overcooked.

We do appreciate that this was probably just a bad day at the office so this won't put us off returning, but for all of this to happen and to receive barely a whisper of an apology or an attempt to show any sign of regret was incredibly...

Scruffy bloke with a cheap striped shirt on tonight behind the bar,you need training in customer service,absolutely discusting the way you spoke to myself and my husband,,I would understand if we were drunk,but we dont even drink alcohol ,,do you always tell customers it's up to us if we want to order a drink ,you met us with a very hostile attitude problem ,I understand that you might be feeling a bit of pressure especially when I know a customer is going to sue the.pub for nearly choking him and causing him a lot of pain with one of the meals you served him, amazing that a chef can cause all this damage with a chicken bone,,,but does that give you any excuse to treat other customers with such contempt,,very hostile,,I am very upset with the way my husband was spoken to,,I also work in a environment where it's my job to look at customers complaints and unfortunately this establishment is on high priority to look at,,and after the response I witnessed it's not going to end well for you,,ps,,I am also going to look at compensation for the way you have seriously...