The Hope Tap - JD Wetherspoon — Restaurant in Reading

My family and I recently visited this establishment, and unfortunately, our experience was marred by the behavior of one staff member. A waiter approached us in a manner that felt unnecessarily confrontational and condescending, asking for ID in an unprovoked and abrupt way. While my mother was able to provide hers, the rest of ours were in the car. When we asked if we could retrieve them, the waiter proceeded to lecture us about the policy and warned us that we wouldn’t receive a refund for any food or drinks ordered.

The situation quickly became embarrassing, and we felt uncomfortable due to the staff member’s aggressive demeanor, which was completely out of line with basic hospitality. Thankfully, the manager stepped in, reprimanded the employee, and managed to resolve the issue, but the overall experience left us feeling unwelcome.

While we understand that rules are in place and must be followed, they can be communicated with professionalism and respect. Wetherspoons is supposed to be a relaxed and enjoyable environment, but this incident was anything but. I created this account specifically to share my disappointment in hopes of improving the experience for...

Do not go to this Wetherspoons on a Saturday if you want to just simply grab some food 😂 Tried to pop in for some dinner before my work started. As soon as I stepped in the first door not even the second door. She jumped down my throat and asked for ID. I’ve never been to a Wetherspoons where I’ve been asked for ID so I was unprepared. Baring in mind I clearly clearly look over 18😂I mentioned that I had a picture of my ID and that I wasn’t drinking anything anyway just for some food. She had an attitude from the get go as soon as I walked in. She then stated it can’t be accepted after it being very clear it’s mine and sent from my home. so I asked for a manger to get it from someone who actually works there and was told to get outside and wait and I said no it’s way to cold and I’m in a rush as I started I’m a hour. I then said this is ridiculous and and the way she was supposed to handle this and remind of her on how she should be approaching people as they walk in. Absolute 0 people skills or manners. I then had her and another male bouncer lean it towards me shouting aswell...

Out of the two Wetherspoons in town, The Hope Tap is more of the ‘locals pub’ which explains the constant need for security on the door and inside the pub. Service is questionable, the younger members of staff are a lot more professional than the older members of staff, especially those on the lunch shift.

23/12/23 Ordered a steak & jacket potato while sat outside due to many of the small tables being taken inside. The table was the best of the several available in the non-smokers section, but even so was worse for wear, appearing visibly sticky and dirty. The woman that brought the food out dumped the cutlery on the table, rather than handing them to me or keeping them on the plate, contaminating the cutlery. Ended up serialising the cutlery with anti-bacterial gel I had in my bag as I was on my own and didn’t want to leave the table. I found blue plastic on my jacket potato and despite the potato and peas still being hot, the steak was barely warm. See pictures attached.

This isn’t the first time I’ve had bad experiences at this particular...