The Ernest Willows - JD Wetherspoon — Restaurant in Wales

Ernest Thompson Willows (1886–1926) was a pioneer Welsh aviator and airship builder. He became the first person in the United Kingdom to hold a pilot's certificate for an airship when the Royal Aero Club awarded him Airship Pilots Certificate No. 1.

Willows was born in Cardiff, Wales on 11 July 1886. His parents were Joseph Thompson Willows (1859-1931) and Evelina "Eva" Louisa Willows, née Garrett (1858-1953). Both English-born, Willows' father was a dental surgeon born in Hull, and his mother was born in Bath. Eva previously worked as a music teacher before marrying in 1885 and starting a family. Willows had two sisters: Doris May (1895-1961) and Daisy, the latter of whom was born in 1888 and died at 2 months of age. Willows was educated at Clifton College in Bristol, entering the school in 1896 and leaving in 1901, aged 15, to train as a dentist like his father.

Willows, however, had different plans for his career. He built his first airship, the Willows No. 1, in 1905 when he was 19. It was first flown from East Moors, Cardiff on 5 August 1905, the flight lasting 85 minutes. This was soon followed by an improved Willows No. 2, in which he landed outside Cardiff City Hall on 4 June 1910. No. 2 was re-built as No. 3 which he named the City of Cardiff before he flew it from London to Paris in 1910. This was the first airship crossing of the English Channel at night and the first from England to France. The journey was not without incident, including dropping the maps over the side during the night, and problems with the envelope caused the airship to land at Corbehem near Douai at two o'clock in the morning. With the help of the local French aviator Louis Breguet the airship was repaired and arrived at Paris on 28 December 1910. He celebrated New Year's Eve with a flight around the Eiffel Tower.

Willows moved to Birmingham to build his next airship, the Willows No. 4. First flown in 1912, it was sold to the Admiralty for £1,050 and it became His Majesty's Naval Airship No. 2.

With the money from the Navy, Willows established a spherical gas balloon school at Welsh Harp, Hendon near London. Although, this did not stop him building Willows No. 5 in 1913. This airship was a four-seater designed to give joy rides over London.

During the first World War, Willows built kite or barrage balloons in Cardiff. After the war, he continued with ballooning. On 3 August 1926, he died in a balloon accident at Hoo Park, Kempston, Bedford. Willows was killed instantly, along with a passenger. Three other passengers died later that day either in hospital or on their way, making five deaths in all.

There is a school named Willows High School built on his old airfield to remember him. The pub called The Ernest Willows is situated not far...

I will start on a good note and say that the food is always consistently nice in this pub. This is my local pub near my place of work and I very often spent my lunchtimes here with my colleagues until an incident in the pub last month. We went for our Christmas lunch and we received horrific service from 1 lady in particular. She was so rude and vile to us for absolutely no reason. I ordered a drink on the app and selected for it to come with a straw, she brought my drink over and I kindly asked for a straw as I struggle to drink without one. She told me to “get it myself”. I was shocked by this but I let it go maybe she was having a bad day? She was huffing and puffing around us with an aggressive attitude throughout our meal. When clearing the plates and glasses she snatched my glass out of my hand that was still half full and spilled my drink all over me. I told her I wasn’t finished and she asked “why I was giving her a look” I said because you just spilled my drink all over me?? It was clearly dripping all over my hand and arm. At this point I honestly thought she was going to ask to fight me outside she was so aggressive. She then ran over to her manager out of fear I would complain I guess? Anyway I was totally embarrassed by the whole thing in front of my work colleagues so I left the pub without speaking to the manager. After I left I made a complaint via Wetherspoons website. The manager of the pub emailed me and offered me a voucher as compensation. I accepted this offer and provided my address to receive the voucher, 1 month later I still haven’t received it. Myself and my colleagues haven’t been back to the pub since this incident, it’s totally put us off. I don’t expect a 5* service from Wetherspoons but I do expect to be treated...

Hate giving bad reviews however this is the worst WS pub I have had the misfortune of visiting.

Our party of 7 ordered breakfast reassured it would be upto WS standard. Shocked is all I can say. First 2 came out stone cold. Returned them both which were replaced promptly, however 1 was missing an item so had to wait for that to be replaced. Another breakfast came out and the egg looked like someone had dragged a piece of toast through the yoke. We asked for a fresh egg on 5 occasions with the rudest reply " Oh you want an egg that's not broken" no you ignorant ** we expect out eggs not to look like the staff had dragged something through them. The fresh egg arrived after we had all finished eating. Another breakfast was supposed to be with no beans. It came with beans and this was rectified. It took a total of 5 attempts to get the order correct. With the exception of the rude member if staff rectifying each problem was wonderful service but cannot forgive that amount of mistakes in one order. If the staff had been less gobby and made it seam less hastle to be helpful would gladly of given maybe...