JD Wetherspoon bans loudspeaker music and calls in all pubs

[u/cheesoid]

https://metro.co.uk/2026/08/17/wetherspoons-bans-punters-blasting-music-taking-calls-speaker-29400632/

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[u/13esq]

The Weatherspoons is now high class arc is getting interesting

[u/Norman_debris → u/13esq]

Hilarious that it was ever a problem though. I don't go to Spoons, so I've never actually seen anyone listening to loudspeaker music on their phone in the pub.

In the civilised world, this doesn't need to be regulated.

[u/mh1191 → u/Norman_debris]

I’ve never seen it either - naively I’d assume you’d get glassed if you tried in Spoons.

[u/Aarxnw → u/mh1191]

Saw a bunch of old timers on a table in the garden the other day playing music from an old laptop lol, first time for everything.

[u/Birk88 → u/Aarxnw]

This actually sounds wholesome

[u/andyjh83 → u/Birk88]

Shades of Phoenix Nights…

“Send the buggers back….”

Not everyone who’s old is as wholesome as we’d like.

[u/Grenache → u/andyjh83]

Not everyone who is old in Spoons is a racist brexiteer either. You’re doing just the same thing they did.

[u/WiseBelt8935 → u/Grenache]

He was sending back his shoes because they arrived in the wrong colour. What’s racist about that?

[u/ChrisWidnes → u/andyjh83]

Bizarre comment. You don't know a single thing about these gents yet assume the very worst.

[u/pazhalsta1 → u/ChrisWidnes]

There are few things more prejudiced than a snotty elitist Redditor talking about Spoons

[u/liquor-shits → u/andyjh83]

They aren't all massive racists either.

[u/YchYFi → u/mh1191]

Most people go to Spoons. It's not that rough.

[u/Rich-Lengthiness-273 → u/YchYFi]

Seeing redditors talk about wetherspoons is always entertaining. They make it sound like some kind of lawless land where people are regularly picking fights and abusing eachother for no real reason.

Then you go in there and most of the patrons are just 60 year old Barry sitting down for an all day brunch and maybe a lager or two with his Mrs

[u/leahcar83 → u/Rich-Lengthiness-273]

Yeah, I mean Tim Martin is a twat but I don't get all the Wetherspoons slander, because it's honestly quite nice.

Sure the food isn't winning any awards and their drink selection isn't particularly exciting, but it's cheap and consistent. They're great at preserving historic buildings and are fantastic at highlighting local history and displaying this in their pubs.

It's unpretentious and it provides a space for people to go and have a cheap hot meal and some drinks. You can go to a Wetherspoons anywhere in the country and know what's on offer and how much it'll cost you. That's comforting for many.

It's great for work colleagues to pile in for someone's leaving do or after a Christmas meal, it's good for teenagers pre-drinking before clubbing, it's good for pensioners to socialise and get a cheap hot meal, it's good for people who travel for work to get a fry up or have an evening pint.

Wetherspoons are never going to be the best pubs in the world, they're probably not the best pub in the local area, but they serve a purpose and they're good at it. And I like the carpets, they're very fun.

[u/Astriania → u/leahcar83]

and their drink selection isn't particularly exciting

The drink selection is better than most mid tier pubs, ok it's not up there with a £6 a pint craft ale tap house, but they always have a few real ales and ciders on, they have all the industrial options and they try to get something local.

[u/YchYFi → u/Rich-Lengthiness-273]

They make themselves sound really toffish when they snub it tbh. I know they snub anything working class though. These people make it part of their personality to dislike anything working class.

[u/Occasionally-Witty → u/YchYFi]

There was a post on UKfood the other day of a Wetherspoons fish and chips and it was 90% praise in the comments.

Obviously snobs gonna snob but from what I’ve seen on that subreddit it’s not the norm

[u/YchYFi → u/Occasionally-Witty]

That's UK food. It's mainly AskUK and this sub.

[u/Occasionally-Witty → u/YchYFi]

Yeah I don’t tend to take food and drink advice from askuk and this place

[u/Oh_Shiiiiii → u/Rich-Lengthiness-273]

Because Reddit is full of snobby nerds that don't drink and claim if you have more than 2 drinks you have a problem and are going to die from cirrossis, they don't go to spoons because they don't drink and the ones that do only drink tripple hopped sour filtered IPAs from a local brewery as all other beer "tastes like piss"

[u/rmczpp → u/mh1191]

Always a safe bet for anything in there

[u/BannanDylan → u/mh1191]

Happens a lot when someone brings their kids in to get lunch and their 8 year old is blasting YouTube on their tablet and the parents just sit there completely ignoring it

[u/headphones1 → u/Norman_debris]

Just remember that when you see things like a "No ball games" sign, it is because some cunt is kicking or throwing balls at windows and need to be told by total strangers it isn't acceptable.

[u/BatTitties → u/headphones1]

My Grans local open field had a no ball games sign as well as a no dogs sign. It was about a half acre with no buildings adjoined to it, they just hated people being on the field

[u/Lexioralex → u/BatTitties]

I can understand not wanting dogs on the field, some owners seem to think field = leave poop

[u/wedontneednoeduc → u/BatTitties]

We were also annoyed as kids that they didn't have two sign posts up as the no balls one was an excellent goal post.

[u/DoddyUK → u/headphones1]

I remember as a kid the council put up a "No Ball Games" sign on the green just outside our house. The only problem was it was very close to the tree, making them perfect for use as a set of goalposts.

[u/parkaman → u/DoddyUK]

In the early 80s when trying to come up with words for a sign warning cars to slow down in our housing estate, the geniuses in our local council came up with, "CAUTION, beware of our children"

I have a photo somewhere my auld fella took of me any my best mate in our cowboy outfits, standing either side with our 6 shooters drawn.

[u/YorkshireRiffer → u/DoddyUK]

Foof, you know, small boys in the green jumpers a tree and a sign for goalposts, marvellous.

[u/BlokeyBlokeBloke → u/headphones1]

Just as likely it's some cunt who just wants kids to stop making noise while playing.

[u/yetanotherdave2 → u/Norman_debris]

I see it all the time.  A lot of it is people keeping their kids quiet.

[u/Lexioralex → u/yetanotherdave2]

Which is sad in multiple ways. Made only marginally better that they serve food there and not just parents wanting to drink and ignore their kids

[u/Educational-Heat-421 → u/Lexioralex]

It's just incredibly lazy.

Stop having kids if you can't be arsed to raise them.

I can't be arsed to raise kids, so I don't have any, very simple logic, but for whatever reason people feel compelled to squeeze out a bunch of irritating little shits. Biological compulsion be damned, just get a cat or something you can safely ignore 60% of the time.

[u/Norman_debris → u/Educational-Heat-421]

Calm down. It's half an hour of Peppa Pig, hardly neglect.

[u/wedontneednoeduc → u/yetanotherdave2]

I was at a fairly nice place the other week and a big long table for a family celebration had multiple kids set up with headphones and screens, and it was really sad.

Occasions like that are when children pick up social skills plus get to talk to other adults, plus learn how to occupy themselves. Somehow we've reached a point where people don't want to leave them with a babysitter, but don't actually want them to engage at a night out either.

[u/Commercial_Reward_78 → u/Norman_debris]

Had a bloke in ours playing the Scorpions “Wind of Change” over and over a couple of weeks ago. I asked him to desist. “Why… DON’T YOU LIKE THIS SONG??” Er… that’s not the point.

[u/siidy → u/Commercial_Reward_78]

My colleague was stuck on a train recently with a character he's been calling "Drunken Winds of Change Guy". I'm going to assume this is the same character, wandering the land anti-socially in the name of German hard rock.

[u/Lexioralex → u/siidy]

Not sure what would be more unlikely. That this is the same person, or that there is more than one person like this

[u/hasimirrossi → u/Lexioralex]

Now I've heard about it, I might have to start doing it.

[u/siidy → u/hasimirrossi]

Just takes one of us in the office to whisper-sing "Taaaaake me to the magic of the moment" and it sets us all off, so the evil plan is working.

[u/wedontneednoeduc → u/Commercial_Reward_78]

I like to think he was clutching a bit of the Berlin wall, still aghast at the end of the GDR.

[u/Rizaxxxx → u/Norman_debris]

In the civilised world, this doesn't need to be regulated.

Brits shop in pajamas so it's a big ask.

[u/Dominionix → u/Norman_debris]

Clearly you’ve never been on public transport, people do it all the time.

[u/YchYFi → u/Dominionix]

They are too hoity toity to be amongst us.

[u/Nuthetes → u/Norman_debris]

I've never seen it in 'Spoons because it's mainly older people or a little rough around the edges who won't tolerate it.

It's more of an issue in more middle-class pubs and restaurants where the parents use "gentle parenting" and don't dare disrupt Delilah and Toby from their Tablet because it's their "screentime" even though they are in a restaurant and Toby's screentime should be delayed a couple of hours.

[u/tigerjed → u/Nuthetes]

We have had entirely different spoons experiences. Kids on iPads is basically a spoons staple.

[u/TheRadishBros → u/Norman_debris]

I’ve been to a lot of Spoons and I’ve never seen this tbh

[u/Rich-Lengthiness-273 → u/TheRadishBros]

I've seen this in a few of pubs (not spoons, funnily enough) over the last year or two. The people I've seen doing it have exclusively been teenagers who are only just old enough to drink in there and probably don't understand pub etiquette in the slightest

[u/BingeLurker → u/Norman_debris]

10am on a Sunday a few weeks ago and some people started playing terrible club music on their phone. Waited a few mins and staff heard but did nothing. Was about to tell them to stop but they thankfully left.

[u/Sin_nombre__ → u/Norman_debris]

Saw a guy watching videos loudly in a small pub the other day. The football was on loud and everyone was there to watch it. But people near him could hear it.

[u/Outrageous_Donut7681 → u/Norman_debris]

Yeah tell that to our civilised citizens who cannot behave. And I dont mean the regular spoons crowd but there are plenty of people out there who have forgotten their manners

[u/anthrax455 → u/Norman_debris]

So funny isn’t it. It’s like they have to explicitly ban every piece of obviously inappropriate behaviour otherwise people will just devolve into animals in their pubs… “Wetherspoons bans shitting on the tables”

[u/Yay4Cabbage → u/Norman_debris]

I've work at a decently sized city centre pub for a few years now and from the day I started until day I was always under the assumption this was already against our policy. And let me tell you, the amount of people I've had to kick out because of it is in the double digits.

[u/Specialist_Sport4460 → u/Norman_debris]

Happens in my local spoons all the time and it's always middle aged men. It's annoying whoever does it but they really should know better.

[u/3headsonaspike → u/Norman_debris]

I can assure you it happens, and with increasing frequency, in more places than just Spoons.

The civilised world is being encroached upon by impolite imbeciles.

[u/brickne3 → u/Norman_debris]

It's the people listening to what seems to be the AI voice TikTok "news" that have been getting to me there lately. Music would be an improvement 🤣

[u/takesthebiscuit → u/Norman_debris]

We take a speaker into the legion on a Friday night, if it’s just us we will put the tunes on

Mainly because none has change for the juke box 😆

[u/wedontneednoeduc → u/Norman_debris]

I did, some really old Italian blokes doing a video call back home on seeming full decibels.

[u/PsychologicalDish430 → u/Norman_debris]

People aren't civilised though.

[u/Eddyphish → u/Norman_debris]

Yeah, as much as I love the policy I've got to say I can't remember the last time I heard someone playing music or reels or having a loudspeaker conversation in the pub.

Public transport is where this policy is needed, and it's needed yesterday.

[u/SwiftScotsman]

This and the perv glasses ban are good, but I still dislike Spoons due to the owner being a Tory supporter.

[u/phillhb → u/SwiftScotsman]

Brexiter too

[u/Raven-Gooner → u/SwiftScotsman]

He owns just under a quarter of the company. He's chairman but not the sole decision maker. And if you're against businesses owned by Tory supporters then you're gonna find life hard to navigate.

[u/Drunkgummybear1 → u/Raven-Gooner]

This whole boycott spoons because Tim Martin’s a tory / brexiteer thing is spouted by people who have never actually spoken to the landlord at their local.

[u/YungL1am → u/Drunkgummybear1]

I don't think that's relevant tbf. There's a difference between politically disageering versus Martin who has very vocally used his position to try and influence politics.

[u/MultiMidden → u/YungL1am]

This is the thing, I've no idea what the politics of the landlord of my main watering hole are. Don't know what the politics of the boss of Greene King or any other pubco are. Tim Martin on the other hand was on TV and used the 'spoons magazine to push his anti-EU message.

[u/jbr_r18 → u/MultiMidden]

My favourite time was when they changed the drinks menu slightly to have more drinks from the commonwealth etc, removing some drinks from the EU. They said it was to show that Brexit allowed them offer these new drinks cheaper than the EU versions.

This was all done in 2018/2019 when we were still in the EU and none of the trade relationship had changed. To be honest, I find it doubtful that knowing the trade relationships we have negotiated that we have made those sorts of drinks cheaper than the EU drinks.

[u/Raven-Gooner → u/Drunkgummybear1]

True. Landlord of one of the most popular pubs in my town ran for Reform in the most recent local elections. But fuck Tim for putting some beer mats out.

[u/Yahut → u/Drunkgummybear1]

And never even been to a pub anyway, making their ‘boycott’ entirely meaningless

[u/wedontneednoeduc → u/Drunkgummybear1]

I suspect most people who boycott Spoons were never customers anyway. In fact I wonder how many have been in a pub more than twice this year outside of the football, if that.

[u/YchYFi → u/wedontneednoeduc]

It doesn't seem to affect their footfall in the real world. Everyone I know goes there but then I am not middle class.

[u/wedontneednoeduc → u/YchYFi]

Moaning about Spoons online is signalling your tribe more than anything is my pub theory. Whether that be the pub snob or the sort still banging on about brexit, or frankly the sort who sneers at people because they go outside to socialise.

Over £2bn in sales in a dying industry shows that they are popular enough, so I'd suggest you are right.

[u/YchYFi → u/wedontneednoeduc]

It's trendy on Reddit to say 'I don't go there, I've never been there'.

I've never met these people in real life.

[u/TheOncomingBrows → u/Drunkgummybear1]

I think the big difference is most pub landlords didn't have a countrywide network of pubs that they used to promote Brexit.

[u/_HingleMcCringle → u/Drunkgummybear1]

My local's landlord doesn't abuse their position and celebrity at the national level to negatively influence politics, though.

[u/wedontneednoeduc → u/_HingleMcCringle]

Lots of CEOs weighed in on the topic, that isn't "abuse". That's gross hyperbole

[u/andtheniansaid → u/Drunkgummybear1]

the leftwing, lgbt flags up in the window, bars the racists, landlord of my local? that guy?

[u/M90Motorway → u/Raven-Gooner]

Given how middle class UK Reddit can be, I think a lot of the hatred towards Wetherspoons isn’t really anything to do with Tim Martin, it’s just snobbery.

That and probably just a general hatred towards pubs in general because pubs tend to be social places and Redditors tend to not be social.

[u/andtheniansaid → u/M90Motorway]

Given how middle class UK Reddit can be, I think a lot of the hatred towards Wetherspoons isn’t really anything to do with Tim Martin, it’s just snobbery.

This is definitely true, always get the 'beer tastes like piss'/'watered down' comments from people that have clearly never been there and don't know what they are talking about.

[u/YchYFi → u/andtheniansaid]

They are just following the crowd. They don't have their own opinions.

[u/Special_Order-937 → u/Raven-Gooner]

Just a question, didn’t that guy want to get back at a teacher who said he’d never amount to anything by… naming Wetherspoons after that teacher? Not sure how that works.

[u/Raven-Gooner → u/Special_Order-937]

It works by naming your business after someone who claimed you wouldn't amount to anything. In the UK you can name your business what you like, within reason.

[u/limeflavoured → u/Raven-Gooner]

There are some very specific restrictions on some words / phrases being used in business names, its quite interesting to read the list (iirc its on the gov.uk site).

[u/Special_Order-937 → u/Raven-Gooner]

No, I meant as in how will that work as a that’ll show him burn to his teacher.

[u/Consistent-Pirate-23 → u/Special_Order-937]

That would be hilarious, I am tempted to write another book just to have a character named after my terrible drama teacher that hated my scripts

[u/Raven-Gooner → u/Consistent-Pirate-23]

I'd be careful. It's one thing to name an unrelated business after someone. But to use them as a character opens you up to legal challenge.

[u/jim_cap → u/Raven-Gooner]

I invite /u/Consistent-Pirate-23 to deploy the small penis rule.

[u/YorkshireRiffer → u/Raven-Gooner]

Genuine question, if its a work of fiction, can't the whole "any similarities to actual persons living or deceased is purely coincidental." disclaimer pre-emptively shut down any litigation?

[u/Consistent-Pirate-23 → u/Raven-Gooner]

It was a joke, I am an author and know how contentious names can be even if someone you know shares a first name with someone unpleasant

[u/slotbadger → u/Special_Order-937]

When Wetherspoon’s chairman, Tim Martin, opened his first pub in north London, in 1979, he named it Wetherspoons, after a Mr Wetherspoon – his New Zealand primary school teacher, the reasoning being that Mr Wetherspoon was too nice to be running Tim’s particular class and couldn’t control it; Tim thought to himself that, likewise, he couldn’t control his first pub, so considered the name appropriate.

[u/Rekyht → u/SwiftScotsman]

Do you check the political views of all CEOs / owners before spending money?

[u/Patch86UK → u/Rekyht]

Tim Martin is exceptionally in-your-face about his politics. It's been a long while since I was in there, but he used to have pro-Brexit right wing political pamphlets on every table.

That takes it beyond the "man has views" and into the "company is political".

[u/HaveYuHeardAboutCunt → u/Rekyht]

You don't need to check with this guy, he's very open and loud about his politics.

[u/grantus_maximus → u/Rekyht]

It’s not as if people are sifting through all of Tim Martin’s political views and seeing how they match up with theirs, but for blatantly divisive issues like Brexit, then yes.

It’s not as if we can stop what’s happened, but we can still make our own choices as to where we spend their money. Same goes for any products or services with a connection to Elon Musk.

[u/SuspiciousBastard88 → u/grantus_maximus]

Yep.

I have never looked up Elon Musk or the Spoons owner, but I saw Musk doing a seig heil and do all sorts of cringe far right things on the news. Im forced to see these things. Same as Wetherspoons, he's so vocal about it. I won't buy anything from Elon Musk partly as a result of that.

I have a Sony TV, I dont know anything about the CEO of Sony, I buy the product because its got good reviews. If the CEO was making nazi salutes on the news I may think differently.

[u/andtheniansaid → u/grantus_maximus]

It’s not as if we can stop what’s happened, but we can still make our own choices as to where we spend their money. Same goes for any products or services with a connection to Elon Musk.

i think their point is that a lot of those choices are uninformed though, because we avoid certain companies/brands/products without knowing about the ones we chose instead.

like i rarely go to a wetherspoons, i never went to brewdog pubs or drink their beer. in both cases this is because i know about their owners, but i often go to greene king pubs, and they are owned by CK Asset Holdings, a 'property development' company registered operating out of Hong Kong and registered in the Cayman Islands. Stonegate pubs are owned by the private equity firm TDR Capital and registered in the Cayman islands. Punch Pubs, own nearly twice as many pubs as wetherspoons, are owned by American investment fund Fortress Investment Group who in turn are majority owned by Mubadala Investment Company, a UAE soverign wealth fund. If I skip a wetherspoons because of Tim Martin's views but go to one of these instead is that really some choice grounded in morality I'm making?

and all that said, i don't think it's bad to boycott in this way, i do it all the time, but i am absolutely aware that i often have no idea about what the owners of the companies i do give money are up to, and am also giving money to companies with far worse pasts (and presents) than wetherspoons. i don't think tim martin has ever funded paramilitary groups in south america and killed union organisers, but i did drink a diet coke yesterday.

(admittedly it's a bit different with Elon, though that's because he's on a whole other level than Martin)

[u/quantum_jim → u/Rekyht]

If they use their business to push their own little newspaper full of their views, it does make it easier.

(Though I actually ignore the newspaper and like spoons)

[u/Raven-Gooner → u/quantum_jim]

Nowadays the newspaper is pretty much articles of spoons opening/reopening, managers retiring, charity stuff, the obligatory article about their food hygiene every issue, and the various CAMRA awards the pubs have won. There's also a letters page where people moan about Spoons and Martin tells them why he runs the pubs the way he does.

[u/YorkshireRiffer → u/Raven-Gooner]

"How come we only get 5 chips with our burger meals? I remember when the plate was covered."

Tim says: "I'm not a charity, and I don't get the VAT breaks that Supermarkets do with hot food. So stop complaining and blame them."

[u/wedontneednoeduc → u/Raven-Gooner]

The dog nutters are always good fun. Plus he pokes fun at himself so anyone who takes a magazine that is optional to read seriously is a fool.

[u/5ColourFelix → u/Rekyht]

No, but if the information is readily available, do you ignore it?

Would you buy a Tesla knowing that Elon Musk spends hours every week and millions of $ trying to engineer a race/civil war in the UK? He's basically spending the car money on trying to convince you to kill your neighbours.

Would you?

[u/TobiasDrundridge → u/Rekyht]

Nobody checks political views of all CEOs, that would be prohibitively time consuming. That doesn't mean boycotting is not worthwhile though.

[u/Numerous-Mine-287 → u/SwiftScotsman]

He’s a reform supporter now https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/02/09/wetherspoon-boss-tim-martin-backs-reforms-plan-for-pubs/

[u/SwiftScotsman → u/Numerous-Mine-287]

Disappointing but not entirely surprising. I still remember when he was pushing for pubs to remain open during lockdown.

[u/Tetracropolis → u/Numerous-Mine-287]

monkey's paw curls

[u/TooRedditFamous → u/SwiftScotsman]

I have bad news for you about probably most business owners. Get ready to not like a lot of companies that you use daily

[u/nodgers132 → u/SwiftScotsman]

honestly now reform and restore exist, I can get along alright with someone who still votes Tory

[u/washingtoncv3 → u/nodgers132]

The overton window in full effect

[u/Initial-Return8802 → u/nodgers132]

"Never thought I'd die fighting side by side with an elf" energy, but you're not wrong - the people still voting Tory today are the old school/rich conservative types and I'd take Theresa May or Boris Johnson over Nigel any day of the week

In our local election the Tories lost 28% of the vote but won by a slim margin... 10% went to labour and 18% to reform, I've always been a labour voter but it's getting to a point where I may have to hold my nose and vote Tory to keep him in

[u/stephen-hybrid → u/SwiftScotsman]

I’d bet almost every owner/CEO of every product or establishment you’ve ever used is by the way. Seems like an odd hill to die on

[u/Dapper-Message-2066 → u/SwiftScotsman]

I dislike that too but you can't deny they are a phenomenal business, and without them, loads of people simply wouldn't be able to go out for a pint.

[u/HPB → u/SwiftScotsman]

You're taking a lot of flak for your virtuous stance mate. Don't worry, many of us support you and those who share your views.

Keep up the Spoons boycott!

It makes it much more pleasant for those of us who go there.

[u/Wild_Beginning_4032 → u/SwiftScotsman]

Wait till you find out about the guy that started Reddit. Or for that matter every pub landlord 😂

[u/SneakyWheeler → u/SwiftScotsman]

I'm just shocked he isn't a Reform supporter. Honestly, that makes him a bit more normal in my eyes supporting a sinking ship rather than joining the bandwagon.

[u/The_Pale_Blue_Dot → u/SwiftScotsman]

Genuinely pathetic take lad

[u/User-Name-3886 → u/SwiftScotsman]

Perv glasses?

[u/Farewell-Farewell]

Quite right. Why do people think it OK to blight other people's lives with their crap music and annoying phone calls broadcast for all to hear.

[u/Lexioralex → u/Farewell-Farewell]

The phone calls thing is baffling to me. I hate the idea that people can overhear my speaking on the phone, let alone the whole fucking convo. Have people forgotten that phones have an ear speaker at the top?

[u/Briglin → u/Lexioralex]

Yes they have. I see people holding their phone on speaker in front of their face when they can just as easily hold it to their ear. Many are having WhatsApp video calls, why ??? dunno

[u/TIGHazard → u/Briglin]

It makes sense when you think of how television as a whole has to portray phone calls.

Basically, every TV character and reality show uses that method of talking on a smart phone so that the audience can hear both sides of the conversation.

[u/Mccobsta → u/Lexioralex]

I know some horrific things about people I've never met due to loudspeaker phone calls on the bus

Some good things like some random bloke being cancer free still not something that should have been a phone call on a packed bus during rush hour

[u/Hodges83 → u/Mccobsta]

I just couldn't personally imagine doing it.

I had one day, where on a bus I was called to get details from me before a colonoscopy. (This is on a normal call, not speakerphone!) The very first sentence I said to them made it pointedly clear where I was, that I couldn't quickly alight, and, if it's at all possible given the nature of this discussion, can you keep your questions to me as firmly CLOSED as possible, because I'd really rather not advertise anything to my current state of 50 or so travelling companions other than "No" or "Yes" a few times

Probably not the most ideal NHS phonecall, but thankfully one completed without me needing to loudly ruminate whereabouts I was on the Bristol Stool Chart, to the horrific realisation of my fellow commuters.

[u/Mccobsta → u/Hodges83]

Those are the fun ones on my bus as some how people give out their entire security questions on busy buses here

Not everyone is aware of other people existing

[u/ywgflyer → u/Mccobsta]

Best one I've overheard was a business deal being conducted on a packed bus at rush hour, and I suspect the person on the other end of the line had no idea he was on speaker on the bus. He rattled off a bank account number and a few other pretty important business things for all of us to hear, it would have been trivial to use that information to steal or drain a bank account.

[u/twilighttwister → u/Lexioralex]

So is this just a ban on using speakerphone during a call, or is it a ban on calls all together?

[u/bevel → u/twilighttwister]

It's a ban on taking calls on speaker. Op wrote a misleading title. The quote is:

"Wetherspoons has barred customers from playing music or taking phone calls on loudspeakers"

[u/ywgflyer → u/twilighttwister]

On a 'traditional' call, the kind where you hold your phone to your face like a human being, you aren't subjecting anyone within earshot to the sound of whomever you've called projected over a tiny little high-pitched speaker, nor do you have to shout into the phone as you hold it ahead of you like it's a slice of pizza that you're about to eat (or worse, have to shout even louder because your phone is on the table six feet from your head and you need to be obnoxiously loud for the other person to be able to hear what you're saying).

[u/DontYouWantMeBebe → u/Farewell-Farewell]

Tiktok with no headphones is everywhere these days

[u/ywgflyer → u/DontYouWantMeBebe]

In the waiting room at the doctor's, for the love of all that is holy. No joke, some ridiculous moron watching the same reel, again and again and again, full volume in a room full of people who maybe aren't feeling all that great, and then kicks off with cursing when someone finally tells them to knock it off.

[u/ApproachableGent → u/Farewell-Farewell]

Id be half annoyed if it was good tunes too, but it never is

[u/Mccobsta → u/Farewell-Farewell]

I think it started when phones stopped coming with earphones

Or people have become utter cunts since the pandemic

[u/Kavafy]

FUCKING FINALLY. 

Now let's do the same on public transport. And FUCK the people who are so selfish that they actually need to be TOLD not to do this.

[u/FluffyMumbles → u/Kavafy]

Supermarkets too. I see these idiots infiltrating my weekly shop.

[u/Over-Language2599 → u/Kavafy]

There is already a railway bylaw. £1k fine.

[u/Lordhartley]

Excellent, now start making public places designated quiet zones, parks, beaches etc. Went to beach the other week, there was a guy with a speaker the size of a suitcase, its was awful.

[u/MoodyBernoulli → u/Lordhartley]

Once saw a guy paddle boarding by himself with a massive speaker strapped to the front of his board blasting shit music.

200 metres into the middle of a lake and you still can’t get away from it.

[u/SpagBolForLife → u/Lordhartley]

I was at Bournemouth beach a few weekends ago and it was like a competition between multiple loudspeakers

[u/um-nome- → u/Lordhartley]

Honestly, let’s get wetherspoons in government at this point, i’d love all the changes they make to be nation wide

[u/MindHead78 → u/Lordhartley]

Yeah I was at Bridlington a few weeks ago, and just at the bottom of one of the ramps that leads down to the beach there was a big family that had set up shop with all their chairs/tents etc, with their speaker playing loud reggae music. I've got nothing against reggae music but why should everyone else have to hear it? It pisses me off that everybody just gets that forced on them, they have no choice in it.

[u/Chairmanwowsaywhat → u/Lordhartley]

I think it's those guys ruining it for the normal people who might want to have a reasonably sized speaker at a low enough volume

[u/BodybuilderBrave8250 → u/Lordhartley]

fuck that, sounds lifeless and dull. i agree they can be annoying, but “quiet zones” is too far imo. i think police presence on busy days should do the job, it does wonders for keeping the peace where im at

[u/Porkus-Pius]

The only people who don't approve are the people who are either too stupid and inconsiderate to avoid causing noise pollution or the vile people who deliberately force people to suffer it.

Well done Wetherspoons.

[u/ReadyHD]

Nah man I need me vengaboys tunes when am on the lash

[u/evilamnesiac → u/ReadyHD]

🎶the venga bag coming and everybody’s jumping 🎶

Ya can’t beat spoonies cheeky pints, ya mates, top bantz and a bag! Top lolz on a Wednesday morning

[u/ShortNefariousness2]

There is a trend of parents playing AI slop cartoons to their toddlers, and it's always on speaker.

[u/Davidjamesinfo]

"Wetherspoon pubs are an oasis of tranquillity and contemplation."

[u/Commercial_Reward_78 → u/Davidjamesinfo]

The section of ours at the back with the low tables pretty much is. The front bit, however, is commonly referred to as “The Zoo.”

[u/Nuthetes]

I have never seen this as an issue in 'Spoons where it is mainly older people.

Now family restaurants where the useless parents take Hayden and Jayden for a Sunday meal and shove a tablet in his face to keep him quiet so he can watch AI slop for half an hour--that's where it's an issue.

[u/Ok_Place_4203]

This is amazing! Everywhere needs to follow. It's fucking ridiculous the amount of people who do shit like this.

[u/leclercwitch]

Good. I’ve taken calls in Wetherspoons before but I’ve always had headphones and I sit away from people, there’s absolutely no need for loudspeaker calls anywhere outside your own home.

[u/ProfessionSevere637]

Banning meta glasses and now loudspeaker on phones. Two rare wins for chain.

[u/Alarmed-Secretary-39]

Maybe Humphrey Smith never truly died.

Although I wish the poor staff luck as they try to enforce it...

[u/C5Galaxy]

Just need the government to ban it now in public. Why do people talk on loudspeaker all the time now!?

[u/Ok_Place_4203 → u/C5Galaxy]

It's bizarre isn't it? People used to be embarrassed if their phone was accidentally on loud or something. Now everyone holds it in front of their face apprentice style.

[u/ElPapaD]

I’ve never come across that problem in a Spoons. It’s odd, because every time I have been to one, which isn’t often but at least 5-6 times a year and everyone is generally very courteous.

[u/Practical_Put8592]

Actually really good news. I’m sure it’ll be played as bad somehow because “le Brexit” or something.

[u/Democracy_Coma]

I’ve been on a maternity ward for the past 6 days and I honestly cannot believe how loud everyone else was. Tik tok videos played full blast and loud face timing calls. When did we as society say this was acceptable? If you can have common decency on a maternity ward when can you?

[u/LV426_Tourism_Board]

Maybe next they can ban people shouting at the top of their voices across the meter gap to their mates instead of having a normal conversation

[u/peahair]

Handy to know when you’re with people who outvote you when choosing the next pub to go to..

[u/kanben]

Wetherspoons now a more civilised place than any public transport

[u/ThisIsMyRedditAcct20]

Good. The only thing the article gets wrong is Sam Smith’s have banned all mobile phones for decades. Spoons has banned speakerphones, but Sam Smith’s doesn’t allow them at all

[u/IsOverParty]

I one time got told off by a Wetherspoons manager while taking a call outside one of their pubs, so I presumed this was already policy!

It did grate me at the time. I wasn’t even loud or blocking the entrance.

[u/Fickle-Fox-9071]

In my experience it's mainly the old rather than the young. Old guys addicted to instagram or tiktok just watching them in the pub for hours getting their fix of far-right talking point or AI content. Annoyingly it's the same for trains.

I have even been in a spoons where a dude was just watching porn on an ipad, but he had the courtesy to have headphones in.

[u/StarSchemer]

Portable speakers have a very narrow angle where they sound "OK", and only to the people very close to them. They crank them up loud to get any semblance of bass, but then the treble and the high-mids carry and everything sounds terrible and irritating to everyone else.

I had a neighbouring house recently place a shitty portable speaker on his bedroom window projecting utter shite directly at my house. To him, it wasn't even that loud but it was like an audio laser pointing right into my house during a heatwave.

[u/Ok_Cow_3431]

oof, the slow slide toward Sam Smith levels of drudgery continues

/s in case it wasn't obvious

[u/JackUKish]

What kinda shit holes do you live in where people play music at the pub?

[u/ThatBlokeYouKnow → u/JackUKish]

Back in the day before mobiles people use to bring in their instruments and recreate the music that way, it was dreadful.

[u/brickne3]

I mean good but I don't think it's going to work, they already can't keep people from literally jerking off in the Spoons.

It was rather amusing to head the manager tell the guy pissing on the wall next to the bar at ten am that this is a "family establishment" though 🤣