We spent one night at a hotel near Gatwick Airport and needed a good place to eat, drink, and be less grumpy. We had been traveling all day and two of the three of us were very sore and all of us were exhausted. We had no car and our hotel restaurant was over priced, and previous experience with food at other hotels convinced us not to even try to eat the over priced items at the hotel.
An English friend back in the US had recommended we eat at Weatherspoon's pubs, which share common ties to the Weatherspoon management, but go by unique names under the Weatherspoons brand. Weatherspoons branded pubs can be found by Googling Weatherspoons or by checking the company website, which will give you the unique names of all of the Weatherspoons near your location. They are all over the UK. We ate at four Weatherspoons in our trip, and they were all good. They are all pubs. Instead of a server taking your order at your table, you pick a table, decide what you want, then order and pay at the bar and they deliver your food at the table. There seems to be a standardized menu, but it seems that some have bigger menus than others, but the pub operational procedures, quality control and core menu offerings seem to be standardized within the brand.
We did not see obvious tourists at any of the Weatherspoons, so the prices are not artificially inflated and the food is not a caricature of what people in the UK eat. They open for breakfast and are open until late at night. You can eat full meals there, including the classic English breakfast as well as the classic American breakfast. Pizza was available at at least three of the four we ate at.
There is exceptional variety in the menu. At this particular Weatherspoons, called Jack Fairman, I had the small fish and chips. It was NOT overbreaded or greasy, it was delicate, cooked until just flaky but not overdone. The fish tasted fresh. It was very very tasty.
They had a big binder that gives nutrition and allergy information for every single item on the menu, which was very helpful for a member of our traveling party who has two food allergies. Just request the allergy binder.
The pub is well decorated with relaxing, casual ambience. There is a fireplace mantle with easy chairs by it that look very cozy and inviting. Everyone there seemed to be having a relaxed time together as if they were visiting with friends in their own homes.
The bartender was very congenial and warm; service was quick and accurate.
We were very very pleased to find out that this exact Weatherspoons was like a second home to our English friends, a place where many many family meals and celebrations took place when they lived in Crawley England. They were thrilled when we told them where we had eaten.
Jack Fairman's restored our sanity and group morale at the end of an exhausting trip to Europe that was not actually a vacation, and was really quite stressful. We left with very fond feelings for this place because we were so exhausted and upset when we arrived-- and we left fully relaxed and restored. Thank you Jack Fairman's for a wonderful relaxing evening at the end of an extremely difficult day. read more
