Budget pub chain JD Wetherspoon may be known for its cheap prices – but fans are now being offered the chance to tour some of its grander-looking venues in style with the help of a personal guide and a chauffeur-driven Bentley.
New six- and seven-day tours are being introduced by travel firm MyUKTour – offering one route in the North and a separate itinerary covering the South.
Among the branches being visited will be Wetherspoons pubs which have been converted from former uses such as police station, court and chapel.
Another, the Rochester Castle in Stoke Newington in east London, previously hosted gigs by chart-topping bands such as The Jam and The Police.
The attractions being promised include some of the pubs highlighted as favourites of JD Wetherspoon founder and chairman Sir Tim Martin.
A northern trip being promised by travel firm MyUKTour will include trips to some of the grandest and most historic JD Wetherspoon pubs include the Velvet Coaster in Blackpool
The southern tour starts at the Rochester Castle in Stoke Newington in east London, which previously hosted gigs by chart-topping bands such as The Jam and The Police.
The tours will be carried out in chauffeur-driven Bentley cars – pictured is a separate Bentley Flying Spur luxury sedan parked in a central London street
George’s Meeting House in Exeter provides the penultimate Wetherspoons of the southern tour – not far from Sir Tim’s own Devon home
Customers are promised a trip to the Grade I-listed Corn Exchange in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk – dubbed Britain’s ‘poshest Spoons’
There will be two different tours available, with the southern one covering seven days and six nights – the northern equivalent six days and five nights, with the travel company promising how each of their journeys is carried out in a ‘private luxury vehicle with experienced chauffeur’.
The prices start from £1,800 per person including one night of accommadation in a Wetherspoons hotel but not covering food and drink costs.
The northern tour begins in Keswick, Cumbria, at a pub built in 1901 and called the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
It began life as a magistrates’ court and police station and still features a canopied witness stand and police cells.
Travellers will then go on to the Velvet Coaster in Blackpool – among Britain’s biggest pubs and recently awarded the title of ‘nicest Wetherspoons’.
Third pub on the route will be the North Western in Liverpool, a Grade II-listed building designed by Victorian architect Alfred Waterhouse, followed by the Moon Under Water in Manchester which used to be a Victorian cinema.
Northern tourists are then promised calls at the Winter Gardens in Harrogate, North Yorkshire – described as ‘an exquisite example of Victorian architecture’ with a glass roof and stone columns.
The final Wetherspoons pub on this tour will be one named Sir William de Wessyngton, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne – described as the cheapest Spoons in the North’.
The former billiard saloon is named after a Northern knight whose coat of arms provided the basis for the US flag.
The Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Keswick, Cumbria, used to be used as a court and police station before being converted into a pub
The final Wetherspoons pub on the north of England tour will be one named Sir William de Wessyngton, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
The southern tour takes in eight different Wetherspoons pubs, beginning in London with the Rochester Castle – the oldest surviving Wetherspoons and on a site where there has been a pub for more than 300 years.
Next is the nearby Hamilton Hall by Liverpool Street rail station, former ballroom of the Great Eastern Hotel – touted to travellers as ‘arguably one of Wetherspoon’s most impressive venues’ with ornate ceilings and a mirror bar.
After passing through Cambridge on day two, punters are promised a trip to the Grade I-listed Corn Exchange in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk – called Britain’s ‘poshest Spoons’.
Fourth will be the Golden Lion pub in Rochester, Kent, said to have the nationwide chain’s most impressive carpets – described by Sir Tim as his favourite.
The itinerary then takes in the Royal Victoria Pavilion in Ramsgate, Kent, also touted as the largest Wetherspoons pub in the country, and the Opera House in Tunbridge Wells, which MyUKTour says is ‘arguably the most beautiful Wetherspoons’.
George’s Meeting House in Exeter provides the penultimate Wetherspoons of the tour – not far from Sir Tim’s own Devon home.
The venue was formerly an 18th-century Unitarian chapel and still features stained glass windows, historical plaques and its original pulpit.
The southern tour concludes with a visit to the Coinage Hall in Helston, Cornwall, which opened in 2015 and is the southernmost Wetherspoons pub, before travelling parties are taken back to London.
JD Wetherspoon founder and chairman Sir Tim Martin is pictured in the Hamilton Hall pub in central London which features in one of the MyUKTour trips
Punters will also stop off at the Opera House pub in Tunbridge Wells, Kent – named after its former use when built in 1902 before it was turned into a cinema in 1931
A spokesperson from MyUkTour said ‘All of us at MyUKTour are so excited to start offering this bespoke trip to one of Britain’s best known, and arguably finest, cultural institutions.
‘Combining hearty pub grub and craft ales with historical monuments and stunning landscapes, this tour is sure to showcase the very best that Britain has to offer.’
JD Wetherspoon takes its name from JD, a character in 1980s US TV show The Dukes of Hazzard, and the surname of one of Sir Tim’s childhood school teachers.
The pub chain announced in March that profits had rocketed by more than £31million in a year, while it is also looking to increase its number of venues from 814 to 1,000.
