The Student Room Group

Wetherspoons

Anyone worked here?

How are they with people without bar experience?

It says on their website that they do 45 hour weeks and up to 10 hour shifts, are they flexible? I wouldn't mind doing a 10 hour shift every now and then, if I had nothing on that day, but every day?! I need extra money, but I'm still aware that I'm at uni to study and not to work in a pub.

I've heard the turnover of staff is quite high - any ideas why?

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Reply 1
i can't attest for wetherspoons, but they seem to work the staff pretty hard, esp. at peak periods. Might I suggest a student targetted chain? I work for Scream, and they are really good with hours, term and non-term etc (as student specialists they are quiet off term, so less demanding for you to work), and very good employers.
Reply 2
lodzinski
i can't attest for wetherspoons, but they seem to work the staff pretty hard, esp. at peak periods. Might I suggest a student targetted chain? I work for Scream, and they are really good with hours, term and non-term etc (as student specialists they are quiet off term, so less demanding for you to work), and very good employers.

Trouble is, are they down in Canterbury? I need work either on UKC campus or in Canterbury town centre, I can't get anywhere else.
Reply 3
kiss_me_now9
Anyone worked here?

How are they with people without bar experience?

I've heard the turnover of staff is quite high - any ideas why?


I see you are aiming high, however something tells me you shoot low though...
I worked for wetherspoons!

The thing that REALLY bugged me was the rota's! They only gave me like 2/3 days notice (i.e. the rota's were done on the saturday to be started on the monday) and no extra notice about working new years (was told the sunday before!)

They were quite flexible with me. I told them exactly when I could and couldn't work during the interview so there was nothing too bad there. I never even saw a 10 hour shift! The worst I did was 9am-6pm, which wasn't that bad. They kept trying to send me home early though, which I was NOT impressed with since I needed the money!

Downside: a 3 hour induction! It was hell on earth!
Upside: I got free coffee's at work!

p.s. staff turnover - 3 people were hired at the same time over christmas, I quit after 3 weeks. They were totally unreasonable with days which I couldn't work, even after giving them a weeks notice, they refused to change it (it was boxing day, and I wasn't in the same city!!! I told them a week before that I wouldn't be in, and they said there was nothing they could do, so I rang them up on boxing day and said that I wouldn't be in!)
p.p.s. I didn't have any bar experience when starting
Reply 5
'the penny theatre' 30-31 Northgate, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 1BL
Reply 6
my friend worked there and couldnt get out fast enough
Reply 7
Rubaiyat
my friend worked there and couldnt get out fast enough


My friend of a friend, that knew my friend of a friend worked there for ages, said it was the best experience of his life.
Reply 8
lodzinski
'the penny theatre' 30-31 Northgate, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 1BL

Oh, I've been in there before. I might give that a look then, as well. Were they ok with people without experience? (This is my main issue!)

Why is that, Rubiyat?
Reply 9
kiss_me_now9
Oh, I've been in there before. I might give that a look then, as well. Were they ok with people without experience? (This is my main issue!)

Why is that, Rubiyat?


if you are enthusiastic and quick to learn, they should be fine. I work in the kitchens, and have plenty of experience, so i can't personally attest to it, but write a good application form and you should be fine.
Reply 10
I worked at Wetherspoons in Liverpool for about a year and a half. They are a good company to work for in fairness. The hourly rate is pretty good- i was on about £5.70, and yeh the shifts are long (i used to do 5pm - 2am quite regularly, sometimes longer) but that means you only have to do a couple of shifts a week and you still have loads of hours.

As for training, i had no bar experience whatsoever and they had no problem training me, most of the people they took on in my pub were new to working on a bar. Everyone helps each other. Although as for free stuff...totally depends on your manager! We weren't allowed free pepsi or coffees, both of which cost the company 7 pence. They wouldn't even spend 7p on us!

Tips are usually pretty damn good, although again it depends on your manager. I used to get between £30-£50 a month, doing 2 or 3 shifts a week.

They were really flexible with me, they knew i was a student so i just asked for the shifts i wanted and i got them. Agreed with the above poster about the notice with the rotas though- we were shown the rota on sunday which started the next day on the monday! So not even 1 days notice! Nobody seemed to mind though.

Overall it was a damn good job, despite how much i said i hated it at the time i do actually quite miss it now!
I have an interview tomorrow and feeling a bit put off...

I need to work full time as being on a 15 hour contract isn't enough, even when I get extra hours now and then as I need decent hours every week that I can rely on.

What should I expect contract wise? Will I be on a 0 hour contract or a decent contract? The application didn't say anything about hours which is why I'm asking.. It asked when I'm available and I stated any time but that doesn't mean they'll give me the hours I guess..

Also what should I expect from the interview and the unpaid trial?
Original post by linkdapink
I worked for wetherspoons!

The thing that REALLY bugged me was the rota's! They only gave me like 2/3 days notice (i.e. the rota's were done on the saturday to be started on the monday) and no extra notice about working new years (was told the sunday before!)

They were quite flexible with me. I told them exactly when I could and couldn't work during the interview so there was nothing too bad there. I never even saw a 10 hour shift! The worst I did was 9am-6pm, which wasn't that bad. They kept trying to send me home early though, which I was NOT impressed with since I needed the money!

Downside: a 3 hour induction! It was hell on earth!
Upside: I got free coffee's at work!

p.s. staff turnover - 3 people were hired at the same time over christmas, I quit after 3 weeks. They were totally unreasonable with days which I couldn't work, even after giving them a weeks notice, they refused to change it (it was boxing day, and I wasn't in the same city!!! I told them a week before that I wouldn't be in, and they said there was nothing they could do, so I rang them up on boxing day and said that I wouldn't be in!)
p.p.s. I didn't have any bar experience when starting


wow lucky you. My induction was 2 weeks ago and was 6 hours long. Soooo boring as :frown:

I didnt have any bar experience, went in for my first shift (a hectic friday night), they showed me for all of 5 mins how to pour a pint and then left me to it. After about an hour I was so close to walking out due to the stress (Im not a big drinker so couldnt understand half of what people wanted). But i persisted and eventually started finding the ropes. But seriously, in the first hour I almost broke down in tears. We were short staffed and imagine a friday night in the busiest bar in town when youve never worked on a bar before :frown:

the shift was 9 hours and i got a 20min break.

:smile:
Reply 13
Hahaa, this so encouraging :P
I'm applying to work at one in my Uni town right now. It says 10 hours p/w on the website - will this be the actual amount they'll want me to work if I get it?
I don't have any bar experience either (except a couple of nights in a backpacker bar in Cambodia, which I'm mentioning very briefly, 'cause I don't think it really counts), so hopefully they won't mind...

I'm doing the "Please tell us why you would like to work for JD Wetherspoon (100 words max)" bit atm:
I believe it is important to help support myself through university and would appreciate the opportunity to work for such an established company. I think my enthusiasm and strong work ethic would make me a perfect fit for the position. I pride myself on having a friendly attitude at all times - JD Wetherspoon's friendly atmosphere (not to mention brilliant value for money!) has always impressed me and I would love to be a part of that service.

What d'you reckon? Bit much perhaps, but it is partly true - £4 for a burger, chips and a drink?! That is good value for money! :P
Hmm, anyway, I'd probably be better off doing this tomorrow, rather than at 3.30am :P
I have some major horror stories after my 12 month stint at J.D Wetherspoon.
Interview went ok, rather short- 10 mins or so when they said it'd be 20-30 minutes...

Not sure I want to work there though. My interview was at 10, I arrived at 9:45 and there were already people there drinking and a couple looked a bit drunk already :s-smilie:
Original post by aleathiel
Interview went ok, rather short- 10 mins or so when they said it'd be 20-30 minutes...

Not sure I want to work there though. My interview was at 10, I arrived at 9:45 and there were already people there drinking and a couple looked a bit drunk already :s-smilie:

Hah, you do realise the clientèle that some of the J.D Wetherspoon establishments attract, right?
Original post by BlueSmarties
Hah, you do realise the clientèle that some of the J.D Wetherspoon establishments attract, right?


I do now, which is why I won't accept the unpaid trial if I'm offered it :rolleyes:

I used to visit the Bournemouth ones as a student, though in the evenings..

It's like a whole other world going in there in the morning and seeing the drunk old men.

What are your horror stories? :smile:
Reply 18
I don't mind bar work in fact I quite enjoy it! But working in a backpacker bar totally put me off bar work for life! Sooo busy and people yelling at you to serve them all the time, people who hand over the wrong money and run off (soon learnt to take the money first and check it before I gave them the drink..) people asking me for weird complicated shots had no idea what I was making and lots of perverts and weirdo's!

However give me a bar like spoons which is fairly busy (ie not 10pm on a friday night when the football is on) and I would love to work behind a bar!
Original post by aleathiel
I do now, which is why I won't accept the unpaid trial if I'm offered it :rolleyes:

I used to visit the Bournemouth ones as a student, though in the evenings..

It's like a whole other world going in there in the morning and seeing the drunk old men.

What are your horror stories? :smile:

PM'ed.

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