Below is the article from Lottie Gross, Travel Writer, The Telegraph

Published Thursday 13 November 2025.

Or use this link to read the article on The Telegraph website

I stayed in a £77 Wetherspoons hotel and it was far better than I expected. The budget pub chain’s accommodation offering has ranked in the top five of a recent Which? survey

In a somewhat shocking turn of events, the nation’s favourite budget boozer has recently been named one of the top hotel chains in the UK.

Beating the likes of Holiday Inn, Ibis, Best Western and Hilton, J D Wetherspoon now carries the “Which? Recommended Provider” badge thanks to high scores across the board, including in categories such as bed comfort and customer service.

Based on a survey with more than 4,000 respondents, conducted in summer 2025, Tim Martin’s pub chain – which operates 700-odd public houses across the UK – received a customer satisfaction score of 76 per cent.

It also got a Which? Travel “great value” badge thanks to its average rate of just £70 per night. A bargain, or a bad idea? I went to find out.

The Catherine Wheel, a 15th-century coaching inn in upmarket Henley-on-Thames, is one of Wetherspoons’ 55 pubs with rooms. A short walk from the main pub itself beyond the loos and I was at reception; a few minutes later with a key card in hand to get me through the various residents-only doors separating us from the riff-raff.

My bed for the night was on the first floor at the beginning of a corridor that wouldn’t be out of place in a horror film, but Shining vibes aside, it wasn’t nearly as horrifying as I expected from this budget chain.

White sheets atop the large king bed, charming wooden beams cutting across a vaulted ceiling and two packs of Walkers biscuits in the tea and coffee tray that even had oat milk sachets – we were off to a good start.

The toiletries were basic (a shampoo and body wash combination product) but didn’t smell terrible, the towels were a little sad and thin, and the hairdryer looked more like a Playmobil toy than anything that would realistically style my barnet, but you can’t be too fussy when you’re paying around £70 a night.

Design is clearly not the priority here – the carpets in most Wetherspoon pubs are relics from a bygone age when people didn’t mind getting a headache as they walked – but again, you get what you pay for, and at this pub you certainly haven’t stumped up for anything more than the basics.

Checked in and sheets inspected – pristine, by the way, although it would have been nice if the duvet actually covered the entire bed – it was time to head downstairs for dinner.

Now if you’ve never been to a ‘Spoons before, let me set the scene. These pubs are a staple in most town and city centres across England, with plenty in Scotland and Wales, too.

They are vast – usually set inside some unmanageably enormous historic building that would otherwise be financially unviable to run for most businesses. But not Tim Martin.

His model – quantity over quality – has long been a winner: while most hospitality businesses are struggling in this climate of staff shortages and increased food and energy bills, J D Wetherspoon is thriving.

In fact, its most recent preliminary financial reports showed a 33 per cent rise in profits from the financial year ending April 2025, and the company is set to declare a tasty profit of almost £90m this year.

This came as no surprise to me, as when I got downstairs the pub was exceptionally busy for a soggy and uneventful Tuesday night in November. It wasn’t rowdy, though, and there was no queue at the bar – everyone seemed happy and well fed. It must be that customer service again, I thought. Alas, no: it was the app. A remote ordering system means no more jostling at the bar between sweating construction workers and teenagers trying to get served underage.

Instead, you sit down, peruse the menu, open the app and demand your dinner within a few taps. Or, if you want to partake in the Wetherspoons Game, you simply post your location and table number on a Facebook group and wait for the pints, wines, Jaegerbombs and random snacks to roll in from strangers on the internet who can order anything they please to your seat, completely free of charge for you.

I ordered myself a disgusting burger and a pint of ale for £15 and the whole affair was pretty disappointing. But no more than 90 seconds after I shared my location and table number with a WhatsApp group of friends, I received a surprise bowl of mushy peas, and then a glistening cider to finish.

The following morning, having disturbing thoughts about the grey-coloured bacon in my burger from the night before, I declined to order any breakfast (it’s not included, anyway) and just brought my mug down at 7am for a free, serve-yourself coffee from the machine by the bar.

So while the customer service score may have been slightly ambitious considering there’s really not much service to encounter, you can’t knock the value for money here. It’s £1.90 for a pint of real ale, the bedrooms are reasonably sized and there is piping hot water coming out of the shower.

I even had a pretty good night’s sleep thanks to the proper feather pillows – shame abound the sprung mattress, mind, but you can’t have everything.

With rooms from as low as £77 a night in a town where other chain hotels are charging double that – and that’s also without breakfast – there’s definitely something to be said for this ‘Spoons hotel.

Lottie Gross stayed as a guest of The Catherine Wheel, which offers doubles from £77, room only