An American tourist was utterly astounded by the sheer value for money he received at a Yorkshire Wetherspoon. Joel Simpson, who goes by ItsJPS online, popped into The Postern Gate while exploring York.
Joel remarked that he enjoyed a “couple of drinks” at the pub, finding them “ridiculously cheap”. He shared in his YouTube video that he managed to order three plates of food for a mere £15.
In his video commentary, he said: “We’ve got loaded chips, pepperoni pizza and 10 chicken wings for 15 quid. It’s stupid cheap, it’s so much food, I think we’ll be able to finish this, maybe.
“Too many people moan about Wetherspoon’s quality, I wish we had something like this in the United States, so please be more grateful.”
But it wasn’t just Spoons that captured Joel’s heart during his visit to York. Earlier that day, he indulged in a Sunday dinner at Toby Carvery, another British pub chain.
Proudly displaying his loaded plate, Joel exclaimed: “I can’t even see half of the plate. There’s so much underneath that you can’t even see what I got.”
He continued: “The amount of options here are ridiculous. I’ve had Sunday roasts in the past but not with this many ingredients on the plate.
“The plate is so damn full you don’t even know what’s on it. Half the plate is covered up.”
Joel has been documenting his travels across the UK, offering various observations. On his previous visit, he developed an admiration for British trains, which even led him to the National Railway Museum in York.
He observed that finding the correct platform at stations was “super easy” and his trains were seldom “never delayed” by more than a minute. He stated: “If I lived in Britain, I felt like…especially if I lived in a city, a car may not be necessary, and that brings me to my second point, which is the compactness of cities and city centres.”
The YouTuber elaborated that he didn’t need public transport in “almost any” of the cities he visited, as walking was an “adequate” and even “enjoyable” alternative due to the “compact” nature of everything. He further noted that city centres were “strategically placed”.
During his second visit to the UK, Joel developed an appreciation for the quintessential British pub. He recognised that pubs serve not only as places to enjoy a cold pint but also as “focal” points of the community.
He commented: “The pub is a place you can just go and talk to your neighbour, get to know your neighbour and just enjoy a pint. It’s not really about the partying as much as it is the sense of community and having the Sunday roast and things like that.”
However, he admitted that his positive view of the British pub doesn’t apply to “every pub”. Food remained a key aspect of Joel’s travels, and he has become fond of a supermarket meal deal during his UK visits.
He treated himself to a Tesco meal deal daily during his travels, confessing he never grew “tired” of the economical lunch choice. He enthused that there’s simply no equivalent in America and praised the extensive selection available, dubbing it a “never-ending stream of goodness” that consistently retained its charm.