For millions of Brits, the name JD Wetherspoon is instantly recognisable.
Plastered above over 800 British boozers, the bargain-price pub chain has a beloved reputation as the venue for pensioners’ breakfasts and post-work pints.
However, few of those visiting the popular watering holes know the origin of the name itself.
Unlike Yates’s or Young’s, the name is not derived from its owner, Tim Martin, who has now revealed to the Express his two highly unlikely sources of inspiration for the moniker.
“In my first pub, I couldn’t control the customers or the staff,” he said of the original boozer in the chain located in Muswell Hill, North London.
“I remembered I had a teacher at school, he was a very nice man, but he couldn’t control the class [called Wetherspoon]. That was where the zany name reared its head.
“People tend to give themselves serious names, so I thought [let me try] a less serious one.”
Having drawn inspiration from his schooldays, Martin chose a similarly random source for the preceding initials.
“There was a programme on at the time called the Dukes of Hazzard and I think it was the mayor who was called J.D., which I thought had a good ring,” Martin added.
“So it was J. D. Wetherspoon, partly from a teacher, partly from the Dukes of Hazzard. True story, if a little bit zany.”
Not having the same name as the brand you’ve built into a household name can be confusing for punters and there are occasions when people approach Martin believing that he’s called Wetherspoon himself.
“Some people [call me Wetherspoon, although] I think they know it’s not my name. [Often] they can’t think what my name is, whereas they know the name Wetherspoon.”
Martin often encounters drinkers at his pubs because he regularly tours the chain’s venues.
The business’s founder rakes in £2 billion each year and secretly visits pubs in his empire to sample what the average punter sees.
Joining Martin on one such jaunt around the Black Country the Express discovered the microscopic detail the Brexit-supporting businessman examines at his venues.
He explained how, by monitoring everything from beer sales to toilet facilities, he’s been able to move with the ever-changing conditions for pub owners in the UK.
For example, Martin has seen how alcohol has been replaced as the most popular item on the Wetherspoons menu and opening hours have changed.
“The biggest single items now are breakfasts which is a weird idea since most pubs don’t open for breakfast,” he said.
“[The biggest seller] is one which we didn’t have on the menu some years ago; tea and toast.”
One regret the pub chain founder has is failing to push ahead with a European expansion.
Martin revealed that Wetherspoon was very close to launching in France in the 2000s, with sites identified in Calais, Lille and Dunkirk.
Ultimately, the plan was abandoned because it was decided the firm was getting “bit carried away.”