Responsible drinks retailing and marketing

Continually improving

We aim to improve the quality of our food continually and provide customers with information about our product range to help them to make informed decisions about their food consumption.

Health, nutrition and allergens

Full allergen/nutritional information can be found on our website, on the Wetherspoon app and on customer information screens in all pubs. Customers can ask at the bar, where staff will be able to direct them to this information.

Our overall strategy is for ‘every item to be best in class’ (EIBIC). We aim to offer a balanced menu which provides variety and choice for nutritional and dietary preferences, as well as transparency of information to allow customers to make informed decisions.

Responsible alcohol-retailing

We support practices which promote sensible drinking and have established a ‘code of conduct for responsible retailing’, outlining our approach in this area.

We have signed up to the following pledges in the alcohol section of the Public Health Responsibility Deal:
• Awareness of alcohol units in the on-trade 
• Tackling underage alcohol sales
• Supporting Drinkaware
• Responsible advertising and marketing of alcohol
• Supporting community actions to tackle alcohol harm

We also seek to develop partnerships with local authorities and the police. All pubs are requested to become a local pubwatch scheme member (promoting a safe and responsible drinking environment). In several locations, a company pub manager chairs the scheme and, where there is no pubwatch, we work with the local police and council to try to establish one.

Responsible gambling 

The company applies proof-of-age policies to those playing gaming machines, to ensure that they are not played by customers aged under 18 years.

Responsible gambling messages are displayed on digital gaming machines, along with support organisations’ information about gambling issues.

Food safety and health and safety 

We now have 775 pubs rated on the Food Standards Agency’s website. The average score is 4.98, with 98.6% of the pubs achieving a top rating of five stars. We believe this to be the highest average rating for any substantial pub company.

In the separate Scottish scheme, which records either a ‘pass’ or a ‘fail’, all of our 60 pubs have passed.

The ratings for both FHRS and FHIS follow an independent assessment of food hygiene at premises, determined by local authority environmental health officers visiting outlets to assess hygiene levels.

Monitoring standards 

Every pub receives at least five quality-assurance visits each month from a combination of its area manager, the audit department, an external ‘mystery shopper’ company and other head-office managers. The scores from these visits are combined and form part of the bonus scheme for all pub-based employees.

There are 846 pubs (99.9%) accredited by Cask Marque for the quality and consistency of the real ale which they serve.

There are 213 Wetherspoon pubs listed in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide 2022 (2021: 242 pubs) – a larger proportion, we believe, than any other substantial pub company. The list of pubs is available here.

Responsible product-sourcing and product quality

We have a fully traceable supply chain, with all of the company’s food suppliers enjoying a globally recognised food-production standard, eg accreditation by the British Retail Consortium.

Farming standards, animal-sourcing and welfare 

Wetherspoon believes that it has a responsibility to conduct its business responsibly and ethically; this extends to the sourcing of food products. Our food-sourcing policy refers to all of our products and ingredients containing meat, seafood, dairy and/or egg products.