Breakfast at Spoons

It's Saturday morning and I fancy a breakfast at Spoons, which means a cooked English breakfast and a latte at unbeatable prices.

As I enter the Wetherspoons pub in the town centre of a mid-Kent town, I'm pleasantly surprised by the availability of empty tables. Getting up at a reasonable time has its advantages, it seems.

After ordering my breakfast and getting my coffee, I sit down. It's 10.30am and the place is getting busy. It's immediately noticeable that not everybody has come here for breakfast, but then, this is a pub known for their very reasonable drinks prices.

At the large table not far from mine, is a group of men in their 50s and 60s enjoying a Saturday morning pint or two. They are chatting amicably, are laughing and appear to have been here for a while.

Over at a small table, a woman in her 50s is nursing a large glass of red wine. She is smartly dressed but the bags she has placed on the floor have seen better days and are rather tatty. A look at her face tells me that a glass of wine in the morning appears to be the rule rather than the exception.

Further down is a table with a young family who appear to be here for breakfast. There's a baby in a buggy and two pre-school kids, a boy and a girl, are running around the pub causing other customers' annoyance. The children's mother is wearing a short summer dress in loud beach colours that would not look out of place in a Mediterranean seaside resort and a lot of gaudy make-up. She is chatting to her partner and doesn't seem too concerned with the whereabouts of her two young children.

To my right, two men in their late 60s are having a pint. One man is tall and thin and wearing cut-off jeans, trainers and a light-coloured suit jacket. When he gets up to go to the bar, I can see his heavily lined face which indicates years of indulgence in alcohol and nicotine. His mate has a smooth round face and looks the jovial kind. Both men are shouting out to other men entering the pub - they are regulars here.

Right in front of me, I can see an old woman in her late 80s and a man who looks to be in his 60s. The woman talks to the man and smiles at him in a way only a mother can smile at her son. He has a pint in front of him, but the old lady has nothing to drink. Not long after, another woman joins the table, carrying two mugs of tea. She places a cup in front of the old lady and a waitress brings their breakfasts shortly afterwards. The two ladies tuck into their food, but the man merely holds on to his pint. His face is dark red and I suspect that the colour of his face has nothing to do with having been out in the summer sunshine for too long. When the younger of the two women addresses him, I can see many years of disappointment with life in her face.

Three cyclists in their colourful cycling attire are entering the pub. These middle-aged men look trim and fit and appear to have been out on their racing bikes for their Saturday morning exercise. They have come into Spoons for a break and some nourishment.

Two middle-aged women, laden with shopping bags, are entering the pub, looking for an empty table. Having finished my breakfast and coffee, I'm about to leave, so I'm point out my vacated table to them and earn a smile.

So many lives and so many stories in this microcosm!



Wetherspoon is a British pub chain with currently over 900 pubs in the UK alone. Most major towns have at least one Wetherspoons pub. This pub chain is known for their low food and drink prices.