A disgruntled traveller has blasted a ‘grim abomination’ Wetherspoons meal that he claims ‘would fail GCSE food tech’.
Greg Owen, from London, was dining at The Red Lion pub in Gatwick airport’s North terminal before a flight when he shared a snap of his ‘utterly disastrous’ meal.
Taking to Twitter the customer shared a picture of his scorched burger with his followers.
The post which got over 30,000 views read: ‘Eating in the Red Lion (Wetherspoons) in Gatwick (N) is never a ‘great’ experience.
‘However, tonight’s offering is particularly grim. The person who ‘cooked’ this abomination would fail GCSE level home economics cookery. Utterly disastrous.’
Greg Owen, from London, shared a ‘grim abomination’ Wetherspoons meal that he claims ‘would fail GCSE food tech’ online
The Spoons customer ordered the Empire State burger which includes two 6oz beef patties, American-style cheese, and maple-cured bacon
The meal which is served with chips and six onion rings costs £8.05 with a drink and £9.35 with an alcoholic drink.
He also elaborated in the Tweet replies saying: ‘The chips are squishy and the burgers are crunchy – quite a feat. Almost defies the laws of physics.’
People rushed to the comments to question what the customer was expecting when he went to the budget pub chain.
One wrote: ‘Expecting good food at Wetherspoons is a tall order but their airport ‘restaurants’ are an abomination.’
Another wrote: ‘I mean you did go to spoons, what were you expecting’
To which he replied: ‘No I know! I know! Whatever it was I was expecting (or bracing myself for) was not as bad as the reality which later unfolded. The bar was low but they kicked it a little lower tonight.’
Others saw the funny side with one person saying: ‘Those burgers look like they should be extras in the Walking Dead.’
The budget bar and restaurant is popular with people traveling from Gatwick Airports North terminal
People rushed to the comments to question what the customer was expecting when he went to the budget pub chain
However some twitter users thought the meal looked good and admitted they were now craving a burger.
One person wrote: ‘I know it’s not meant to look good but I’m kinda craving onion rings now.’ While another said: ‘ngl [not going to lie] it looks good I’d eat it.’
While a third wrote: ‘Cheap and quick meal, what you moaning about? Seen far worse, get it down ya.’
Eddie Gershon, the Company’s spokesperson said: ‘Unfortunately, the meal which was served to the customer was below the Company’s normal high food standards, for which we apologise.
‘Every Wetherspoon pub is subject to regular mystery visits in order to monitor and assess standards of; quality, cleanliness, service, maintenance, atmosphere and delivery times.
‘In the last financial year (1 August 2021 – 31 July 2022), The Red Lion, Gatwick scored an average of 92.9% for visits conducted by independent external mystery visitors.
‘In addition, the Red Lion also scored highly from mystery audit visits conducted by Wetherspoon’s internal senior personnel.
‘We are therefore confident that this was an isolated issue, however in order to ensure high food standards within the pub, all kitchen staff are currently undergoing refresher training.
‘We hope that the customer who had a negative experience on the day will visit the pub again soon.’
However some twitter users thought the meal looked good and admitted they were now craving fast food
It comes after Wetherspoons has confirmed that ten of its pubs will be closing for good after being sold – with another 35 branches up for sale.
Among those purchased are the Harvest Moon in Orpington, Moon on the Square in Basildon and the Postal Order in Worcester.
Chapel an Gansblydhen, in Bodmin, and Bootle’s Wild Rose will also close their doors for ever.
The pub chain also said that sales jumped at the end of 2022 but it is still struggling to keep up with its pre-pandemic performance.
Like-for-like sales rose 18 per cent in the last quarter of 2022 at the firm’s 844 pubs, but are still 2 per cent behind 2019 levels.
Wetherspoons also noted that costs were far higher than three years ago, especially for labour, food, energy and maintenance.
Its chairman Tim Martin said: ‘The aftermath of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions have been far more difficult than anyone thought. That is the picture for the whole pub and restaurant industry.
‘People thought that after lockdown there would be a boom in people suffering from cabin fever but, instead, it has almost been the opposite situation as people have got in the habit of staying in.
‘That’s the big thing that means sales are down on 2019. Things are improving now but it’s slow.’
But Wetherspoons added that it it trumped the wider pub and restaurant sector in December, with sales jumping by a fifth compared with the national average of 15 per cent in the month, according to the Coffer CGA Business Tracker.
Mr Martin said he feels the biggest threat to the hospitality industry is that pubs and restaurants are taxed unfairly, while supermarkets pay no VAT on food sales.
He said: ‘This issue has been exacerbated in recent years because supermarkets now trade next to pubs on every high street, and with a huge tax benefit which means they can lower the price of beer.
‘By and large, I think the non-executive directors of the largest pub and restaurant companies prefer to dig their heads in the sand, and not get involved.’
But the chairman says he is ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the company’s prospects for the financial year.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk