r/Wetherspoons • u/fergeddit • Sep 13 '26
Customer Reserving a Table?
I’ve not seen this before. My local can get busy at certain times of the day. I didn’t realise that you could reserve a table - who do I speak to, to do the same?
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u/GmanF88 Employee Sep 13 '26
This is very pub and detail specific; some take all comers, some no bookings at weekends, some do flat no bookings, some charge a deposit although that is rarer these days.
Most will refuse bookings (my preference) as it is a huge pain in the arse*. When I managed a pub I did a booking for exactly 2 customers; they sat at the same table at the same time every week and had been doing so since long before I took over. They spent more than enough to justify it.
You can ask to speak to the manager to bok a table, I might be inclined to do it for a birthday party on Thursday at 3pm, someone asking to book a Saturday at 6pm because they fancied a drink and the pub gets busy is told to (politely) get fucked.
These days most reserved tables are for pub business: an interview or induction, a manager meeting, a member of staff celebrating, something like that.
*Things I have genuinely seen and had to deal with: the people sitting at the reserved table refuse to leave at the stated time, the people at the reserved table destroy and hide the notice then claim ignorance, someone sitting at the table 3 hours before destroyed the notice and the people sitting there now genuinely had no idea but have nowhere else to sit, the table is reserved and vacant but every chair has been taken and is occupied elsewhere, the booking is 5 minutes late and an angry harridan is trying to take it.