our people

Climb the careers ladder with Wetherspoon

Wetherspoon’s founder and chairman, Tim Martin, was just 24 years old when, in 1979, shortly after qualifying as a barrister, he swapped the legal bar for one of his own and opened his first pub, in Muswell Hill.

Tim’s drive, enthusiasm and energy have ensured an adherence to strong core principles, a strong customer focus and a belief that you can never stand still – a winning combination which has seen the company grow in size to 840 pubs, supported by over 26,000 employees, many of whom are enjoying exciting career progression and sharing in our growth.

This amazing success story is possible only with the incredibly talented and hard-working people who work for us. This success has seen us named as one of Britain’s top employers for eight consecutive years.
The award, carefully developed by the CRF Institute, sets strict criteria and methodology for rating companies on the quality of all aspects which are important to staff welfare.

We believe that repeatedly receiving the award is a clear demonstration of our ongoing commitment to being a top employer. Staff welfare is, and always will be, a key business driver for us – ‘it’s a people thing’ – and our industry-leading staff-retention levels are further testament to our efforts.

We take great pride in providing genuine opportunities for our staff to gain promotion or follow a career path – and you really can get to the top: our chief executive, John Hutson, joined the company as an area manager in London, when we had a smattering of pubs, while Su Cacioppo, our personnel and legal director, was one of his pub managers.

Other examples of people seizing their career opportunity include Kwame Tefe who started with us as a pub cleaner and is now a pub manager, while Miles Slade joined as a bar associate and has progressed to become deputy operations director.

These are just four of the hundreds of career success stories which we have within the company.

Whether you want to work behind the bar, in the kitchen, front-of-house on the floor or as a cleaner, you can all expect the same great career path to get you to the height of your career!

Our own apprenticeship scheme allows any one of our bar or kitchen staff to gain a nationally recognised qualification, while doing their day job.
Many of our current rising stars, having started off pulling pints, signed up to the apprenticeship scheme and have seen their career take off – with plenty of them thriving in challenging management roles.

Beyond that, you can even aim for a degree qualification. In the last seven years, almost 300 staff have graduated with a degree or diploma, studied for while working with us.

Recognising the need for constant skills development, we created our very own professional diploma and BSc honours degree in leisure management – courses which we deliver in conjunction with Leeds Metropolitan University.

Yes, we seek the best, but, as you can see, we take great pride in watching our people develop and benefit.

The benefits of working for Wetherspoon

We are committed to ensuring that our staff are rewarded for their hard work. Our success is down to the fantastic teams which run our pubs. Take a look at some of the ways we reward our staff and why you should come to work for us!

• Childcare voucher scheme
• Free shares after a qualifying period
• Great holiday allowance
• Career Progression
• Pay increases on completion of training
• Discount on food
• Excellent Pay
• Bonus Potential