We visit Stick or Twist on Merrion Way which is the best Wetherspoon in Leeds according to Google reviews.
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00:00I'm Elliot and I'm the Pub Manager and this is the Stick or Twist Wetherspoon in Leeds.
00:05I've worked for the company for about 13 years and I started in my hometown in Liverpool.
00:10And I've moved about quite a lot when I was in university in Aberystwyth.
00:13I went to Warrington, I've been in Castleford and lots of other places.
00:17And Wetherspoons has given me a job everywhere I've gone.
00:19They've looked after me and anywhere I've needed to move to I've kept my position.
00:24And that culminated in me taking the role here about two and a half years ago.
00:29We are situated at the top of Leeds City Centre, right next door to the First Direct Arena.
00:34The pub is at the bottom of a student building.
00:38And before that it was a Stick or Twist Old Wetherspoons and it was attached to a casino.
00:45Hence why we're called Stick or Twist.
00:47And there was also a nightclub that existed before called Rockefellers.
00:53It's got a long history of being a Wetherspoons but then a long history of being lots of other things like a club and a casino.
01:00I never thought I'd want to work in the city centre because I've always enjoyed what I would consider small community pubs and knowing all the customers.
01:09But I'm quite lucky that we've got a nice mix here.
01:11I've got lots of regulars as well as arena goers and the office workers and then students of course.
01:19And that mixes what makes it so interesting.
01:22The old Stick or Twist was a lot smaller, a lot, lot smaller.
01:27Where this one is all open planned and everything because there's more room.
01:32And if you've got problems with your health, it's a lot better here to get around.
01:38We've tried a few Wetherspoons, you know what I mean?
01:41But we prefer this one, don't we? Yeah, because they're more friendly.
01:45But the staff are fantastic.
01:47Even when you come in, when you walk in, they already know what you want before you even open your mouth, which is really nice.
01:54They know us by name. They're lovely. They're absolutely lovely, every one of them.
02:00We've always come, haven't we? You know what I mean? Yeah, and everybody's polite and helpful.
02:04The customer feedback is the most important.
02:06That's what we're here to do, to look after customers and to give the best service we possibly can.
02:10So I'm really happy. I'm really chuffed that people feel like that.
02:14And I think a lot of it is because the pub is so shiny and new and it's only been up for about two and a half years.
02:20But also that these guys, my staff, everybody in this pub recognize that that's the biggest part of the job, to look after people.
02:27I love it when you get a Wetherspoons connoisseur come in who's visited all the spoons and tells you stories.
02:34And yeah, there's often expectation and there's an idea of what they expect the Wetherspoons to be.
02:41But then you'll go to some buildings, like the Golden Beam in Headingley, where it's a big, beautiful building that's been converted.
02:48And then you go to others where it's more of a sleek, stylistic and modern design.
02:53And I love that comparison. I love that there's lots of differences whilst still having that same core.