Peterborough – Draper’s Arms

I’ve visited this Wetherspoons before as it’s near the railway station and I’ve sometimes had enough time to visit. One thing that I hadn’t previously realised is that it wasn’t Wetherspoons who transformed the interior from a draper’s shop into a pub, it had been the “Old Monk” for a few years before they took it over. It was though a drapery for over 100 years and it today has the honour of having made it into the Good Beer Guide.

Another thing I hadn’t really noticed is that the exterior doesn’t have any Wetherspoons branding. And there’s a reason for this, which Wetherspoons said in a statement over a decade ago, saying:

“We have decided not to not put the Wetherspoon logo on this pub and just stick with its name, which is a first for the company. We want the new pub to be a little bit different from other Wetherspoons, to cater for a slightly different, perhaps slightly more up market or professional crowd. For example, there will be 14 world beers to choose from and there will be no smoking or music”.

It seems that it was the first pub in the city to go entirely smoke free, although I’m not sure it can any longer claim to have a more upmarket clientele as it just seems like any Wetherspoons outlet.

The interior of the pub, which is long and relatively spacious. The pub is in need of a renovation though, there are some maintenance issues and it has some of the worst toilets I’ve seen in a Wetherspoons. They’re clean, but they’re not well maintained and they’re rather small for the outlet.

A random photo of some of the interior glass dividers between the booths. I only had a coffee (well, five) in the pub as another customer was busy complaining their breakfast was cold, and that was sufficient reason for me not to bother ordering food.

The staff didn’t really engage, but they were also perfectly polite. There were around eight real ales available, but I was visiting too early in the day to start on those.