Southend – Last Post

I’ve been to relatively few JD Wetherspoon pubs in Essex, but I visited here in 2017. It’s a grand former Post Office building which was constructed in 1896, with the transformation into a pub being sympathetic.

When I visited the pub in the evening there was a fight taking place and customers being dragged out by staff. Just what you want on a weekday in the early evening, but I like a bit of excitement to be fair. The photo above was taken during breakfast, when things were just a little more sedate and peaceful.

The half chicken and chips, something which has now been withdrawn from the menu, but which tasted fine. I can’t remember the real ale selection, but JD Wetherspoons rarely let me down in that regard.

And the breakfast, with the egg being overcooked, but all else was well.

Disappointingly, the pub seems to have picked up no comments on TripAdvisor that seem ridiculous, so nothing worth quoting from there. Well, other than the complaint:

“Ordered a bottle of Pinot Rose. Very rude bar staff with long brown hair argued with me for about then mins telling me there is no such thing as Pinot Rose and Pinot was White. Please educate your staff as Pinot is a brand n not a damn colour. Never felt so angry, the way she spoke to me was disgusting, serious attitude problem. Embarrassing. Then I got given some nasty Hardy’s Rose bottle.”

The staff member was likely right, I’ve got a copy of the 2017 menu and they did only sell Pinot as a white wine at the pub, so she would have struggled to give him another other type of Pinot.

This can’t be an easy operation to run, a cheap pub in a seaside destination which gets stag and hen groups amongst others, I imagine their door staff are frequently challenged. There’s always a risk that these beautiful Victorian buildings are lost, so all credit to JD Wetherspoons for ensuring that they have been kept and remain in use.