Wetherspoons bans dogs in all of its pubs across Britain

Chain spokesman says the pets are ‘unpredictable’ and cause too much mess

JD Wetherspoon has decided to ban customers from bringing dogs inside any of the company’s pubs across the country.

The popular chain has announced it would be “strictly enforcing” a nationwide ban on canines from 10 September.

A spokesman for Wetherspoon said dogs were “unpredictable” and causing too much mess, so its previous light-touch policy on the pets would be coming to an end.

“Even well behaved dogs can be unpredictable – every dog owner thinks their dog is perfect,” said Eddied Gershon.

“We welcome a lot of children and families and younger children in particular can be unpredictable around dogs and many are scared of dogs.

“We serve a lot of food. Unfortunately not all owners are diligent over cleaning up dog mess.”

A company statement explained dogs were not technically allowed in pubs or around beer garden benches, with the exception of guide dogs.

While the policy has been place for several decades, it has been only leniently enforced at the discretion of branch managers.

“After much consultation, we will now be strictly enforcing this policy everywhere,” reads the Wetherspoons statement.

“In order to give those affected time to adjust we have set a deadline of Monday 10 September 2018.”

Earlier this month Wetherspoon introduced a ban on staff charging their customers’ mobile phones at plug points behind the bar.

And at the beginning of August a Wetherspoon in Cornwall was accused of refusing to serve breakfast to two homeless men.

Christopher Finch, 23, and his friend Ryan, 22, were turned away by staff at the Truro pub after accepting the offer of a cooked breakfast from a local resident they met while sleeping rough.

A spokesman explained: “There had been an incident outside the pub the previous day involving acquaintances of the homeless men and the staff member felt uncomfortable letting them into the pub.”