Wetherspoon Tells Customers To Silence Phones As Speaker Noise Complaints Mount

JD Wetherspoon has introduced a new house rule asking customers across its UK estate to stop playing music or taking phone calls on loudspeaker, after growing complaints from other pubgoers about the disruption caused by unwanted noise.

The pub operator, which trades from 792 sites nationwide, said the request applies to sound from both smartphones and tablets, and follows what it described as a steady rise in the problem over recent years. Customers are now being asked to either mute their devices or use headphones when watching videos or taking calls.

A company spokesperson said the move came directly in response to feedback from customers who found themselves disturbed by other people’s amplified conversations and video playback while trying to enjoy a drink or meal.

Wetherspoon has been clear that the policy will not be applied with a heavy hand. Rather than a strict zero-tolerance rule, bar and floor staff will be expected to exercise judgement on a case-by-case basis when addressing customers who breach it.

The company confirmed that asking a customer to leave the premises remains a last resort available to duty managers, but stressed this is not the intended first response and that the aim is simply to reduce disturbance for other guests.

Consumer sentiment appears to support the move. Survey data gathered by various organisations in recent years has consistently found that a majority of the public dislike encountering others playing music or holding loudspeaker conversations in shared public spaces, whether on transport or in hospitality venues. Transport for London has run a similar public awareness campaign in recent months, encouraging headphone use on its network.

The Wetherspoon policy is notably softer than the long-running rules enforced by rival operator Samuel Smith’s, whose pubs have for some years operated a blanket ban on mobile phone and tablet use of any kind on the premises, alongside a prohibition on swearing. Customers wishing to make calls or check devices at Sam Smith’s venues are typically required to step outside.

The vast majority of Wetherspoon pubs do not play background music at all, a long-standing approach that founder and chairman Sir Tim Martin has previously framed as central to the brand’s identity, positioning the pubs as calm spaces away from constant ambient sound.

An exception exists at the chain’s 44 Lloyd’s-branded venues, which do play music in the evenings. Wetherspoon confirmed that the new restriction on customer-generated noise will apply equally in those bars, regardless of the venues’ own evening music policy.

The announcement comes against a backdrop of gradual estate contraction for the group, which operated as many as 955 pubs at its high point in late 2015. The intervening decade has brought sustained cost pressure, first from pandemic-era trading disruption and more recently from inflation across key input costs.

Last month the group told investors that annual profit would come in below prior expectations, citing higher costs across food, labour, repairs and maintenance, energy, and business rates.