It's the nation's local. Students, couples and families, stag and hen dos, old fellas and young lads and lasses, if you like a drink, chances are you've had a few in Wetherspoons.
But which is the cheapest Spoons in Greater Manchester? In the interests of public service journalism I decided to find out.
According to the UK Cheap Tipple Finder website - using a pint of Carling as the benchmark - it's the Robert Shaw in Westhoughton, Bolton. Brilliantly named after the locally-born, Oscar nominated actor who starred as the grizzled, seasoned shark hunter Captain Quint in Jaws, the pub opened in 2002.
Based in the former Lo-Cost supermarket building on the old mining town's handsome high street, it's a typically cavernous Spoons, with a few tables and chairs out front and a large, smart beer garden out back. Obviously there's the now famous bespoke Wetherspoons carpet - a burgundy and beige jumble of swirls - while local history photographs line the walls, including a display on the catastrophic Pretoria pit disaster of 1910 in which 344 men and boys were killed.
When I visit on a Thursday lunchtime it's packed. There's barely a free table as the pub's mainly middle-aged and elderly clientele take advantage of the low, low prices.
My pint of Carling was actually £2.59, 10p more than listed on Cheap Tipple Finder, but still pretty good value. And that's nowhere near the cheapest drink on offer.
Bud Light and Carlsberg are just £2.10 a pint, as is Stowford Press cider, while a pint of Ruddles Best Bitter is a measly £1.59. Even with a cost-of-living crisis, at these prices you can't afford to stay in. Having said that though, you'd have to pay me to drink the Ruddles.
But Wetherspoons is not without its detractors. In the early days of the pandemic the company's outspoken chairman, Tim Martin faced criticism for playing down the risk of people gathering in pubs and for displaying anti-lockdown posters in pub windows.
He also aroused anger after sending a video message to the 43,000 staff telling them they wouldn't get paid until company worked out details of the then fledgling furlough scheme, before later backtracking and announcing all staff would be paid 80 per cent of their wages. And the chain, with its huge buying power, often comes in for stick from smaller, independent venues, who just can't compete with their prices.
But Robert Shaw regular Stephen Hilton is in no doubt as to the reason for Wetherspoons' enduring popularity.
"It's cheap and cheerful," says the 63-year-old shift worker, from Wigan, who often stops off for a couple of pints and bite to eat after shopping in Westhoughton with his wife. "That's the main reason people come.
"We've been coming here for a couple of years. The garden out back is gorgeous.
"In the summer we sit out there and have a few cocktails. My only bug bear is that they don't put the horse racing on.
"But even here the prices are going up and I'm sure the portions are getting smaller. But prices are going up everywhere, aren't they? Wetherspoons are still the cheapest though."
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