Here’s Why that American TikToker is Obsessed with Wetherspoons

Mallory Bartow is surprised with how people have taken to her praise of a U.K. pub chain on TikTok

Image: JD Wetherspoon/Mallory Bartow

When Mallory Bartow set off for a vacation in the United Kingdom over Christmas break, she didn’t expect to find herself in the eye of a viral video storm.

“I was on Christmas break from school at Louisiana State University, and we get a whole month off,” the mechanical engineering student explains. “After I graduate and get a job I’ll be relying on PTO [paid time off], so I wanted to take advantage.” Her boyfriend, who had studied at Sheffield, had family and friends living in the U.K. They found cheap flights. It was a no-brainer.

They arrived into London, and travelled to Brighton, where they headed for a Wetherspoons pub. The chain, for non-Brits, is known for its cheap, reliable food and drinks, and often-stunning surroundings (the chain converts old banks and post offices, as well as local council buildings, into pubs in city centers).

They then travelled up to Sheffield, visiting Liverpool and Chester along the way. There, they decided to eat at Wetherspoons again, vistitng the city’s Benjamin Huntsman branch. “I was really, really excited to go back, and we decided to go the next morning after we got to Sheffield,” says Bartow. “I decided to record it. I don’t think anyone else in America, unless they’ve visited, knows about this place.”

The student had downloaded TikTok as a break from her studies in late November. “I’m used to calculating all day and using my brain and being in that state of mind, and I always want to know about politics and everything that’s going on in the world,” she explains.

“That stuff can get kind of heavy a lot of times, and then I found TikTok and it’s hilarious — normal people making goofy videos. It reminded me of when I was in high school watching Vine. It’s my little escape from the heaviness of the world, this fun little environment I can go to and laugh at what’s going on.” So it was a natural choice to open up TikTok as she visited the second Spoons of her visit and document what was going on.