I stayed in one of Wetherspoon’s award-winning hotels – here’s what I really thought

As Paul drove south through the rain on the M6 in Lancashire, my job was to find somewhere for us to stay for the night. It had been a long day, meandering south from Angus (the tranquil county in northeast Scotland, not a Caledonian friend) via the coast of Fife.

With so many road trip variables, I had left it late to book. Sunday night sees soft demand for hotels across the UK, even in hotspots like Wigan. The Sabbath is almost always a buyer’s market when seeking a budget hotel.

Yet my usual go-to, Premier Inn, was nudging towards £100 a night. So I cast my net wider, and decided to give Wetherspoon’s Brocket Arms Hotel a try. At just £50.40 a night, I would not need to share a room with Paul (which in the past we have done on budgetary grounds).

It was a prurient choice, because JD Wetherspoon has just surpassed Premier Inn in a Which? ranking of chain hotels. The consumer specialists now recommend it as a “great value” place to stay.

I like ’Spoons pubs, and not (just) because you can get a pint for under the £7 norm in London. They provide excellent professional support in the shape of venues without loud music but with lots of pluggery, good WiFi and food or drink just a click of an app away. I happen to be writing this in The Beehive at Gatwick Airport – a Wetherspoons pub which serves as The Independent’s South Terminal bureau during times of flight disruption. Invest £3.50, and unlimited tea and coffee is yours for the afternoon.

Yet given previous experience with pub-hotel combos of the less-expensive variety, I approached Mesnes (pronounced “Mains”) Road in northern Wigan with some trepidation. My footwear has still not recovered from sticking to the drink-soaked carpets at budget locations from Folkestone to Leeds, where the noise from raucous bars below penetrated the guest quarters and rendered sleep nigh-impossible.

My room had recently been refurbished. Clean and comfortable, with still and sparkling bottles of water, tea and coffee, decent WiFi and a lighting system that does not require advanced training to operate.

Wetherspoon always shows impressive attention to local history. The Brocket Arms is relatively young – opened in 1957 by Lord Brocket, chairman of a brewery and therefore able to attach his name to an inn if he wished.

“It had seven guest rooms,…