The Sunday roast is one of Britain’s most argued-over meals. Not just what to put on the plate, but where to eat it. These days, the argument often comes down to two very different camps: the no-nonsense Wetherspoons roast, and the more polished gastropub version. Both serve roast meat, Yorkshire pudding, and veg. That is roughly where the similarities end.
This is not a snobbery exercise. Both options have their place, and both have genuine fans. The question is which one actually delivers on a Sunday afternoon in London.
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What You Get at Wetherspoons
Wetherspoons roasts are available at most of their London pubs every Sunday, usually priced between £7 and £10. You get a choice of meat — typically beef, chicken, or pork — with roast potatoes, a Yorkshire pudding, seasonal vegetables, and gravy. For that price, it is hard to complain.
The portions are generous. The gravy is usually from a packet but it gets the job done. The Yorkshire pudding is the pre-made variety — it will be warm, but it will not be crispy. The roast potatoes sit somewhere between roasted and boiled. Nothing arrives at the table in any particular rush.
What Wetherspoons does well is consistency and value. If you walk into a Spoons in Hammersmith or one in Stratford, you will get more or less the same plate. The meat is cooked correctly. The veg is not mushy — usually. The service is efficient: order at the app, pick up at the bar, or have it brought to your table depending on the location.
There is also something to be said for the atmosphere. Wetherspoons pubs in London tend to be big, often housed in converted banks or old cinemas, with high ceilings and plenty of seating. You are not going to be rushed out the door to turn the table. You can sit with a pint and take your time. On a quiet Sunday that is not the worst thing in the world.
The weaknesses are obvious. It is a chain operation. The food is batch-cooked and reheated. There is no made-from-scratch gravy, no proper dripping-roasted potato, and no chef putting particular care into the plate. You know exactly what you are getting before you walk in, and sometimes that is the point.
What You Get at a Gastropub
London’s gastropub roast can range from £18 to £30 or more, depending on the pub and the cut. At that price, the expectations go up considerably — and the best ones justify every penny.
A good gastropub roast involves meat that has been properly rested, potatoes that have been goose-fat roasted until golden, a Yorkshire pudding made that morning, and a red wine or bone jus gravy that has been reduced properly. The vegetables are not an afterthought — expect caramelised carrots, braised red cabbage, or proper cauliflower cheese alongside.
Well-regarded spots for Sunday roasts in London include The Pig and Butcher in Islington, The Camberwell Arms in South London, and The Princess of Shoreditch in the East End. These are not the only options — London has hundreds of excellent pubs doing proper Sunday lunches — but they are consistently cited by locals for the quality of their roast.
The gastropub roast also tends to offer better sourcing. Many use named suppliers, rare-breed meat, or seasonal British produce. That shows on the plate. The difference between a piece of mass-produced chicken reheated from a tray and a free-range bird that has been properly roasted is not subtle.
The downsides are real too. The price is the obvious one. Beyond that, many gastropubs require a booking on Sundays — walk-ins are risky. Some have set menus with no flexibility. A few are so popular that the experience feels rushed even when it should not. And the quality varies more than at Wetherspoons. A gastropub having a bad Sunday will disappoint you more than a Spoons having an average Sunday, because you paid more and expected more.
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How to Compare Them Fairly
The fairest comparison is not Wetherspoons versus the best gastropub in London. It is Wetherspoons versus the average gastropub. When you frame it that way, the gap narrows considerably.
A mediocre gastropub charging £22 for a roast that arrives with soggy potatoes and thin gravy is genuinely worse value than a Wetherspoons plate at £8.50 that does what it sets out to do. The argument is not simply about price — it is about value for what you spend.
There are also practical differences in when and how you want to eat. If you are with a large group, Wetherspoons is often more accommodating. No need to book weeks ahead, no risk of being told the kitchen stops serving at 3pm, no issue splitting the bill unevenly because someone had a starter. It is low friction.
If you are after a proper occasion — a birthday, a treat, somewhere to linger for two hours — a good gastropub wins easily. The food is better, the experience is better, and it feels like a proper Sunday lunch rather than a functional meal.
What Actually Matters on the Plate
Strip it back and the Sunday roast comes down to four things: the meat, the potatoes, the Yorkshire pudding, and the gravy. Everything else is supporting cast.
The meat: Gastropub wins, consistently. Properly rested, better sourced, more likely to be pink in the middle if you ordered beef. Wetherspoons serves safe, cooked-through meat that varies little. You will not get a bad piece, but you will not get a great one either.
The potatoes: Again, gastropub wins when done right. Goose-fat or beef-dripping potatoes with a proper crust are in a different league from the batch-roasted variety. That said, some Wetherspoons locations do better than expected — it depends on the kitchen on the day.
The Yorkshire pudding: This is where Wetherspoons falls furthest behind. A pre-made Yorkie is a pre-made Yorkie. It will be warm and edible, but it will not be risen properly, and the inside will be doughy. A freshly made Yorkshire pudding from a hot oven, golden and risen high, is a genuinely different food. Gastropubs that make their own win this category by default.
The gravy: Wetherspoons uses a commercially prepared gravy. It is seasoned, it is warm, it pours fine. A gastropub using reduced beef stock or red wine jus produces something richer and more flavourful. The difference is noticeable if you have had both in the same week.
The Verdict
The honest answer is that it depends on what you want out of the Sunday.
If you want reliable, affordable, and unfussy, Wetherspoons does a job that is genuinely difficult to criticise at its price point. A £9 roast with a pint for under £15 total, no booking, no rushing — there is a version of Sunday where that is exactly right.
If you want the real thing — proper roast potatoes, freshly made Yorkshire pudding, meat that someone has cared about — then a good gastropub is worth the extra cost and the booking faff. London has enough excellent Sunday roasts that you should be able to find one in most neighbourhoods without travelling far.
What neither option should be doing is competing directly on identical terms. They are different meals, at different prices, with different expectations. Judging a Wetherspoons roast against The Camberwell Arms is not useful. Judging it against what else you can eat for under a tenner on a Sunday afternoon — that is where it usually holds up well.
The debate will continue on Facebook, in pubs, and probably at the table itself. That is fine. London’s roast culture is strong enough to support both ends of the spectrum. Go where suits the Sunday.
Photo: Acabashi via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
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