Wetherspoon's customers exploit loophole in pub’s app to get free drinks

Ingenious

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The future is upon us.

In March this year, Wetherspoon’s launched its Order and Pay app, allowing diners to - unsurprisingly - order and pay for food and drinks from their phones.

Without having to get up, queue or even interact with another human, your order will be brought to your table. And as you pay through Apple Pay, there’s no waiting for the bill either.

People are ordering drinks for their mates in Spoons, even if they’re not with them.

“I’ve sent a round of drinks to a table if I couldn’t make it to someone’s birthday get-together, for example,” Lee, 31, from Newcastle, told The Independent.

“I can see how people would take that to the next level and use it to drink for free.”

And yes, many people are using the app to get their friends to buy them drinks.

“I’ve had texts from mates saying how skint they are, dropping big hints that they’d be so happy if a pint magically arrived at their table,” Daniel, 29, from Gateshead, said.

The app allows people the opportunity to buy drinks for their mates across the 956 Wetherspoon’s pubs in the UK.

And the company is more than happy with how the app is being used, as spokesman Eddie Gershon explained:

“We are delighted that our order and app pay is being used by people to buy food and drink for their friends in a Wetherspoon pub thousands of miles away.

“It must be great to be in one of our pubs and have a drink delivered to your table by a good-hearted friend who isn’t even with you.”

Many restaurants such as Wagamama and Pizza Express allow customers to order takeaways from an app, and it’s likely the order and pay from your table idea is only going to spread.