To this day you still see those distinctive golden Benson and Hedges World Series Cup team posters framed on the wall of dodgy pubs and immediately feel at home.
Sales at Wetherspoon pubs open more than a year were up 1.6% in the six weeks to 8 March, down from growth of 4.5% in the first half of the year.
One industry expert said the gambit could drive sales because Wetherspoon has already built on its image as a provider of cheap beer in music-free pubs.
He said: "The biggest danger to the pub industry is the continuing tax disparity between supermarkets and pubs … There is a growing realisation among politicians, the media and the public that pubs are overtaxed".
In the streets and schools, pubs and offices in much of urban Britain, people from all round the world mix perfectly happily.
Thai food has become popular in pubs over the last few years; on a recent adventure up north I found more pubs offering Thai cuisine than hotpots.
It also has Svaneke Bodega, one of the island's best pubs, which even early in the season, was lively with locals and tourists.
During the boom years in Ireland when you used to have to pay for the privilege to enter some Dublin pubs even before forking out more than ¤5 at the bar for a pint of beer, the nation's taxi drivers had a favourite, repetitive boast.
Its accessibility in terms of price makes the march of 'Spoons' seem inevitable, particularly in a world in which public space is ever-shrinking: it lines its pubs with books while libraries are closing, and competes with supermarket beer prices while offering more company than a living room or kitchen.
Mitchells & Butlers has had 34 changes of director in three years so it will be no surprise if the pubs group's trading has gone flat.
But the bottom line is, you can't be sentimental about pubs".
