The Full House

The Full House is a pub in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, operated as part of the J D Wetherspoon chain. It is located at 128 Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP1 1EZ, and trades under the Wetherspoon format of long opening hours, value-priced food and drink, and a large, standardised menu. The pub opens at 8:00am daily, closing at midnight from Monday to Thursday and Sunday, and at 1:00am on Friday and Saturday. Facilities include Wi-Fi, TV screens, a licensed outside area, and step-free access. Customers can order food and drinks to their table through the Wetherspoon app. The building has a distinctive local history. According to Wetherspoon's own pub history, the site was opened as an Odeon cinema in 1959 by the actress Lauren Bacall, and from 1994 until the pub's opening it operated as a bingo hall. That bingo-hall period gave the pub its name: "The Full House" is a bingo term for a completed card. The interior retains grand, cinema-style features, and a print on display illustrates areas and moments in Hemel Hempstead's history. As a Wetherspoon pub, The Full House participates in the chain's recurring promotional calendar. These include the twice-yearly real-ale festivals — the autumn festival features a range of 30 real ales, including five from international brewers, over a 12-day period in October — as well as seasonal Christmas menus and cocktail ranges such as the spritz selection. Guest ale and craft tasting notes are published quarterly. The Full House is not a standalone company. It is one licensed premises within J D Wetherspoon plc, the UK pub group founded by Tim Martin, whose first pub opened in 1979 in Muswell Hill, north London, and which was floated on the Stock Exchange in 1992. Individual Wetherspoon pubs are branded and marketed under the parent company's name and identity, and The Full House appears on the Wetherspoon website alongside the group's other pubs, with its own page, menu, opening times and pub history.

The Full House occupies a building at 128 Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, whose history predates the pub by several decades. According to J D Wetherspoon's official pub history, the building opened as an Odeon cinema in 1959, with the opening performed by the actress Lauren Bacall. It operated as a cinema before later being converted to a bingo hall, which ran from 1994 until the pub's opening. The pub takes its name from that bingo-hall era: a "full house" is the term for a completed bingo card. The conversion to a Wetherspoon pub preserved some of the building's grand, cinema-style architectural features, and a print displayed inside illustrates areas and moments in Hemel Hempstead's history. The Full House is one premises within J D Wetherspoon plc, the UK pub operator founded by Tim Martin. Wetherspoon's first pub opened on 9 December 1979 in Colney Hatch Lane, Muswell Hill, north London, having been purchased from an entrepreneur who had converted it from a bookmaker's shop; it was initially called Martin's Free House for its first month before being renamed Wetherspoons in early 1980. Through the 1980s the company's pubs were concentrated in north London, with its head office above The Dog in Archway. In 1990 Wetherspoon's pubs hosted their first real-ale festival, a four-day event featuring six beers — a format that has since grown into twice-yearly festivals in which each pub offers up to 50 beers, 10 of them from overseas. In 1991 the company opened The Tally Ho in North Finchley with a dedicated non-smoking bar upstairs, one of several initiatives it pursued ahead of the UK smoking ban of July 2007; that same year it launched its CBS (cleanliness, beer and service) inspection scheme, began publishing the free Wetherspoon News magazine, and opened Hamilton Hall at Liverpool Street station, its first central London and first railway-station pub. In 1992 Wetherspoon opened its first airport pubs at Heathrow Terminal 4 and floated on the Stock Exchange as J D Wetherspoon plc, with shares issued at £1.60. Against that corporate backdrop, The Full House operates as a standard Wetherspoon pub in Hemel Hempstead town centre. Its trading pattern reflects the chain's model: doors open at 8:00am every day for breakfast, closing at midnight Sunday to Thursday and at 1:00am on Friday and Saturday. The pub offers Wi-Fi, TV screens, a licensed outside area and step-free access, and supports table ordering via the Wetherspoon app. It takes part in the chain-wide promotional calendar, including the autumn beer festival — a 12-day event in October offering 30 real ales, five of them from international brewers in China, Denmark, Singapore, Ukraine and the USA, with Singapore and Ukraine represented for the first time — as well as the Christmas menu running from 12 November to 31 December (excluding Christmas Day), the spritz cocktail range of nine recipes, and quarterly guest ale and craft tasting notes.

• 1994

  The building begins operating as a bingo hall, the use that gives the future pub its name.

• 1992

  J D Wetherspoon floats on the Stock Exchange as J D Wetherspoon plc, with shares issued at £1.60.

• 1990

  Wetherspoon's pubs host their first real-ale festival.

• 1979

  The first Wetherspoon pub opens in Muswell Hill, north London, on 9 December.

• 1959

  The building opens as an Odeon cinema, opened by actress Lauren Bacall.

A value-focused, high-volume community pub within the J D Wetherspoon national chain, occupying a landmark former cinema and bingo hall building in Hemel Hempstead town centre.

• Real ale (including festival range of 30 ales)

• Guest ales and craft cans

• Spritz cocktail range (nine recipes)

• Christmas menu (12 November to 31 December, excluding Christmas Day)

• Hot honey Chicken Bowl

1. 1The Full House - J D Wetherspoonjdwetherspoon.com
2. 2The Full House - J D Wetherspoon (pub history)jdwetherspoon.com
3. 3History - J D Wetherspoonjdwetherspoon.com
4. 4About us - J D Wetherspoonjdwetherspoon.com
5. 5The Full House - Wikidatawikidata.org