//But I don't believe they can all be like the one I went in,...//
They are not, teacake. Like many things, it depends on the clientele and the clientele depends very much on the area.
Here are a couple I have first hand knowledge of. This one is immediately behind the Royal Courts of Justice just off Fleet Street:
https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/all-pubs/england/london/the-knights-templar-near-fleet-street
A superb old banking hall, very well run and great for a meet up in Town.
This one, on the coast, is 'Spoons largest outlet:
https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/all-pubs/england/kent/the-royal-victoria-pavilion-ramsgate
It was built as a seaside "Winter Gardens" and lay derelict for two periods. Firstly from its original closure in the 1970s to the late 1990s and then (after having a brief life as a night club) for about another ten years. JDW bought it from the council for £1 and then spent £4.5m renovating it. It is superb.
Finally this one in the Hampshire market town of Alton:
https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/all-pubs/england/hampshire/the-ivy-house-alton
A very well restored pair of buildings with an excellent outside patio garden.
I could bore you all day with descriptions of Wetherspoons establishments but I won't. However, people dismiss the chain as cheap and nasty. They are certainly cheap but they are not all nasty. Again, it depends on the clientele. There are two in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. One at the rough end of the town is nasty. The other, just half a mile away but in a better part is most certainly not.
Wetherspoons attracts, in my view, unjustified criticism. There are almost 1,000 outlets and some are bound to be better than others. The company also takes over and sympathetically renovates many town centre buildings which might otherwise lay derelict and they should be applauded for that. If you want haute cuisine and fine wines you don't go to Wetherspoons. But if you pick your branch with care you'll be surprised.