Sheffield student bombarded with free drinks after Twitter appeal goes viral

Receiving free drinks is one of the great perks of celebrating your birthday - but this notion took an unusual twist for one Sheffield student when he headed to his local pub to mark the occasion.
Soft drinks and beer. Rory McArthur / SWNS.comSoft drinks and beer. Rory McArthur / SWNS.com
Soft drinks and beer. Rory McArthur / SWNS.com

Nick Matthewman was getting into the spirit of things while celebrating his 20th birthday at the Bankers Draft pub in the city on Wednesday when his friend Rory McArthur, aged 19, decided to ask people on Twitter to buy the birthday boy a pint.

Posting a picture of his friend, Rory said: "This is Nick and it's his birthday. We're at the Bankers Draft spoons in Sheffield, table 67, be generous and send him a Bev on the app xxx"

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Much to the group's surprise, the post was retweeted 8, 000 times in a matter of hours and they were bombarded with food and drinks every few minutes throughout the evening by fellow customers using the Wetherspoons app.

Food and drinks. Rory McArthur / SWNS.comFood and drinks. Rory McArthur / SWNS.com
Food and drinks. Rory McArthur / SWNS.com

In total, Nick was gifted with £32.49 worth of beer, spirits, soft drinks, milk, crisps and ice cream.

Rory, who studies history at the University of Sheffield, said: "Basically I thought since I've got a fair few twitter followers it was worth a shot trying to get some free drinks. "I didn't really expect to get any but then a Becks Blue arrived. "Then the milk started arriving and it kind of just went from there. "We ended up with eight glasses of milk, a pint of John smiths, a bottle of prosecco, two non alcoholic bottles of becks, two fruit shoots, a pot of crispy onions, a pot of barbecue sauce, a pot of blue cheese sauce, a jug of curry sauce, a plate of peas, a bowl of ice cream and a jäger bomb. "I couldn't believe what happened." Nick, who studies chemical engineering with chemistry, was expecting a quiet afternoon drink at the pub with Rory and six other mates and had no idea what was going on when the first drink arrived. Nick said: "I can't believe what happened to be honest, apparently that table is still getting free drinks now. "The staff were all laughing about the situation and we just kept receiving drinks and food every few minutes for hours, it was mad. "We were getting drinks and food about every five or ten minutes. "You can order from anywhere on the app which is an interesting feature but I'm not complaining. "We got bizarre free drinks and food out of it." He later tweeted: "I'd just like to thank the people who ordered me stuff in spoons today, what a bizarre (but good) birthday it has been!" Barman Steven Barnes, aged 19, said: "I didn't know what to do. They left at six o'clock but we were still getting orders at 10pm - we are thinking of putting a plaque on table 67 in memory of the lads. "We must have had over 40 orders specifically for them on that table. "It was easily over £80 by the end of my shift including the four hours after the boys had gone."

Wetherspoons spokesperson Eddie Gershon said: "We are delighted that as a result of our app Nick enjoyed an extra special birthday at the Bankers Draft. "99.9 per cent of transactions on our app take place from within our pubs but we have heard from people buying abroad for their friends back home in the pub. "On this occasion the birthday boy benefited from the tweet going viral and people buying him a range of food and drinks."