Wetherpoons unveils areas for the opening of up to 200 new pubs, including high streets

WETHERSPOONS boss Tim Martin has doubled down on plans to distribute 1,000 spoons across the country after raking in record sales of almost £1 billion.

The pub boss said that after Covid restrictions disrupted trading, punters had rushed back to Spoons pubs.

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“The after-work pint is back, even the lunchtime pint is back, although some people think that’s sacrilege.”

He added that liquor sales had been boosted by the comeback of real beer drinkers and younger alcoholics adopting Guinness.

He said sales of the Irish stout were “putting the lights out”.

Total turnover rose 8% to £991 million in the six months to January 28 and pre-tax profits have returned to £36 million, up from £4.6 million the year before.

In a further note of joy, Wetherspoons also said that recent sales had continued to rise by 5.8% over the past seven weeks.

The cost of living crisis and rising beer prices have made Spoons’ more attractive to cash-strapped punters, and Mr Martin has pledged not to increase the price of his £5.40 breakfast.

Mr Martin told LBC: “It won’t rise this year.”

Mr Martin said the broader prospects for price rises were looking easier.

“It’s easier for us. I hesitate to tempt fate, but if I can read the tea leaves, inflation is going down, so we will keep our prices as low as possible, and it’s getting easier to do that,” said he.

Mr Martin said that as the cost of ingredients and supply chains fell, Wetherspoons was spending £125m more than before the pandemic on staff costs as minimum wages have risen.

The pub chain currently has 814 pubs, but Mr Martin told The Sun that there were still 130 high streets in the country, such as Didcot in Oxfordshire, that did not have spoons and that he was determined to bring cheap pints and low-priced meals to them.

He also wants to add another 60 to 70 spoons in major city stations following recent openings such as Captain Flinders at Euston station and at the White Rose shopping center in Leeds.

In the past year, Wetherspoons opened a franchise pub at Newcastle University, where Martin said business has “more or less doubled” since taking over the Student Union.

“They can still get cheap pints, but they don’t sell as much food.

“They’re not as hip as Wetherspoons, we’re the world’s hippest chain.”

The ambition to open more pubs comes despite Wetherspoons reducing the number of pubs it has had in recent years by handing keys back to its own owners.

The company’s accounts show it made a £5.9m loss last year from selling five pubs and handing back the keys to three pubs.

Mr Martin also used the results to renew his call for the Government to reduce the VAT rate paid by pubs to the same level as supermarkets, which sell cheaper drinks, pay.

“It doesn’t make economic sense for the tax system to favor mainly out-of-town supermarkets over mainly pubs on the high streets,” he said.

“This imbalance is a major factor in the decline of the city center and high streets.”

Which Wetherspoons are closed?

Despite ambitions to open 200 pubs across Britain, Wetherspoons has also closed drinking establishments.

It is very common for pub chains or retailers to open and close locations to rebalance their portfolios and ensure they trade in areas where there is demand.

Wetherspoons has closed 44 pubs in locations across the UK in recent years.

Locations in London, Durham, Bournemouth and Southampton are closed.

The Sir Norman Rae in Market Street, Shipley, West Yorkshire, will call for final orders on March 24 after also finding a buyer.

It was one of 11 additional pubs that Wetherspoons put up for sale in September last year – a year after it initially put 32 pubs up for sale.

As many as twenty Wetherspoon’s pubs remain for sale, with fifteen locations currently on offer.

This means that a buyer has made an offer that is being considered by the seller.

This does not mean that the sale is guaranteed, and the sale may remain open if not completed.

The five pubs up for sale are:

• The Pontlottyn, Abertillery
• The Ivor Davies, Cardiff
• The Market Cross, Holywell
• Rochester Castle, London
• Foot of the walk, Edinburgh

There are currently 15 Wetherspoons locations on offer:

• Asparagus, Battersea, London
• Wrong one, Bexleyheath
• The Gatehouse, Doncaster
• Jolly Zeeman, Bristol
• The Mockbeggar Hall, Moreton
• The Alfred Herring, Palmers Green
• The cross keys, pebbles
• Mr Norman Rae, Shipley
• The White Heart, Todmorden
• Spa Lane Vaults, Chesterfield
• Lord Arthur Lee, Fareham
• The Regent, Kirkby in Ashfield
• The Sir Daniel Arms, Swindon
• The Hain Line, St Ives
• The Quay, Poole
• Thomas Drummond, Fleetwood

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