JD Wetherspoons says it hopes to open 200 new pubs in the coming years (Picture: Getty)
Get your last orders in while you can because your local Spoons might be closing down.
A total of 17 branches of the chain of affordable pubs are up for sale, of which 14 are under offer.
The company enjoyed sales growth of nearly 8% over the 12 months leading up to July, when it published its most recent trading update.
Yet it has sold or surrendered the lease on 30 of its pubs this year, after closing 41 last year.
The 14 branches under offer are not guaranteed to be sold, and could remain open if the sale falls through.
Otherwise they will likely be closed in the coming months and repurposed or reopened as a pub under different management.
Wetherspoons regularly reviews which branches are up for sale and sometimes takes them off the market to continue operating as Spoons pubs.
It previously said most of the recent closures are of venues which are ‘smaller and older’, or where the company has a second pub resonably nearby.
The number of Wetherspoons pubs in the UK has fallen by around 150 in the past decade (Picture: Getty)
JD Wetherspoon boss Sir Tim Martin has trimmed down his roster of pubs from 950 a decade ago to 801 today.
Spoons so far confirmed it has held or surrendered the lease on 26 pubs, from London to Liverpool.
Not all appear to have been listed by estate agents Savills and CBRE, who are overseeing the sales.
Tim Martin said in the latest trading update: ‘The gradual recovery in sales and profits, following the pandemic, has continued in the current financial year.
Business took a battering during the cost-of-living crisis (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)
‘Total sales are, again, at record levels, with fewer pubs.’
Wetherspoons has long been known for its cut-price beer and food, with the pub chain refusing to increase the cost of its £5.75 breakfast.
While dozens of Wetherspoons have shut, Martin said the chain hopes to open new branches as inflation finally eases. Sites in 130 towns and cities are being eyed up.
‘People are happy to go out for a pint if you keep the price competitive. It’s not like buying a sofa,’ Martin told The Guardian in March.
Bosses say sales have continued to rise despite losing pubs (Picture: Getty)
About 71% of Wetherspoons are now freehold – meaning the company owns the land outright – compared to 41% in 2010.
Recently opened pubs include the Captain Flinders near Euston Station, London, and the Scribbling Mill in the White Rose Shopping Centre, Leeds. The Lion and Unicorn opened at Waterloo Station in early April.
The goal, the company said in its financial report in March, is to open 1,000 pubs.
The report said: ‘In spite of a reduction in the overall number of pubs, sales have continued to increase – total sales are now about one-third higher than in 2015, when the number of pubs peaked, and sales per pub have increased by about 50% since then.’
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Source:: Metro
