WETHERSPOON has closed dozens of pubs and more locations could soon follow, the popular chain has confirmed.
Punters could lose as many as 24 Wetherspoon drinking spots as more locations shut their doors.
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It comes after the chain – which has 827 pubs across the UK – warned last September that 32 pubs were being put up for sale as it battled higher food and energy costs.
Now the total number of venues that have closed has jumped to 28.
The pubs which have already closed were smaller and older, or have a second Wetherspoon fairly close by, the company said in a trading update today.
In it’s update today, Wetherspoon said it was a “misinterpretation” to suggest the move was down to difficult trading conditions.
The pub’s chairman Tim Martin said: “As a result of a continued improvement in sales and a slightly reduced expectation for cost increases, for example energy costs, the company anticipates an improved outcome for the next financial year, and anticipates an outcome for the first half of 2023-24 approximately in line with the second half of 2022-23.”
In May, Wetherspoon predicted record sales for the year to July after sales jumped 12.2% in the three months to April 30 thanks to a bumper Easter and May bank holiday trading.
And in better news, there have been three new Wetherspoon pubs opened over the past year.
Here is the full list of 14 Wetherspoons pubs that are currently under offer and at risk of closure:
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- The Alfred Herring, Palmers Green
- The Cross Keys, Peebles
- The Saltoun Inn, Fraserburgh
- General Sir Redvers Buller, Crediton
- The Butlers Bell, Stafford
- The Percy Shaw, Halifax
- Foxley Hatch, Purley
- Asparagus, Battersea
- Millers Well, East Ham
- Hudson Bay, Forest Gate
- Capitol, Forest Hill
- The Bankers Draft, Eltham
- The Widow Frost, Mansfield
- Coronet, London
Plus, The Nightjar in Ferndown, Dorset, will not have its lease renewed in September.
But the venues on the market could still remain open if a sale doesn’t complete – like The Moon on the Hill in Harrow.
The following nine pubs are currently up for sale and at risk of shutting food good – but for now they are open as usual:
- Wrong ‘Un, Bexleyheath
- Jolly Sailor, Hanham
- Resolution, Middlesbrough
- The Rising Sun, Redditch
- Sennockian, Sevenoaks
- Lord Arthur Lee, Fareham
- Plough & Harrow, Hammersmith
- Moon on the Hill, Harrow
- The Sir John Arderne, Newark
While the 28 pubs below have already shut their doors for good.
- The John Masefield, New Ferry
- Angel, Islington
- The Silkstone Inn, Barnsley
- The Billiard Hall, West Bromwich
- Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis, Southampton
- The Colombia Press, Watford
- The Malthouse, Willenhall
- The John Masefield, New Ferry
- Thomas Leaper, Derby
- Cliftonville, Hove
- Tollgate, Harringay
- Last Post, Loughton
- Harvest Moon, Orpington
- Alexander Bain, Wick
- Chapel an Gansblydhen, Bodmin
- Moon on the Square, Basildon
- Coal Orchard, Taunton
- Running Horse, Airside Doncaster Airport
- Wild Rose, Bootle
- Edmund Halley, Lee Green
- The Willow Grove, Southport
- Postal Order, Worcester
- North and South Wales Bank, Wrexham
- The Sir John Stirling Maxwell, Glasgow
- The Knight’s Templar, London
- Christopher Creeke, Bournemouth
- The Water House, Durham
- The Worlds Inn, Romford
Wetherspoons, like many other pub chains and retailers, has been hit hard by rising costs brought on by high inflation.
The company’s boss, Tim Martin, also said far more people now drink in their homes rather than in pubs.
Venues have also hiked beer and grub prices by up to 7.5%, The Sun exclusively revealed in February 2023.
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