JD Wetherspoons says it hopes to operate 1,000 pubs in the future (Picture: Bloomberg Finance LP)
Get your last orders in while you can because your local Wetherspoons might be closing down for good.
JD Wetherspoons, which operated more than 950 pubs a decade ago, says it plans to shut 61 pubs down by the end of the year.
The company shuttered 41 pubs last year.
This is despite the pub chain reporting earlier this year a near-eightfold rise in pre-tax profits of £36million and a 7.7% increase in like-for-like sales.
Spoons has so far confirmed it has held or surrendered the lease on 26 pubs, from London to Liverpool.
Many more are listed as up for grabs on the estate agency Savills, though others have quietly closed their doors or changed hands.
Spa Lane Vaults, Chesterfield, is one of dozens of pubs up for sale (Picture: Google Maps)
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 amid the cost of living crisis.
Tim Martin, the chair of JD Wetherspoons, has said that while profits are on the up they haven’t reached what they were before the pandemic.
While dozens of Wetherspoons are shutting, Martin that the chain hopes to open new branches as inflation finally eases.
‘Consumers are cautious but are willing to spend and most people have jobs if they want one,’ Martin told The Guardian in March.
‘People are happy to go out for a pint if you keep the price competitive. It’s not like buying a sofa.’
About 71% of Wetherspoons are now freehold – meaning the company owns the land outright – compared to 41% in 2010.
The Market Cross in Holywell could be closed by the end of the year as well (Picture: Google Maps)
As is the Sir Norman Rae, Shipley (Picture: Google Maps)
The Sir Daniel Arms in Swindon may also be closed by the end of the year (Picture: Google Maps)
Martin said the company is eyeing 130 towns and cities to open new pubs over the next 10 years.
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.’
Until then, however, dozens of Wetherspoons have served last orders for, well, the last time this year.
Which Wetherspoons have closed and which ones might shut too?
Up for sale:
The Pontlottyn, Abertillery
The Ivor Davies, Cardiff
Spa Lane Vaults, Chesterfield
The Gate House, Doncaster
The Market Cross, Holywell
The Regent, Kirkby in Ashfield
The Mockbeggar Hall, Moreton
The Hain Line, St Ives
The Sir Norman Rae, Shipley
The Sir Daniel Arms, Swindon
The White Hart, Todmorden
Lord Arthur Lee, Fareham
The Plough and Harrow, London
Resolution, Middlesbrough
Sennockian, Sevenoaks
Under offer
Asparagus – Battersea
The Saltoun Inn – Fraserburgh
The Percy Shaw – Halifax
The Alfred Herring – Palmers Green
Wrong ‘Un – Bexleyheath
Already closed
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 Widow Frost, Mansfield
The Worlds Inn, Romford
Hudson Bay, Forest Gate
The Saltoun Inn, Fraserburgh
The Bankers Draft, Eltham, London
The Sir John Arderne, Newark
The Capitol, Forest Hill
Moon and Bell, Loughborough
Nightjar, Ferndown
General Sir Redvers Buller, Crediton
The Rising Sun, Redditch
The Butler’s Bell, Stafford
Millers Well, East Ham
The Coronet, London
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