Last orders will be held at more JD Wetherspoons pubs in the coming months – but some might soon be opening near you.
The popular chain shut 26 of its pubs across the country between 2023 and 2024.
But the pub and restaurant chain has long made clear its goal of opening 1,000 branches across Britain.
Spoons revealed Tuesday it plans to open 15 new pubs after seeing like-for-like sales at its pubs jump by 15% in the 13 weeks to April.
Wetherspoons has already opened two new locations in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and London Waterloo.
Six sites have been confirmed to open later this year, with the remaining nine opening their doors July next year.
Last year, the firm opened four franchised pubs with Haven Holiday Parks: The Red Rocks, Devon Cliffs, Devon; The Humber Stone, Cleethorpes
Beach, Lincolnshire; The London Stone, Kent Coast, Kent and The Sir Thomas Haggerston, Haggerston Castle, Northumberland.
JD Wetherspoon boss Sir Tim Martin said in a trading update: ‘The company’s main ambition, as always, is to improve its appeal to staff and customers.
He added: ‘Bearing in mind that recent trading has been helped by favourable weather, the company anticipates a reasonable outcome for the financial year, notwithstanding previously reported wage and tax increases of approximately £1.2million per week.’
Martin has trimmed down his roster of pubs from 950 a decade ago to 795.
The company sold or gave up the lease on 30 pubs in 2024, following the closure of 41 locations in 2023.
Most of the recent closures are for ‘smaller and older’ venues, or where the company has a second pub reasonably nearby, Wetherspoons has said.
The boozers 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.
Pints were poured at The George in Wanstead for the final time in October. But it was ‘rescued’ by the Urban Pubs and Bars chain, reopening as The George & Dragon.
The pubs currently under offer include the Ivor Davies in Cardiff. While punters feared it would shut last year, it remains open at the time of writing.
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.
But it admitted in January that it had increased the price of some of its drinks and meals by up to 30p.
‘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 last year.
Which Wetherspoons are up for closure and which have recently closed?
On the market:
- Ivor Davies, Cardiff
Under offer:
- Sir Daniel Arms, Swindon
To close:
- The Spon Gate in Coventry (May 25)
Closed:
- Linen Weaver, Cork
- The George, Wanstead
- Hain Line, St Ives
- Foot of the Walk, Leith
- 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
- Millers Well, Purley, Halifax
- The Coronet, London
- White Hart, Todmorden
- Asparagus, south west London
- Mockbeggar Hall, Moreton
- Sir Norman Rae, Shipley
- Lord Arthur Lee, Fareham
- Market Cross, Holywell
- Regent, Kirkby-in-Ashfield
- An Geata Arundel, Waterford
- Jolly Sailor, Bristol
- The London & Rye, Catford
- Bears Head, Penarth
- Alfred Herring, North London
- The Quay in Poole, Dorset
Some pubs above have reopened under different management
Which Weterspoons are opening in 2025
- Walham Green, Fulham, south west London – June 17
- The Dictum of Kenilworth, Kenilworth, Warwickshire – July 30
- The Sun Wharf, Tooley Street, London Bridge – August 28
- London Bridge, Tooley Street – August 26
- Merchant Square, Paddington – this summer
- Manchester Airport, Terminal Two – this summer
- The King of Essex, Basildon, Essex – September 23
- Marlow, Buckinghamshire – already open
- London, Waterloo Station – already open
- Cleethorpes Beach, Lincolnshire – already open
- Devon Cliffs, Devon – already open
- Kent Coast, Kent – open already
- Beaconsfield, Station Road – open already
- Haggerston Castle, Northumberland – already open
- Wetherby, High Street – date TBC
- Fareham, Whiteley shopping centre – date TBC
- Bath, George Street – date TBC
This article was first published on March 21.
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