Wetherspoon reveals £145m investment plan

Wetherspoon is set to invest an initial £145m in developing new pubs and upgrading existing pubs, creating 2,000 new jobs in the process.

The company has said it is keen to start the development project within weeks of its pubs reopening fully from 17 May.

It has a pipeline of 75 projects, 18 of which are new pubs, and 57 significant extensions and upgrades to its existing 871 pubs.

The first tranche of new pubs and extensions will be located in towns and cities including Leeds, Birmingham, Newport Pagnell, Heswall, Sheffield, Felixstowe, Dublin, Haverfordwest, Carmarthen and Glasgow.

Once the 75 projects in the pipeline are completed, Wetherspoon anticipates investing £750m to open 15 new pubs and enlarging 50 existing pubs each year for 10 years. This 10-year pub project will result in 20,000 new jobs.

“Our immediate investment will provide work for architects, contractors and builders as well as result in 2,000 new jobs for staff in our pubs," says Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin. “We are geared up to start on the first projects within a few months. However, the investment is conditional on the UK opening back up again on a long-term basis, with no further lockdowns or the constant changing of rules.”

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