Get your last orders in while you can as your local Wetherspoons could be closing for good.
JD Wetherspoons, which operated more than 950 pubs a decade ago, says it plans to close 61 pubs by the end of the year.
The company closed 41 pubs last year.
This is despite the pub chain reporting an almost eightfold rise in pre-tax profits to £36m and a 7.7% rise in like-for-like sales earlier this year.
So far, Spoons has confirmed it has held or surrendered leases on 26 pubs, from London to Liverpool.
Many others are listed as available with estate agency Savills, although others have quietly closed their doors or changed hands.
Wetherspoons has long been known for its cheap beer and food, with the pub chain refusing to raise the cost of its £5.75 breakfast amid the cost of living crisis.
Tim Martin, chairman of JD Wetherspoons, said that while profits were on the rise, they were not up to pre-pandemic levels.
While dozens of Wetherspoon’s are closing, Martin said the chain hopes to open new branches when inflation finally eases.
“Consumers are cautious but willing to spend and most people have jobs if they want them,” Martin told The Guardian in March.
“People are happy to go for a pint if you keep the price competitive. It’s not like buying a sofa.’
About 71% of Wetherspoon’s is now freehold – meaning the company owns the land outright – compared to 41% in 2010.
Martin said the company is looking at 130 cities to open new pubs over the next 10 years.
Recently opened pubs include the Captain Flinders near Euston Station in London and the Scribbling Mill in the White Rose shopping center in 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: “Despite the reduction in the total number of pubs, sales have continued to increase – total sales are now around a third higher than in 2015, when the number of pubs peaked, and sales per pub have increased by around 50% since then.’
By then, however, dozens of Wetherspoon’s had served their last orders, for the last time this year.
Which Wetherspoons have closed and which might close?
For sale:
- Pontlottyn, Abertillery
- Ivor Davies, Cardiff
- Spa Lane Vaults, Chesterfield
- The Gate House, Doncaster
- Market Cross, Holywell
- Regent, Kirkby in Ashfield
- Mockbeggar Hall, Moreton
- Hain Line, St Ives
- Sir Norman Rae, Shipley
- Sir Daniel Arms, Swindon
- White Hart, Todmorden
- Lord Arthur Lee, Fareham
- The Plow and Harrow, London
- Resolution, Middlesbrough
- Sennockian, Sevenoaks
On the menu
- Asparagus – Battersea
- The Saltoun Inn – Fraserburgh
- Percy Shaw – Halifax
- Alfred Herring – Palmers Green
- Wrong ‘Un – Bexleyheath
Already closed
- John Masefield, New Ferry
- Angel, Islington
- The Silkstone Inn, Barnsley
- Billiard Hall, West Bromwich
- Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis, Southampton
- The Colombia Press, Watford
- Malt House, Willenhall
- John Masefield, New Ferry
- Thomas Leaper, Derby
- Cliftonville, Hove
- Tollgate, Harringay
- Last post Loughton
- Harvest Moon, Orpington
- Alexander Bain, Wick
- Chapel at Gansblydhen, Bodmin
- Moon in the Square, Basildon
- Coal Orchard, Taunton
- Running Horse, Airside Doncaster Airport
- Wild Rose, Bootle
- Edmund Halley, Lee Green
- Willow Grove, Southport
- Postal Order, Worcester
- North and South Wales Bank, Wrexham
- Sir John Stirling Maxwell, Glasgow
- Knight Templar, London
- Christopher Creek, Bournemouth
- Water House, Durham
- The Widow Frost, Mansfield
- The Worlds Inn, Romford
- Hudson Bay, Forest Gate
- Saltoun Inn, Fraserburgh
- The Bankers Draft, Eltham, London
- Sir John Arderne, Newark
- Capitol, Forest Hill
- Moon and Bell, Loughborough
- Nightjar, Ferndown
- General Sir Redvers Buller, Crediton
- Rising Sun, Redditch
- Butler’s Bell, Stafford
- Millers Well, East Ham
- The Coronet, London
Contact our news team by email at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more such stories, check out our news page.
MORE : Do you like to sesh? This Wetherspoons inspired holiday could be for you
Get the latest news you need to know, good stories, analysis and more
This page is protected by reCAPTCHA and Google’s privacy policy and terms of service apply.