Wetherspoons to close another 22 pubs despite already shutting 28 this year

Wetherspoons has put a further 22 pubs up for sale after already selling 28 of its sites this year.

The pub giant plans to offload more venues in a huge overhaul of its estate but it has denied it is part of a ‘money-raising exercise’ amid rising costs of food and energy, which has been leaving many businesses struggling to keep up.

Instead, Wetherspoons said ‘almost all’ of sites it had put up for sale already had another venue ‘nearby’. 

From the 28 pub closures, Wetherspoons bosses say it has made a ‘modest amount’ from these sales.

The Pre-Close Trading Agreement reads: “In fact, the disposals have raised relatively modest amounts (although every little helps) and almost all are related to circumstances, as outlined above, where there is another Wetherspoon pub nearby.”

There are 22 pubs that remain on the market, or are under offer. The company currently has a trading estate of 827 pubs. Wetherspoons also shared it had made profits when compared to the previous year. 

Compared to the financial year of 2022, the company’s like-for-like sales increased by 11.5% in the fourth quarter to date and by 12.9% in this financial year to date. 

The brand also hasn’t confirmed which of its sites are set to shut, leaving customers wondering if last orders will be served for good at their local Spoons.

The chairman of JD Wetherspoon, Tim Martin, said: “The company expects profits in the current financial year to be in line with market expectations.

“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 FY24 approximately in line with the second half of FY23.”

While a confirmed list of Wetherspoons pubs set to shut down is yet to be announced, the venues up for sale have been spotted online.

Pubs under offer:

1. Asparagus – Battersea
2. General Sir Redvers Buller – Crediton
3. Millers Well – East Ham
4. The Bankers Draft – Eltham
5. Hudson Bay – Forest Gate
6. Capitol – Forest Hill
7. The Saltoun Inn – Fraserburgh
8. The Percy Shaw – Halifax
9. Coronet – Holloway
10. The Alfred Herring – Palmers Green
11. The Cross Keys – Peebles
12. Foxley Hatch – Purley
13. The Butlers Bell – Stafford
14. The Widow Frost – Mansfield

Pubs ‘available’ for sale:

1. Lord Arthur Lee – Fareham
2. Plough & Harrow – Hammersmith
3. Jolly Sailor – Hanham
4. World’s Inn – Romford
5. Sennockian – Sevenoaks
6. Former Tusk Nightclub & Waverly Tea Rooms – Watford
7. Wrong ‘Un – Bexleyheath
8. Moon on the Hill, Harrow

Pubs already sold:

1. The John Masefield, New Ferry
2. Angel, Islington
3. The Silkstone Inn, Barnsley
4. The Billiard Hall, West Bromwich
5. Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis, Southampton
6. The Colombia Press, Watford
7. The Malthouse, Willenhall
8. The John Masefield, New Ferry
9. Thomas Leaper, Derby
10. Cliftonville, Hove
11. Tollgate, Harringay
12. Last Post, Loughton
13. Harvest Moon, Orpington
14. Alexander Bain, Wick
15. Chapel an Gansblydhen, Bodmin
16. Moon on the Square, Basildon
17. Coal Orchard, Taunton
18. Running Horse, Airside Doncaster Airport
19. Wild Rose, Bootle
20. Edmund Halley, Lee Green
21. The Willow Grove, Southport
22. Postal Order, Worcester
23. North and South Wales Bank, Wrexham
24. The Sir John Stirling Maxwell, Glasgow
25. The Knight’s Templar, London
26. Christopher Creeke, Bournemouth
27. The Water House, Durham
28. The Worlds Inn, Romford