Wetherspoon lays out plans to invest £200m in pub estate
JD Wetherspoon announced plans to invest more than £200m on its pub estate over the next four years on Tuesday.
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The FTSE 250 pub operator said it would invest the money developing new pubs and hotels, as well as enlarging its existing pubs across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
It said it also anticipated that the investment would result in approximately 10,000 new jobs.
The majority of the investment would be channelled into developments in small and medium sized towns, but would also include larger towns and cities, the Wetherspoon board explained.
Those would include new pubs in Bourne, Waterford, Hamilton, Ely, Diss, Felixstowe, Newport Pagnell and Prestatyn.
It would also be investing in major cities including London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Birmingham, Leeds and Galway.
“We are looking forward to opening many more new pubs as well as investing in existing pubs over the next four years,” said Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin.
“We are especially pleased that a large proportion of the investment will be in smaller towns and cities which have seen a decline in investment in recent years.
“The fact that we will be creating approximately 10,000 jobs is great news too.”
Wetherspoon currently operates 875 pubs and 58 hotels across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, and employs 44,000 staff.
At 0818 GMT, shares in JD Wetherspoon were up 0.37% at 1,513.6p.