JD Wetherspoon to open bar in Cork

British pub operator JD Wetherspoon is expected to open its second Irish outlet — in Cork — before the end of this year.

The London-headquartered group — which owns around 900 pubs across the UK — opened its first pub here in Blackrock, Co Dublin, this week and has plans to open around 30 in all in the coming years.

Currently, however, the company only has two further sites in the planning stages — one on Cork’s Paul St and the other in Dún Laoghaire. While the latter still awaits final planning permission, the Cork outlet is expected to open in November or December.

In a trading update published yesterday, JD Wetherspoon said that for the 10 weeks to last Sunday, its like-for-like sales increased by 4.9%, with total sales rising by 10.3% on a year-on-year basis. In the year to date, (the group’s financial year runs to the end of July), it said total sales are up by just under 10%.

Wetherspoon’s operating margin — in the 10 weeks to July 6 — was 8.1% and the full-year is now expected to be around that level. In the next financial year, the group expects the operating margin to be around 7.7% to 8.1%, subject to the level of like-for-like sales, the number of new pub openings and cost pressures.

“The company has opened 40 new pubs and closed five since the start of the financial year. We have eight sites under development and, in line with our last update, intend to open around 45 pubs in the current financial year. Our plans are to open around 30 to 40 pubs in the following financial year,” management said in yesterday’s statement.