Wetherspoons considers Waterford opening

Pub giant JD Wetherspoon has said it may open an outlet in Waterford by the end of this year following its recent acquisition of two prominent city centre sites, with 40 jobs linked to the move.

Waterford City is one of five locations earmarked for an opening by the British chain for the Republic of Ireland in the short term, while it plans to open about 30 pubs here in the next five years, with an investment of €50m.

JD Wetherspoon, which runs more than 900 pubs across the UK, last week bought the former Evans clothing store and former TSB premises, adjoining properties in Broad St and Arundel Square in the middle of Waterford city. It is now expected to apply for planning permission to the for a €2 m pub development across the two buildings.

“Wetherspoon pubs tend to be a decent size. It’s important to make an impression when we open one of our pubs,” said a spokesman.

Other planned Irish openings in the next year include Paul St in Cork, Camden St in Dublin city, Blanchardstown, and Swords, but there is no specific timeline for any of these openings, as they depend on the length of time it takes to get through the planning process, but it is possible the Waterford pub will open later in 2015.

“We’re looking to open about 40 pubs across the UK this year,” said the spokesman. “Any of the Ireland pubs will go into that scheme. It [Waterford] could open in 2015. If we were able to open it tomorrow we’d be delighted and when we have the permissions we’ll start working, but we wouldn’t rush it just to achieve a certain timescale.”

Meanwhile, the company said yesterday it has “no plans” to sell Heineken in Ireland in the foreseeable future, or Diageo products such as Guinness.

“We don’t sell Guinness, Murphy’s, or Heineken in any of our Irish pubs,” the spokesman said.