JD Wetherspoons to expand as Irish pubs outperform those in the UK

British pub group JD Wetherspoon is set to hunt out more new sites here on the back of its Irish pubs outperforming its UK operations in a better-than-expected start to its financial year, writes Geoff Percival.

Ahead of publishing first- half figures in March, the group said that like-for-like sales for its combined business across Britain and Ireland rose 6% and sales jumped by over 4% in the six months to January 21.