JD Wetherspoon puts Irish pub plans on ice due to Covid uncertainty

Tim Martin: Urged Irish and British governments to keep pubs and bars open and resist using lockdown as a Covid defence strategy

British pub group JD Wetherspoon has put its longer-term Irish expansion and investment plans on hold until there is more clarity over how the bar trade can function within the Government’s Covid-19 guidelines.

Wetherspoon has seven pubs in Ireland, a small number in various stages of development, and a long-term plan to have around 30 operating here. 

It sees scope for further openings in Cork as part of its ultimate expansion here.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: “Everything is in abeyance until we find out what is going to happen in the UK and Ireland. At this stage, we’re taking stock as the rules are changing every day.” 

However, Wetherspoon still plans to open its nearly complete €21m pub/hotel project on Dublin’s Camden St in November if Government restrictions allow.

Regarding longer-term investment, Mr Martin said the UK will be the determining factor for the group, as almost all of Wetherspoon’s 900 or so pubs are based there, and the bulk of its revenues are generated there.

He said that would normally allow the group to be more relaxed about investment plans for Ireland, but rising pub trade uncertainty in the UK has made it “impossible to plan”, has forced all finances into lockdown mode, and has heightened the need to minimise outgoings.

Mr Martin is of the view that lockdowns are not working as a Covid-19 defence measure, and that the UK and Ireland should both adopt Sweden’s model of keeping bars open, albeit with social distancing and health and safety guidelines.

Wetherspoon posted a £105.4m (€116.4m) pre-tax loss for its latest financial year — its first loss since the mid-1980s — along with a 31% drop in annual revenue to £1.26bn.

It will also cut more than 100 jobs at its UK headquarters.

Mr Martin recently said that Wetherspoon could open outlets in Irish airports as part of its expansion plan.

“In the long term, [we’d look at] any busy area within the Republic, including airports," he said.

Wetherspoon — which employs around 43,000 people — said last month that it may have to cut almost half of the 1,000 people it employs in bars across six major airports in England and Scotland.