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

Chairman Tim Martin said: 'Everything is in abeyance until we find out what is going to happen in the UK and Ireland'

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.