Wetherspoon to ramp up Munster expansion with €4m Waterford pub project 

The British pub group plans to begin development work on the new venue – to be called The Arundel Gate – in two weeks’ time and has targeted a December 14 opening date

The new pub will be located on Arundel Street/Broad Street in Waterford.

British pub group JD Wetherspoon is to increase its presence in Munster with the opening of its first bar in Waterford later this year.

Wetherspoon plans to begin development work on the new venue – to be called The Arundel Gate – in two weeks’ time and has targeted a December 14 opening date. The new pub will be located on Arundel Street/Broad Street in Waterford.

The company is investing €3.8m in the pub, which is being built on the site of a former bank and clothes shop. The site has been empty since December 2014.

A total of 70 full- and part-time jobs will be created at the pub, which will be situated over two floors and include two enclosed courtyard terraced garden areas.

Wetherspoon chief executive John Hutson said the new bar would be “a great asset” to Waterford.

“Hopefully our investment will act as a catalyst for other businesses to invest in Waterford,” he said.

Ambitious countrywide expansion plans

Wetherspoon has ambitious countrywide expansion plans for its Irish business and Munster is likely to feature prominently. 

An opening in Limerick is on the cards, while founder and chairman Tim Martin has previously said there is scope for more openings in Cork, where Wetherspoon currently owns The Linen Weaver bar on Paul Street in the city centre.

Wetherspoon is currently readying two new premises in Dublin – one being its Keavan’s Port superpub/hotel project on Camden Street, which at a cost of €21m is the group’s biggest project anywhere to date.

Wetherspoon already has seven pubs operating in Ireland – five in Dublin, one in Cork and one in Carlow. It has a long-term plan to have about 30 operating here. Mr Martin recently said new openings in Galway and Limerick are “not far behind” its Dublin plans.

Wetherspoon has also previously said it would consider opening bars in Irish airport terminals as part of its expansion here.