Support for Wetherspoons' breakfast move

Managed group JD Wetherspoon has ditched the uniform opening of pubs at 7am and introduced more flexible breakfast hours - in line with other operators.

The 7am openings were introduced in April as the operator went head-to-head in the breakfast battle with the likes of McDonalds.

A spokesman said it had not lost the appetite for the fight but that an across-the-board approach was no longer suitable.

He said: "It is now felt, that in line with other leading breakfast operators, including McDonald's, Starbucks and Costa Coffee, Wetherspoon does not need to take such a uniform approach to breakfast opening hours."

Around 300 will remain open for breakfast from 7am, 350 will open at 8am, and the remaining 130 will start serving from 9am.

Anya Gascoine Marco, head of food and beverage insight at Allegra Strategies, believed this was a sensible move.

"It is right for them with some pubs that are not in the right areas - where people aren't collecting their pensions or passing on their way to work - to change the hours. It makes sense and is not a sign of them doing badly, it's realistic."

Many other pubcos are attempting to up breakfast trading but not imposing uniform hours.

Cornwall brewer and pubco St Austell also introduced a flexible policy with its 25 managed houses following an initial breakfast push in 2008 when all its pubs initially opened early.

St Austell catering development manager, Paul Drye, at said: "They all tried but some were too remote so people were not going past the door.

"It works where there are a lot of people around - shoppers, tourists and business people."

Around 60 per cent of its pubs are now open for breakfast with opening times of 7.30am.

Getting the offer right is the key, according to Gascoine Marco who pointed to the success of Carlsberg's tie up with coffee brand LavAzza.

Barracuda has recognised this and is set to introduce Costa Coffee into its 217 outlets following a successful pilot. This coincides with the introduction of a 9am opening time and new breakfast menu.