JD Wetherspoon reveals poor drink sales at motorway site
Martin was speaking after Wetherspoon’s latest results, which showed like-for-like sales up 6.3% but reported a disappointing October.
Martin told the Publican's Morning Advertiser's sister title M&C Report: “October was not that bad but could have been better. It was a combination of the Indian summer coming to an end and a period when costs went up.”
On the Hope & Champion, situated at Beaconsfield services off the M40, Martin said: “It has been slower than we hoped. As you would expect, food sales have been good, but drink has not performed as well.”
He added: “McDonald’s and Nando’s are doing better than us. There is a feeling people would rather have a coffee at the service station then a pint when they get home. We thought we could attract custom from passengers and maybe it would be ‘all right on the night’.”
Martin claimed it was too early to say what would happen to the project, saying: “We have got a 30-year lease so we will probably look again in eight or nine years.”
Wetherspoon's results
Wetherspoon’s first quarter results reported total sales increasing by 11.3% with a good performance through August and September, but slower in October.
The company also said it had agreed an additional five-year bank facility with Handelsbanken, increasing overall facilities to £740m.
The operating margin in the period was 7.7%, compared with 8.3% in the same period last year. In October, pay for hourly paid staff rose by 5%, while utility costs increased by about 4%. There were also “several cost increases from suppliers”.
Included in the statement were concerns about tax hikes “penalising pubs”.
It complained about changes announced in 2012 to the VAT treatment of gaming machines, which meant pubs were no longer allowed to set off all VAT charged by suppliers against VAT charged to customers.
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