JDW to pump £895m in 168 new pubs and refurbishing existing sites

The development has a pipeline of 75 projects including 18 new pubs and 57 “significant” extensions as well as upgrades to other existing sites initially, which is set to take place as pubs are permitted to reopen. The company estimated this will cost £145m.

The first part of the plan will be in areas such as Leeds, Birmingham, Newport Pagnell, Heswall, Sheffield, Felixstowe, Dublin, Haverfordwest, Carmarthen and Glasgow.

Once these 75 are completed, JDW anticipates investing a further £750m in opening 15 new pubs alongside enlarging 50 existing sites each year for 10 years. The decade-long project will result in 20,000 new jobs, the pub group has estimated.

Committed to long-term investment

Should the group retain all its current sites, it would mean the estate would grow from its existing portfolio of 871 to 1,039.

JDW founder and chairman Tim Martin said: “Our immediate investment will provide work for architects, contractors and builders as well as result in 2,000 new jobs for staff in our pubs.

“We are geared up to start on the first projects within a few months. We are also committed to our long-term investment and job creation programme over the next decade.

“However, the investment is conditional on the UK opening back up again on the long-term basis, with no further lockdowns or the constant changing of rules.”

Reopening plans

This comes after the pub group announced plans to reopen almost half (45%) of its estate for outside trading​​ from 12 April.

Beer gardens, roof top gardens and patios at 394 of its sites in England will be open from 9am until 9pm Sunday to Thursday and 9am to 10pm on Friday and Saturday.

The Government's roadmap will allow pubs to trade outside only, with the rule of six and table service in place.

However, some JDW venues have restrictions on closing times and in those cases, will be shut earlier.