JDW to reopen further 44 pubs in England

21-Apr-2021 - Last updated on 21-Apr-2021 at 09:57 GMT

Outside service: the reopening of more JDW sites means the company will have more than 500 pubs trading outdoors from the beginning of May (image: Getty/shironosov)

Pub giant JD Wetherspoon (JDW) is preparing to reopen more pubs in England next week (Monday 26 April).

This is in addition to the 394 sites the group reopened at the beginning of this week (Monday 12 April), for outdoor trading.

The venues including those in Guildford, Ilkeston, Lincoln, Morecambe, Camborne, Driffield, Nottingham, Reading and London.

Also next Monday, the pub group will reopen 60 sites in Scotland, and 32 in Wales, in accordance with the rules of the devolved nations. Three JDW pubs in Northern Ireland will reopen on Friday 30 April.

This will mean 533 of the company’s 871-strong estate will be trading by the end of this month (April).

Trading plan

From next Monday, all JDW pubs will extend their opening hours by an hour each day. English pubs will be open from 9am to 10pm Sunday to Thursday and 9am until 11pm on Friday and Saturday, although some have restrictions on closing times and will shut earlier where this is the case.

Pubgoers will be able to order and pay through the JDW app however, staff can take orders from those customers who don’t have the app.

A booking system will not be in place and customers will be permitted to access to outside areas and the toilets via the pubs.

There will also be a test and trace system in operation alongside hand sanitisers throughout the sites.

JDW chief executive John Hutson said: “We are looking forward to opening the extra pubs in England as well as those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

“We look forward to welcoming our customers and staff back to our pubs.”

Future development

This follows the company’s announcement it is set to invest £895m into 168 new sites and refurbishing existing venues, as part of a 10-year plan.

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.

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.

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