JD WETHERSPOON has confirmed that 11 of its pubs will be closing permanently after being sold – including one in Scotland.
The chain, which operates roughly 800 pubs around the UK and Ireland, previously announced that they would be putting 32 of their pubs on the market, saying it was a “commercial decision”.
Since that September announcement, Wetherspoons have added seven more to that list, and 11 are now detailed to close for good.
The chain said that its sales at the end of 2022 were far higher than the previous year, after a particularly strong Christmas, but still lagging slightly behind pre-pandemic levels.
Their like-for-like sales surged by nearly 18% over the last three months of 2022, compared with the same period in 2021.
The group’s chair, Tim Martin, said he feels the biggest threat to the hospitality industry is that pubs and restaurants are taxed unfairly, while supermarkets pay no VAT on food sales.
He said: “Supermarkets pay zero VAT in respect of food sales, whereas pubs and restaurants pay 20%. This tax benefit allows supermarkets to subsidise the selling price of beer.
“We estimate that supermarkets have taken about half of the pub industry’s beer volumes since Wetherspoon started trading in 1979, a process that has likely accelerated following the pandemic.
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“Pub industry directors have, in general, failed to campaign for tax equality, which is an important principle of taxation.”
He added that the industry will “inevitably shrink” relative to supermarkets if it does not campaign strongly for tax equality.
Here is a list of the 11 pubs to permanently close:
• Harvest Moon, Orpington
• Alexander Bain, Wick
• Chapel an Gansblydhen, Bodmin
• Moon on the Square, Basildon
• Coal Orchard, Taunton
• Running Horse, Airside Doncaster Airport
• Wild Rose, Bootle
• Edmund Halley, Lee Green
• The Willow Grove, Southport
• Postal Order, Worcester
• North and South Wales Bank, Wrexham
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