Pub closures reach new high as hospitality braces for Budget November 6, 2025 Pubs and bars are closing at the fastest rate seen this century, fresh City AM analysis has found, as rising costs squeeze many in the hospitality sector to the point of collapse. The number of British pubs and bar businesses appointing liquidators or administrators surged to 449 in the first 10 months of the year, [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Next sales jump; GSK profit upgrade October 29, 2025 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. If there are fears about an AI bubble, no one’s telling the folk over on Wall Street. Yesterday both Apple and Microsoft saw their stocks jump, making them both $4tn companies, joining an exclusive club of which chipmaker Nvidia is the only other member. This was the [...]
Greene King vs Spoons: Who is winning the great British pub battle? May 20, 2025 There are few well-populated areas of the UK where you can’t find either a Greene King or JD Wetherspoon pub. The two titans of the British pubs industry together operate thousands of locations each across the country and are staples of most urban areas. Both are major contributors to the UK economy – providing employment [...]
Wetherspoon, Marston’s and Young’s manage to fend off UK pubs crisis – for now May 13, 2025 Some of the UK’s biggest pub chains – JD Wetherspoon, Marston’s and Young’s – have all proved surprisingly resilient in avoiding the hospitality crisis predicted last Autumn. The London-listed companies have all reported better-than-expected trading over the last year, despite very low business and consumer confidence. In an update to markets this morning, Marston’s reported [...]
Wetherspoons fails to prove cider is not alcohol in tax dispute April 24, 2025 Budget boozer Wetherspoons unsuccessfully argued cider did not fall within the meaning of 'alcoholic beverages' in a VAT dispute with HMRC
Wetherspoons: Pub group hikes dividend despite cost warning March 21, 2025 Pub giant J D Wetherspoon has reported a dip in profits in its half-year results despite an uplift in sales, while chairman Tim Martin warned that rising labour costs and tax disparities are set to hit the pub industry hard. Its share price fell more than seven per cent in early trades. Like-for-like sales rose [...]
Food Review: Ranking Wetherspoon’s Christmas menu at new Waterloo pub December 25, 2024 City AM's finest food reviewers, Steve Dinneen, Anna Moloney and Christopher Dorrell, try every single item on the new Wetherspoon's festive menu.
Tim Martin warns against pub crackdown as JD Wetherspoon smashes profit expectations October 4, 2024 Profit at JD Wetherspoon over the last year exceeded even the high expectations from the market, bringing in £73.9m of pre-tax profit, compared to expectations of £72m. The chain of pubs reported it had made more than £2bn in sales over the year to the end of July, an eight per cent increase from last [...]
The Debate: Wetherspoons – is it magical or miserable? September 12, 2024 Wetherspoons, JD Wetherspoon, or Spoons as most of us call it. Should we be proud or ashamed?
Wetherspoons pubs to make huge price cuts in VAT protest September 5, 2024 Pub giant JD Wetherspoon will make a huge cut to its prices next week in a bid to highlight what it describes as the benefit of a permanent VAT reduction in the hospitality industry. The London-listed giant, which has sites across the country, will be reducing the price of its food and drink by 7.5 [...]