Pub chain JD Wetherspoon has put 32 of its pubs up for sale after previously warning that it could face loses of £30 million due to rising staff wages and repairs. The venues are being marketed by commercial property specialists CBRE and Savills.
Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: "On occasion, Wetherspoon does put some of its pubs up for sale. This is a commercial decision. We understand that customers and staff will be disappointed with it.
"The pubs will continue to operate as Wetherspoon outlets until they are sold."
The pubs for sale include The Butler's Bell, on Goalgate Street, in Stafford, which was previously put up for sale only to be saved thanks to a 1,012-name petition, reports StokeonTrent Live.
CBRE senior director Toby Hall told The Mirror: "The excellent mix of locations in this portfolio is rarely seen in the market. With more than half of the portfolio located in London and the south-east and other strong locations in the south-west, Midlands and the north of England we believe the pubs represent an excellent opportunity for existing pub operators and new entrants".
The 32 JD Wetherspoon pubs up for sale:
Barnsley – Silkstone Inn
Beaconsfield – Hope & Champion
Bexleyheath – Wrong ‘Un
Bournemouth – Christopher Creeke
Cheltenham – Bank House
Durham – Water House
Halifax – Percy Shaw
Hanham – Jolly Sailor
Harrow – Moon on the Hill
Hove – Cliftonville Inn
London Battersea – Asparagus
London East Ham – Miller's Well
London Eltham – Bankers Draft
London Forest Gate – Hudson Bay
London Forest Hill – Capitol
London Hornsey – Toll Gate
London Holborn – Penderel's Oak
London Islington – Angel
London Palmers Green – Alfred Herring
Loughborough – Moon & Bell
Loughton – Last Post
Mansfield – Widow Frost
Middlesborough – Resolution
Purley – Foxley Hatch
Redditch – Rising Sun
Sevenoaks - Sennockian
Southampton – Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis
Stafford – Butler's Bell
Watford – Colombia Press
West Bromwich – Billiard Hall
Willenhall – Malthouse
Wirral – John Masefield.
Wetherspoon has 872 branches and employs 43,000 people. It made a £76.6million profit in 2020. Founder Tim Martin was born in Norwich in 1955, to a dad who worked for Guinness.
He lived in the UK, New Zealand and Northern Ireland, and went to 11 schools as the family moved around. Martin then went on to the University of Nottingham and became a barrister in 1979.
He bought a bookies-turned-pub in London's Muswell Hill in the same year and renamed it Wetherspoon in 1980. Wetherspoon was the name of one of Martin's teachers, who told him he would never be a success.
The company floated on the Stock Exchange on 1992 and became JD Wetherspoon plc. The 'JD' part of the company name 'JD Wetherspoons' was taken from a character in the US TV series The Dukes of Hazzard.
