Marston’s pub
(Picture: Marston’s)Pub chain Marston’s is planning to sell some of its pubs as the firm continues to lag behind pre-pandemic levels of sales.
The Wolverhampton-based business said revenues in the year to October were still 1% behind 2019 and warned electricity prices in recent weeks were higher than anticipated because of a “volatile market”.
Marston’s boss Andrew Andrea told the Standard: “We’ve got some lower-end, non-strategic sites we will sell over the next year or so… our strategy is not to be a city and town-centre pub group.”
It comes after pub rival JD Wetherspoon said that it was putting 32 sites up for sale, including nine in London, following a £30 million loss, with boss Tim Martin complaining again about the tax advantages supermarkets have over pubs when it comes to paying VAT on food.
Andrea said the pub sell-off was unlikely to include London sites as “they’re still performing pretty well”
“But everything has a price,” he warned.
There were some signs of green shoots at the firm, with revenues in recent weeks at 4% above 2019 levels and hopes for a World Cup bounce later this year. How big a sales boost the tournament delivers will depend on how far England progressed, Andrea said.
“If I look at the Premier League and Champions League seasons to date, people are still coming out to pubs to watch sport -- it’s a good place to go with friends,” he said.
“As the tournament goes on, if England are there you bank an uptick in sales.”
Marston’s has over a dozen pubs in London including in Waterloo, Cornhill and Moorgate.
