JD Wetherspoon has announced it will put seven more of its pubs up for sale taking the total of affected venues this year to 39. The pub group confirmed it would sell off 32 of its pubs in September, including one venue near Bristol.
Wetherspoons said it was facing losses of up to £30 million and rising costs in part due to repairs to its pubs, higher wages and food. It also said it would pay an extra £10 million in interest over the next year as a result of higher rates.
On Thursday (November 10), a spokesperson for the group confirmed seven more would be sold too. Wetherspoons has not yet said where the affected venues are in the most recent decision.
Read more: Popular pub near Bristol 'sorry' after announcing sudden closure
The spokesperson said the sell-off was a "commercial decision" and that the venues would continue to trade until a buyer was found. If no sale can be agreed then the venues will stay open as normal Wetherspoons, reports MirrorOnline.
In September, The Jolly Sailor on the High Street in Hanham was one of the sites selected to be sold. Regular customers of the pub on the Bristol border were left "gutted" at the news with many hoping another business would take over.
It now seems unlikely that the pub will be saved after the venue was put on the market this month. The pub is being marketed by estate agent Savills and the venue is being sold as a public house, although it does warn that any leftover stock will be removed from the premises prior to completion.
As the venue sits on "development land", as written in the listing, there is no guarantee that the people who buy the property will keep it as a pub. There is no price for how much the property is on the market for, it just says "price on application".
Wetherspoons has an empire of more than 800 pubs across the UK and Ireland. Despite the planned closures, the group’s chairman, Tim Martin, said it was going to press ahead with new venues in Gatwick Airport and Birmingham New Street Station.
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