JD Wetherspoon has announced plans to open 18 new pubs and create 2,000 jobs, but has cautioned that if new Covid regulations are imposed, the investment will be canceled.
The pub chain also announced that it will “significantly extend” 57 of its existing pubs, with construction expected to begin within weeks of the pubs reopening following the relaxing of lockdown laws.
The £145 million initiative was revealed only one day after Wetherspoon founder Tim Martin cautioned that vaccine passports would be the "last straw" for failing pubs, forcing bartenders into a "bitter civil liberties battle" with customers.
Leeds, Birmingham, Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire, Sheffield, Felixstowe in Suffolk, Heswall on the Wirral, Dublin, Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, Carmarthen, and Glasgow will be among the first towns to get new pubs and extensions.
Wetherspoon has stated that it plans to spend an additional £750 million over the next ten years to open 15 new pubs and expand 50 existing pubs, resulting in the creation of 20,000 new jobs.
“Our immediate investment will provide employment for architects, contractors, and builders, as well as result in 2,000 new jobs for workers in our pubs,” Mr. Martin said when announcing the plans.
“Within a few months, we will begin working on the first designs.
“Over the next decade, we are still committed to our long-term investment and job development program."
“However, the investment is contingent on the United Kingdom reopening on a long-term basis, with no further limitations or rule changes.”
Mr. Martin has been a vocal opponent of public health policies introduced to combat the coronavirus.
As coronavirus case numbers rose rapidly in parts of England in January, Wetherspoon removed lockdown-skeptical posters from its venues.
Pages from Wetherspoon News, the company's magazine, were available to download and display in pub windows.
It was part of Mr. Martin's fight against government controls, which he said were "messing up the economy as well as the nation's health."
One of the flyers included a news report from November 20th of last year that challenged government scientists' dire warnings about the danger posed by the second Covid-19 wave.
