JD Wetherspoon to put a further seven pubs up for sale

JD Wetherspoon is to put a further seven of its pubs on the market this week after warning of the impact of rising costs.

The location of the sites has not yet been disclosed but it is understood most are close to existing Wetherspoon pubs.

The chain, which operates 847 pubs in the UK and Ireland, put 32 sites in England up for sale in September.

Wetherspoon said today it had opened one pub and sold five during the past 14 weeks, resulting in a cash inflow of £1.9m.

Like-for-like sales during the period were 9.6% higher than last year and 0.4% up on 2019.

But in an update to investors, the company warned costs of labour, food and repairs were "substantially higher" this year.

The pub group said trading over the past 14 weeks had been broadly in line with expectations, but October had been a slightly slower month.

Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said he was "cautiously optimistic" about its prospects if no further coronavirus restrictions were introduced.

Last month Martin warned the pub sector faced a challenge to attract back customers who had become used to buying cheaper supermarket beer during lockdown.

The company reported a return to positive cash flow in FY22 and anticipates a positive cash flow in the current year.