Pub chain’s jobs boost for Yorkshire

The firm will invest more than £400m developing new pubs across the UK and Republic of Ireland. Wetherspoon, which already operates 931 pubs and employs 34,000 staff, said the new jobs will be spread across the new outlets as well as its existing sites. The new posts will include management roles, as well as jobs for bar, kitchen and front of house staff. Altogether, the pub chain plans to open 200 pubs and create 15,000 jobs over the next five years. A Wetherspoon’s spokesman said the company hoped to create 900 jobs in Yorkshire over the next five years, by opening another 20 pubs in the region. Wetherspoon already has around 50 pubs in Yorkshire.

Wetherspoon’s chairman Tim Martin said: “We are looking forward to opening the new pubs, many of which will be in areas where Wetherspoon is not yet represented. We are proud to be creating so many new jobs. Wetherspoon paid more than £600m in taxes in our last financial year, and this will rise to approximately £1bn in the course of the next five years.”

Earlier this month, Wetherspoon opened a pub in Bramley, West Yorkshire, which employs around 55 staff. The chain spent £1.76m developing the pub on Town Street, which has kept its original name, The Old Unicorn. Wetherspoon also recently opened a new pub in Morley, West Yorkshire. The Picture House stands on Queen Street, in a site which was formerly occupied by Arthritis Research UK and Blockbuster stores.