JD Wetherspoon sells five pubs in Northern Ireland

British pub chain JD Wetherspoon is calling time on five of its pubs in the North and has sold them on to a family run Northern Ireland business who plan to continue to operate them as pubs.

No financial details of the sale of the pubs to The Granny Annie’s Group, which currently operate three licensed premises in Limavady, Derry and Belfast, have been disclosed.

Acquisition

But the acquisition by the Northern Ireland group of the five former Wetherspoon pubs; The Old Courthouse in Coleraine; The Spinning Mill in, Ballymena; The Linen Hall in Enniskillen; The Diamond and The Ice Wharf, both in Derry has been welcomed by industry group Hospitality Ulster.

Chief executive Colin Neill said: “We are encouraged to hear that all the staff will transfer across to the new owners and that there will be no job losses.

“This is especially welcome as we move into the festive season, the busiest time of the year for the hospitality sector.”

Mr Neill said the purchase by The Granny Annie’s Group was a “significant level of investment” and was a good sign of the confidence that it has in the local hospitality sector.

Investment

The group has said it intends to invest £3 million in the five pubs it has acquired and has also recently purchased new premises in Belfast and Portrush which they intend to open during the first half of 2017.

JD Wetherspoon has not elaborated on why it was last orders for the five pubs that they have off-loaded in the North.

The founder of JD Wetherspoon and chairman Tim Martin simply said: "We understand that our loyal customers will be disappointed with the decision to sell five of our pubs in Northern Ireland.

“However, as a company we have to make commercial decisions and it was decided to sell the pubs.”

Mr Martin said the group was also looking to open two new pubs in Belfast, which has led some industry insiders to speculate that JD Wetherspoon intends to focus on the greater Belfast area in the future.

It plans to continue to operate its pubs in Belfast, Newtownards, Carrickfergus and Lisburn and is seeking permission to open new pubs in a former retail unit in Royal Avenue and a former church in University Street in Belfast.

JD Wetherspoon has said it intends to spend more than £4.5 million and potentially create 100 jobs across the two. The group operates more than 900 pubs in Britain and has five bars in in the Republic.