Wetherspoon narrows annual losses as Britain’s pub trade grapples with rising costs and reduced spending

Pub operator JD Wetherspoon narrowed its annual loss from a year ago, even as the company battled soaring energy and labour costs.

Pub groups in Britain, still reeling from the Covid-19 pandemic, are now grappling with rising costs of everything from labour and ingredients to energy, and the threat of lower consumer spending, as inflation in the country continues to soar.

Last week, Wetherspoon’s rival Mitchells & Butlers also warned of tighter margins in its new financial year on higher costs.

Wetherspoon’s results also come after it said earlier this year that higher costs of labour and repairs were hurting its bottom line.

‘I’m alone pretty much all the time. The older I become, the less hopeful I am this will change’

---

Brazilian Deliveroo rider who intervened in Parnell Square attack: ‘I had time to think about what my purpose in life is’

---

The least famous best player the NBA has ever had: ‘I really wish nobody knows me’

---

Last hurrah in Strasbourg for MEPs retiring after elections

---

On Friday the company, which owns and operates more than 800 pubs throughout Ireland and Britain, reported a loss of £30.4 million for the 12 months ended July 31st, compared with £154.7 million loss last year.

“Perhaps the biggest threat to the hospitality industry is the possibility of further lockdowns and restrictions,” chairman Tim Martin said.

Like-for-like sales for the first nine weeks of the financial year were 10.1 per cent higher than in the same period last year, the company said.

— Reuters