The Wetherspoon European tour continues! Pub chain to open two new venues at another Spanish airport as continental expansion gathers pace
JD Wetherspoon will open two new pubs in Barcelona over the coming year, the business revealed today as it continues expanding into mainland Europe.
The new pubs at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport will open in the airside areas of Terminal 1 this September and the second at Terminal 2 next January.
Wetherspoon said the as-yet unnamed venues will have a combined customer area of more than 5,700 square foot (530 square metres) for almost 600 people.
The pubs - open every day from 5am to 11pm - will be operated by Ibersol Group, one of the largest franchised brand operators in Spanish and Portuguese travel.
Food will be served up to an hour before closing, with the menu including real ale and food found in UK pubs such as burgers and pizzas – as well as local dishes.
That venue, Castell de Santa Bàrbera, serves Stella Artois pints for €5.95 (£5.18), full English breakfasts for €10.25 (£8.92) and beef burgers with chips for €12.95 (£11.27).
Wetherspoon founder and chairman Sir Tim Martin said this morning: 'We are delighted to have secured two fantastic sites at Barcelona Airport.
The new Wetherspoon pubs will be at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat Airport (file photo)
Wetherspoon boss Sir Tim Martin is 'delighted' to have secured the two new sites in Barcelona
'In the short time since opening our pub at Alicante Airport has proven popular with travellers and we are confident we can replicate that at our two new pubs in Barcelona.
'We aim to open a number of pubs overseas in the coming months and years, including those at airports.'
Sir Tim first revealed in January last year that Wetherspoon was considering opening pubs abroad in some of Britons' favourite European holiday hotspots.
The chain had been eyeing up resorts popular with UK tourists in Spain – but confirmed at that time that it would not be considering China.
Sir Tim said he had been looking at franchises abroad after successful partnerships in Britain with Haven holiday parks and the universities of Hull and Newcastle.
The Watford-based company had never previously opened a pub outside the UK and Ireland until last month. The chain already operates 794 pubs in Britain.
Last week, Wetherspoon warned that higher labour costs, taxes and energy bills will drag on the group's profits and add to inflation in the UK economy.
Sir Tim said these cost increases 'may result in profits that are slightly below' market expectations, as the business faces £60million in extra costs each year due to increases in national insurance and wages.
New Wetherspoon pub Castell de Santa Bàrbera is opened at Alicante Airport on February 9
The pub in Alicante, pictured on its opening day last month, is in the airside area of departures
Wetherspoon is also facing an extra £7million in energy costs and £2.4million of costs from the Extended Producer Responsibility packaging tax.
The business reported last Friday that pre-tax profits slid by 31.9 per cent to £22.4million for the 26 weeks to January 25. It said this was particularly linked to higher wage costs, as well as £10million of repairs and £9million in business rates costs.
Meanwhile, revenues grew by 5.7 per cent to £1.09 billion for the half-year, compared with a year earlier, with like-for-like sales up 4.8 per cent.
This was buoyed by a 7 per cent rise in bar sales, while food sales grew 1.3 per cent and hotel room sales were down 0.6 per cent after removing a number of third-party booking agents in the UK, 'which charged high levels of commission'.
Wetherspoons said that, more recently, like-for-like sales grew 2.6 per cent over the seven weeks to March 15.
It also revealed that it opened six venues over the past half-year but also shut or sold off six. The business is expecting to have opened around 15 managed pubs in the UK by the end of the current financial year.
