Sales and profits surge for J D Wetherspoon

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J D Wetherspoon plc (LON:JDW) has announced its preliminary results for the 52 weeks ended 28 July 2024.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS	Var %

Before separately disclosed items
Ÿ Like-for-like sales	+7.6%
Ÿ Revenue £2,035.5m (2023: £1,925.0m)	+5.7%
Ÿ Profit before tax £73.9m (2023: £42.6m)	+73.5%
Ÿ Operating profit £139.5m (2023: £107.1m)	+30.2%
Ÿ Diluted earnings per share 46.8p (2023: 26.4p)	+77.3%
Ÿ Free cash inflow per share 26.4p (2023: 211.4p)	-87.5%
Ÿ Full year dividend 12.0p (2023: 0.0p)	+100%

After separately disclosed items¹
Ÿ Profit before tax £60.6m (2023: £90.5m)	-33.0%
Ÿ Operating profit £142.6m (2023: £106.0m)	+34.5%
Ÿ Diluted earnings per share 39.0p (2023: 46.5p)	-16.1%

¹Separately disclosed items as disclosed in note 4.

Commenting on the results, Tim Martin, the Chairman of J D Wetherspoon plc, said:

“Sales continue to improve. In the last nine weeks, to 29 September 2024, like-for-like sales increased by 4.9%.

“The company continues to be concerned about the possibility of further lockdowns and about the efficacy of the government enquiry into the pandemic, which will not be concluded for several years.

“In contrast, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on its findings in 2022.

“Professor Francois Balloux, director of the UCL Genetics Institute, writing in The Guardian, and Professor Robert Dingwall, of Trent University, writing in the Telegraph, provide useful synopses of the WHO report:

(see pages 54-56 of Wetherspoon News

https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Wetherspoon-News-autumn-2022.pdf)

“The conclusion of Professor Balloux, broadly echoed by Professor Dingwall, based on an analysis by the World Health Organisation of the pandemic, is that Sweden (which did not lock down), had a Covid-19 fatality rate “of about half the UK’s” and that “the worst performer, by some margin, is Peru, despite enforcing the harshest, longest lockdown.

“Professor Balloux concludes that “the strength of mitigation measures does not seem to be a particularly strong indicator of excess deaths.

“The company currently anticipates a reasonable outcome for the current financial year, subject to our future sales performance.”

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT

Financial performance

The company was founded in 1979 – and this is the 41st year since incorporation in 1983.

The table below outlines some key aspects of our performance during that period.

Summary accounts for the years 1984-2024

Financial year	Total numberof pubs(sites)	Total sales£000	Profit/(loss)before tax and separately disclosed items£000	Earnings pershare beforeseparately disclosed itemspence³	Free cash flow£000	Free cash flowper share pence^2,3
1984	1	818	(7)	–
1985	2	1,890	185	0.2
1986	2	2,197	219	0.2
1987	5	3,357	382	0.3
1988	6	3,709	248	0.3
1989	9	5,584	789	0.6	915	0.4
1990	19	7,047	603	0.4	732	0.4
1991	31	13,192	1,098	0.8	1,236	0.6
1992	45	21,380	2,020	1.9	3,563	2.1
1993	67	30,800	4,171	3.3	5,079	3.9
1994	87	46,600	6,477	3.6	5,837	3.6
1995	110	68,536	9,713	4.9	13,495	7.4
1996	146	100,480	15,200	7.8	20,968	11.2
1997	194	139,444	17,566	8.7	28,027	14.4
1998	252	188,515	20,165	9.9	28,448	14.5
1999	327	269,699	26,214	12.9	40,088	20.3
2000	428	369,628	36,052	11.8	49,296	24.2
2001	522	483,968	44,317	14.2	61,197	29.1
2002	608	601,295	53,568	16.6	71,370	33.5
2003	635	730,913	56,139	17.0	83,097	38.8
2004	643	787,126	54,074	17.7	73,477	36.7
2005⁴	655	809,861	47,177	16.9	68,774	37.1
2006	657	847,516	58,388	24.1	69,712	42.1
2007	671	888,473	62,024	28.1	52,379	35.6
2008	694	907,500	58,228	27.6	71,411	50.6
2009	731	955,119	66,155	32.6	99,494	71.7
2010	775	996,327	71,015	36.0	71,344	52.9
2011	823	1,072,014	66,781	34.1	78,818	57.7
2012	860	1,197,129	72,363	39.8	91,542	70.4
2013	886	1,280,929	76,943	44.8	65,349	51.8
2014	927	1,409,333	79,362	47.0	92,850	74.1
2015	951	1,513,923	77,798	47.0	109,778	89.8
2016	926	1,595,197	80,610	48.3	90,485	76.7
2017	895	1,660,750	102,830	69.2	107,936	97.0
2018	883	1,693,818	107,249	79.2	93,357	88.4
2019	879	1,818,793	102,459	75.5	96,998	92.0
2020⁶	872	1,262,048	(44,687)	(35.5)	(58,852)	(54.2)
2021³	861	772,555	(154,676)	(119.2)	(83,284)	(67.8)
2022³	852	1,740,477	(30,448)	(19.6)	21,922	17.3
2023³	826	1,925,044	42,559	26.4	271,095	211.4
2024	800	2,035,500	73,875	46.8	33,037	26.4

Notes

Adjustments to statutory numbers

1. Where appropriate, the earnings/losses per share (EPS), as disclosed in the statutory accounts, have been recalculated to take account of share splits, the issue of new shares and capitalisation issues.

2. Free cash flow per share excludes dividends paid which were included in the free cash flow calculations in the annual report and accounts for the years 1995-2000.

3. EPS and free cash flow per share are calculated using dilutive shares in issue.

4. Before 2005, the accounts were prepared under UKGAAP. All accounts from 2005 to date have been prepared under IFRS.

5. Apart from the items in notes 1-4, all numbers are as reported in each year’s published accounts.

6. From financial year 2020 data is based on post-IFRS 16 numbers following the transition from IAS17 to IFRS 16.

Continued Recovery

The recovery from the pandemic continued in FY24, the year under review.

In the first full post-lockdown financial year (FY22), like-for-like (LFL) sales declined by 4.7% compared to the pre-pandemic FY19. LFL sales, on the same basis, increased to 7.4% in FY23 and to 16.0% in FY24.

Total sales in FY24, which were £2,036 million, have increased by £217 million compared to FY19, although the number of pubs decreased from 879 at the FY19 year-end to 800 at FY24.

Profits, before tax and separately disclosed items, like sales, have also continued to make progress, improving from a loss of £30 million in FY22, to a profit before tax of £43 million in FY23 and to £74 million in FY24.

Increased Freehold Ownership

Since 2010, the company has invested £458 million in acquiring the freehold “reversions” of pubs where it was previously the tenant.

72% of pubs are now freehold, an increase from 41% in 2010.

Continued Expansion

As previously stated, our best estimate is that the company has potential for about 1,000 pubs in the UK. Examples of recent pub openings include The Captain Flinders near Euston Station, The Lion and the Unicorn in Waterloo Station, the Star Light, Heathrow Airport, and The Grand Assembly in Marlow, all in the London region.

In addition to new openings, there is potential to expand existing successful pubs, by adding gardens or, for example, by expanding existing customer areas into adjacent buildings.

Recent examples of the expansion of existing pubs include: The Prince of Wales, Cardiff; The Sir John Moore, Glasgow; The Six Chimneys, Wakefield; Wetherspoons, Victoria Station, London; The Red Lion, Skegness; The Talk of the Town, Paignton; The Albany Palace, Trowbridge and The Mile Castle, Newcastle.

As previously indicated, the company is also increasing investment in new staff rooms, changing rooms, glass racks above bars (to cater for increased usage of brewers’ “branded glasses”) and air conditioning.

Trading summary

Total sales in FY24 were £2,036 million, an increase of 5.7%, compared to FY23.

LFL sales, compared to FY23, increased by 7.6%. LFL bar sales increased by 8.9%, food sales by 5.6%, slot/fruit machine sales by 10.8% and hotel-room sales by 2.7%.

LFL sales were stronger than total sales due to a small number of pub disposals and lease terminations.

Operating profit, before separately disclosed items, was £139.5 million (2023: £107.1 million). The operating margin, before separately disclosed items, was 6.9% (2023: 5.6%).

Profit, before tax and separately disclosed items, was £73.9 million (2023: £42.6 million).

In the period, the company sold eighteen pubs and terminated the lease of an additional nine pubs. This gave rise to a cash inflow of £8.9 million.

There was an exceptional loss on disposal of approximately £13.4 million, recognised in the income statement, relating to these pubs.

The company opened two pubs in the year; the Star Light at Heathrow Airport and The Captain Flinders, close to Euston Station in London.

Franchises

Wetherspoon opened its first franchised pub in Hull University’s student union in January 2022. The second opened at Newcastle University in September 2023, and the third at Haven Primrose Valley Holiday Park, Filey, North Yorkshire in March 2024. Further franchise proposals are under consideration.

Earnings

Earnings per share, before separately disclosed items, were 48.6p (2023: 27.0p).

Total capital investment was £116.5 million (2023: £78.5 million). £11.9 million was invested in new pubs and pub extensions (2023: £20.4 million), £82.6 million in existing pubs and IT (2023: £47.0 million) and £21.9 million in freehold reversions of properties where Wetherspoon was the tenant (2023: £11.2 million).

Separately disclosed items

Overall, there was a pre-tax ‘separately disclosed loss’ of £13.3 million (2023: £48.0 million gain).

Operating profit, after separately disclosed items, was £142.6 million (2023: £106.0 million).

Profit before tax, after separately disclosed items, was £60.6 million (2023: £90.5 million).

Details of the separately disclosed items are given in note 4 of the accounts.

The tax effect on separately disclosed items is a credit of £3.5 million (2023: debit of £22.2 million).

Following £19.9 million of impairment charges and £7.6 million of impairment reversals in the year, the net book value of the company’s assets in the balance sheet is £1.37 billion, which is approximately seven times the company’s EBITDA (pre IFRS-16 and pre separately disclosed items), in the last 12 months, of £192.8 million.

Free cash flow

There was a free cash inflow of £33.0 million in the period, including £14.8 million from the sale of interest rate swaps (2023: £271.1 million inflow, including £169.4 million from the sale of interest rate swaps).

Free cash flow was lower than profits due to:

– the amount that the company owed to suppliers and other third parties, such as HMRC, reducing from £329 million at the end of FY23 to £298 million at the end of the period under review.

– higher-than-usual levels of reinvestment in existing pubs, which increased from £47 million in FY23 to £83 million in FY24. This reinvestment, relating to the projects mentioned above, was around £17 million more than the P&L depreciation charge for the period.

– £5 million of loan issue costs in the period relating to the refinancing of the company’s loans.

Balance sheet

Debt, excluding IFRS-16 lease debt, was £660.0 million at the period end (30 July 2023: £641.9 million).

On an IFRS-16 basis, which includes notional debt from leases, debt increased from £1.06 billion to £1.07 billion at the end of FY24.

Debt levels, excluding IFRS-16 lease debt, have decreased from £804.5 million to £660.0 million since January 2020, just before the first lockdown. On an IFRS-16 basis, debt decreased from £1.45 billion to £1.07 billion during this period.

Dividends and return of capital

As a result of the improved trading and financial position of the company, the board is recommending the payment of a final dividend, equivalent to the 2019 annual dividend, of 12 pence (2023: nil) per share.

During the period, 5,127,959 shares (4.1% of the share capital) were purchased by the company for cancellation, at a cost of £39.5 million, including stamp duty and fees, representing an average cost per share of 770p.

Financing

The company has total available finance facilities of £938.0 million.

On 6 June 2024, the company signed a new four-year £840.0 million banking agreement on attractive terms.

On 22 August 2023, the company disposed of all interest rate swaps in place, receiving £14.8 million to do so.

At the same time, the company took out a new interest-rate swap of £200.0 million from 23 August 2023 to 6 February 2025 at a rate of 5.67%.

On 25 September 2023, the company took out a further interest-rate swap of £400.0 million from 6 February 2025 to 6 February 2028 at a rate of 4.23%.

The total cost of the company’s debt, in the period under review, including the banks’ margin was 7.05% (30 July 2023: 6.09%).

Taxation

The total tax charge for the period was £15.4 million in respect of profits before separately disclosed items (2023: £8.7 million).

The total tax charge comprises two parts. The first part is the actual current tax (the ‘cash’ tax) which this year is £2.9 million (2023: nil).

The second part is deferred tax (the ‘accounting’ tax), which is tax payable in future periods, that must be recognised in the current period for accounting purposes. The accounting tax charge for the period is £12.5 million (2023: £8.7 million).

You cannot be serious

Pubs are highly regulated businesses, controlled by licensing laws, which originate in parliament.

In recent weeks, according to press reports, two potential changes to licensing regulations have been aired by government ministers and academic researchers, both aimed at lowering alcohol consumption.

The first is that pub and hospitality licensing hours might be reduced. Since 1988, pubs have been able to open all day, having previously been required to close for around two or three hours each afternoon.

In addition, in 2005, the then government further liberalised licensing laws, which resulted in many pubs opening an hour or two more in the evening – in Wetherspoon’s case, usually until midnight on weekdays and until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Counterintuitively, since these liberalisations, the share of alcohol consumption of the “on-trade” – pubs, clubs, restaurants etc – has plummeted.

In the early 1980s, the on-trade accounted for about 90% of beer sales, for example.

This dropped to about 50% before the pandemic and is now about 40%, probably due to the increase in price disparity with supermarkets, which stems from the tax disadvantage referred to in the section entitled “VAT equality” below.

The effect of reducing pub opening times would certainly further reduce on-trade consumption, but that reduction is likely to be replaced by “off-trade” consumption at home and in other “unregulated” environments.

Among the advantages of the on-trade, linked to regulation, are that consumption is supervised by trained licensees, police and local authorities, in many cases including CCTV coverage of premises, and so on.

This does not mean that pubs are invariably oases of tranquillity but, in general, pub behaviour is good and pubs are valued by communities.

The second, slightly daft, proposal is reported as emanating from Cambridge University – that pubs should sell beer in quantities of two-thirds of a pint (sometimes called schooners), rather than the traditional pint.

Common sense indicates that reducing glass sizes is unlikely, due to human nature, to reduce alcohol consumption in pubs, and would also have no effect whatsoever on drinks bought in supermarkets, unless container sizes in supermarkets were also, unrealistically, reduced.

For example, our Aussie cousins, notorious guzzlers, already use schooners without any noticeable reduction in consumption.

Both these proposals seem likely, if implemented, to encourage off-trade consumption at the expense of the on-trade, thereby exchanging the relatively highly priced and supervised pub environment for the inexpensive and unsupervised alternative of home, park and party consumption.

The word ‘pub’ may have a misleading connotation for some ministers and researchers. For example, Wetherspoon’s highest selling draught product by far, is Pepsi. Coffee and tea volumes, which are not in the draught category, are approximately double those of Pepsi. The reality is that products sold in pubs have radically changed in recent decades.

In summary, neither of these proposals would seem to pass the common-sense test, as John McEnroe would no doubt aver.

Scottish Business Rates

In appendix 1 below, we explain how business rates for Scottish pubs, theoretically based on property values, have, by a strange process of legal reasoning, become a de facto sales tax, based on the sales performance of the occupier.

VAT equality

Wetherspoon, along with many in the hospitality industry, has been a strong advocate of tax equality between the off-trade, which consists mainly of supermarkets, and the on-trade, consisting mainly of pubs, clubs and restaurants.

Pubs, clubs and restaurants pay 20% VAT in respect of food sales but supermarkets pay nothing. Supermarkets also pay far less business rates per pint or meal than pubs.

It does not make economic sense for the tax system to favour mainly out-of-town supermarkets over mainly high-street pubs.

This imbalance is a major factor in town centre and high street dereliction.

How pubs contribute to the economy

Wetherspoon and other pub and restaurant companies have always generated far more in taxes than are earned in profit.

In the financial year ended 28 July 2024, the company generated taxes of £780.2 million.

The table below shows the £6.2 billion of tax revenue generated by the company, its staff and customers in the last ten years.

Each pub, on average, generated £7.1 million in tax during that period. The tax generated by the company, during this period, equates to approximately 26 times the company’s profits after tax.

Republic of Ireland pubs contributed €14.0 million of Irish tax contributions during the year, of which €7.9 million related to VAT, €3.5 million alcohol duty and €2.3 million employment taxes.

Corporate Governance

Wetherspoon has been a strong critic of the composition of the boards of UK-quoted companies.

Directors of UK PLCs have, on average, relatively little experience of the companies they govern, due to the “nine-year rule”, which limits their tenure, combined with the fact that most directors are part-time, and have never worked for the company in question, on a full-time basis.

In addition, those responsible for overseeing governance, among institutional shareholders, are often responsible for several hundred companies each, making genuine board engagement impossible, and thereby necessitating a “tick-box” approach, which is the antithesis of good governance.

The combination of arbitrary rules, the preponderance of part-time directors and overloaded institutional governance departments means that bureaucracy and virtue-signalling, rather than innovation and efficacy, dominate most UK PLC boardrooms.

Further progress

In the period Wetherspoon awarded £49.0 million of bonuses and free shares to employees, of which 96.5% was paid to staff below board level and 86.3% was paid to staff working in our pubs. Approximately 24,500 of our 42,300 employees are shareholders in the company.

The average length of service of a pub manager increased to 14.9 years, and of a kitchen manager is 10.9 years. There are 26 employees who have worked for the company for more than 30 years, 662 for more than 20 years, 4,056 for more than 10 years and 11,444 for more than five years.

Wetherspoon has been recognised by the Top Employers Institute as a Top Employer United Kingdom 2024. It is the 19th time that Wetherspoon has been certified by the Top Employers’ Institute.

251 pubs feature in the 2025 Good Beer Guide, an increase of 15 compared to last year.

In November 2023, Wetherspoon was voted the Best Airport Retailer for Food & Beverages at the British Travel Awards.

In August 2024, our national distribution centre in Daventry, operated by DHL, had its 20th anniversary. 27 of the original colleagues from 2004 are still working there. In addition, we opened a secondary warehouse in Rugby which, as well as acting as a business continuity solution, will allow for further company volume growth.

The company has an extensive training programme for its employees, including ‘kitchen of excellence’ training, as well as cellar, dispense and coffee academy training.

Wetherspoon has recently been included in the Financial Times ‘FT – Statista Leaders 2024’ report, which highlights Europe’s leading companies in diversity and inclusion.

The company’s UK nominated charity is Young Lives vs. Cancer (previously CLIC Sargent). It supports children and young people with cancer. Since our partnership began in 2002, Wetherspoon has raised over £23.5 million for the charity, thanks to the generosity and efforts of our customers and employees.

677 of the company’s washrooms have been awarded the highest platinum or diamond statuses by the National Loo of the Year awards. The awards are aimed at highlighting and improving standards of away-from home washrooms across the UK. The washrooms are judged against numerous criteria, including décor and maintenance, cleanliness, accessibility, hand-washing and drying equipment and overall management.

In January 2024, the company was awarded the highest rating by the Sustainable Restaurant

Association – the world’s largest accreditation scheme for pubs and restaurants, see link to SRA article.

Wetherspoon came first in the ‘Out to Lunch’ league table, compiled by the Soil Association, when last awarded, in 2019 and 2021. Restaurants and pubs are judged and scored on a range of criteria: family friendliness, healthy options, food quality, value, sustainability and ingredients’ provenance.

Wetherspoon is seeking to extend the appeal of its menu. For example, 39% of the dishes on the menu that is available in the majority of pubs are vegetarian, 11% are vegan and 24% are under 500 calories.

Cod and haddock are sourced from fisheries which have been certified to the MSC’s (Marine Stewardship Council) standards for well-managed and sustainable fisheries.

Guinness have a ‘Quality Accreditation Programme’. Independent assessors review 17 aspects of quality. 100% of pubs passed their Guinness accreditation.

Since 2008, Wetherspoon has invited brewers from overseas to feature their ales in its real-ale festivals. To date, these brewers have contributed 234 ales, from 147 breweries in 29 countries. In addition, the company works with over 250 UK brewers, mostly small or “micro” brewers.

Since 1999, Wetherspoon has worked with independent real-ale quality assessor Cask Marque to gauge the quality of ale being served in its pubs. Cask Marque carries out an 11-point audit covering stock rotation, beer line cleanliness, equipment maintenance, glass washing cleanliness and hygiene. A star rating is awarded from 1 to 5, with a target of 4 to 5 stars for all pubs. Cask Marque state that 66% of UK pubs achieve 4 or 5 stars. 98% of Wetherspoon pubs have achieved 4 or 5 stars.

Sustainability, recycling and the environment

Wherever possible, Wetherspoon separates waste into eight streams: glass; tins/cans; cooking oil; paper/cardboard; plastic; lightbulbs; food waste and general waste.

In partnership with Veolia, our waste service provider, 99.8% of general waste was diverted from landfill in FY24.

9,324 tonnes of recyclable waste were processed last year at our national recycling centre. In addition, food waste is sent for ‘anaerobic digestion’ and used cooking oil is converted to biodiesel for agricultural use.

Smart meters are installed in the majority of pubs (and are being installed into the rest of pubs) to facilitate energy consumption reporting.

According to ISTA, a leading company providing energy services, Wetherspoon has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 66% over the last 10 years, after adjusting for sales growth. During that time, the company has also contributed £108.1m in climate change levies and carbon taxes.

Length of service

The table below provides details of the improved retention levels of pub and kitchen managers, key areas for any pub company, in the last decade.

Financial year	Average pub manager length of service	Average kitchen manager length of service
	(Years)	(Years)
2014	10.0	6.1
2015	10.1	6.1
2016	11.0	7.1
2017	11.1	8.0
2018	12.0	8.1
2019	12.2	8.1
2020	12.9	9.1
2021	13.6	9.6
2022	13.9	10.4
2023	14.3	10.6
2024	14.9	10.9

Bonuses and free shares

As indicated above, Wetherspoon has, for many years (see table below), operated a bonus and share scheme for all employees. Before the pandemic, these awards increased, as earnings increased for shareholders.

Financial year	Bonus and free shares	Profit/(loss) after tax¹	Bonus and free shares as % of profits
	£m	£m
2007	19	47	41%
2008	16	36	45%
2009	21	45	45%
2010	23	51	44%
2011	23	52	43%
2012	24	57	42%
2013	29	65	44%
2014	29	59	50%
2015	31	57	53%
2016	33	57	58%
2017	44	77	57%
2018	43	84	51%
2019	46	80	58%
2020	33	(39)	–
2021	23	(146)	–
2022	30	(25)	–
2023	36	34	106%
2024	49	59	83%
Total²	466	860	54.2%

¹(IFRS-16 was implemented in the year ending 26 July 2020 (FY20). From this period all profit numbers in the above table are on a Post-IFRS-16 basis. Prior to this date all profit numbers are on a Pre-IFRS-16 basis.

² Excludes 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Food hygiene ratings

Wetherspoon has always emphasised the importance of hygiene standards.

We now have 735 pubs rated on the Food Standards Agency’s website (see table below). The average score is 4.99, with 99.6% of the pubs achieving a top rating of five stars. We believe this to be the highest average rating for any substantial pub company.

In the separate Scottish scheme, which records either a ‘pass’ or a ‘fail’, all of our 56 pubs have passed.

Financial Year	Total pubs scored	Average rating	Pubs with highest rating %
2014	824	4.91	92.0
2015	858	4.93	94.1
2016	836	4.89	91.7
2017	818	4.89	91.8
2018	807	4.97	97.3
2019	799	4.97	97.4
2020	781	4.96	97.0
2021	787	4.97	98.4
2022	775	4.98	98.6
2023	753	4.99	99.2
2024	735	4.99	99.6

Property litigation

Some years ago, Wetherspoon took successful legal action for fraud against its own property advisors Van de Berg, who were found, by the court, to have diverted freehold properties to third parties, leaving Wetherspoon with an inferior leasehold interest.

Following the Van de Berg case, Wetherspoon instigated further legal actions against a number of individuals and companies who had freehold properties introduced to them by Van de Berg. Liability was denied by all. The cases were contested and settled out of court.

Press corrections

In the febrile atmosphere of the first UK lockdown, a number of harmful inaccuracies were published in the press. A large number of corrections and apologies were received, as a result of legal representations by Wetherspoon.

In order to try to set the record straight, a special edition of Wetherspoon News was published, which includes details of the apologies and corrections. It can be found on the company’s website:

(https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Does-Truth-Matter_.pdf).

Pubwatch

As Wetherspoon has previously highlighted, Pubwatch is a forum which has improved wider town and city environments, by bringing together pubs, local authorities and the police, in a concerted way, to encourage good behaviour and to reduce antisocial activity.

Wetherspoon pubs are members of 532 schemes country wide, with 4 new schemes and 10 less schemes due to disposals.

The company also helps to fund National Pubwatch, founded in 1997 by licensees Bill Stone and Raoul De Vaux, along with police superintendent Malcolm Eidmans. This is the umbrella organisation which helps to set up, co-ordinate and support local schemes.

It is our experience that in some towns and cities, where the authorities have struggled to control antisocial behaviour, the setting up of a Pubwatch has been instrumental in improving safety and security – of not only licensed premises, but also the town and city in general, as well as assisting the police in bringing down crime.

Conversely, we have found, in several towns, including some towns on the outskirts of London, that the absence of an effective Pubwatch scheme results in higher incidents of crime, disorder and antisocial behaviour.

In our view, Pubwatch is integral to making towns and cities a safe environment for everyone.