Wetherspoons to open 13 new locations in the UK this year

Popular pub Wetherspoons has announced that the chain is set to open 13 new locations in the UK this year. The popular chain currently has 796 venues across the country, and this number is to surpass 800 by the end of the year. The new pubs are set to open in cities including Bath, London and Manchester. It was reported that in the 25 weeks to January 19, 2025, the pub saw like-for-like sales increase by 5.1% than in the same period a year earlier. So this introduces the question of whether Britain is starting to prefer a budget pub for a pint. Founder and Chairman of Wetherspoons, Tim Martin, said that Inflation has now significantly increased again following the budget. He said that "All hospitality businesses, we believe, plan to increase prices, as a result." Simon Dodd, chief executive of Young's, said the chain plans to hike its prices by between 2.5% and 3% because of increased costs following the Government’s Autumn Budget.