JD Wetherspoon today reported its first full-year loss since 1984. The pub group lost £34.1 million in the 12 months to the end of July, before exceptional items. Like-for-like sales were down 29.5 per cent and revenue over the period fell 30 per cent to £1.26 billion.
Like-for-like sales in the first 11 weeks of the current financial year are 15 per cent below those of last year, Wetherspoon reported, noting that strong sales in the first few weeks had been followed by a marked slowdown since the introduction of a curfew and other regulations.
Tim Martin, Wetherspoon’s chairman, called for “a more sensible and consistent regulatory framework”.
He said: “The current environment of lockdowns, curfews and constantly changing regulations and announcements threatens not only pub companies, but the entire economy.”
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