British pub chain JD Wetherspoon is gearing up for a major assault on the Irish pub market with plans to open 30 new pubs over the next five years. The company, which has been at the centre of a row over pricing in Irish pubs, says it plans to spend €50 million establishing its low-cost brand in Ireland.
The move is likely to increase price competition in the sector which is dominated by two large drink suppliers – Heineken and Diageo – and a host of small, individual publicans with little buying power.
Wetherspoon already operates two pubs in south Dublin, but has acquired five more sites in Dublin, Cork and Waterford. Earlier this month it bought the former Camden Hall hostel on Camden Street in Dublin, which it plans to turn into a 100-room hotel and pub on the back of a €4 million investment. The company's aggressive Irish expansion plan is expected to create up to 1,350 new jobs.
"We are looking forward to opening the new pubs, many of which will be in areas where Wetherspoon is not yet represented," Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said.
The company, which operates 931 pubs in the UK, controversially dropped Heineken products earlier this month following a row over the supply of beer to its new Forty Foot pub in Dún Laoghaire.
Wetherspoon had been selling Heineken’s premium lager brand for €2.95 a pint at its other Irish pub – The Three Tun Tavern in Blackrock – substantially undercutting the €5 price usually charged in Irish pubs.
The row prompted Wetherspoon to delist all Heineken products, which include Foster's, Kronenbourg, Murphy's stout and Strongbow cider, in the UK, with a potential loss of €76 million in sales to Heineken.
The company parted ways with Diageo following a similar row over the supply of Guinness, and is now attempting to cement a presence in the Irish market without offering any brand of stout.
“We are pleased to have opened our first two pubs in the Republic of Ireland and are looking forward to opening many more as part of our expansion plans over the next five years,” Mr Martin said. “We have already acquired a number of sites and will continue to search for new sites throughout 2015 and beyond.”
“Our first two pubs at Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire have proven extremely popular and we are looking forward to replicating their success with our new pubs,” he added.
Wetherspoon’s Irish plans were announced as part of a wider expansion plan which will see it open 200 new pubs in Britain and Ireland, and create 15,000 jobs over the next five years. The firm says it will invest more than £400 million developing new pubs across Britain and Ireland.
Wetherspoon, which employs 34,000 staff, about 90 of whom are in Ireland, says the new jobs will be spread across the new outlets as well as at existing sites and will include management roles as well as jobs for bar, kitchen and front of house.
“Wetherspoon paid more than £600 million in taxes in our last financial year and this will rise to approximately £1 billion in the course of the next five years,” Mr Martin added.
