Pro-Brexit U.K. Pub Boss Announces New Jobs Days Before Election
Pro-Brexit U.K. Pub Boss Announces New Jobs Days Before Election
JD Wetherspoon Plc said it will spend more than 200 million pounds ($263 million) on its U.K. pub estate over the next four years, creating about 10,000 new jobs.
The money will go toward developing new pubs and hotels, as well enlarging existing locations across Britain and Ireland, the company said in a statement Tuesday.
The announcement comes two days before the U.K. general election on Dec. 12, which is intended to break the deadlock over Brexit. Wetherspoon founder and Chairman Tim Martin has been one of corporate Britain’s most outspoken supporters for leaving the European Union, often using the pub chain’s financial reports to voice his stance. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party hope to win back a majority in Parliament to push through Britain’s split from the EU.
Wetherspoon operates 875 pubs and 58 hotels across the U.K. and Ireland with a staff of 44,000. Much of the investment will be in smaller towns and cities that have seen a decline in investment in recent years, Martin said in the statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Anne Pollak in London at apollak@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net, Thomas Mulier, Marthe Fourcade
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