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(Alliance News) - JD Wetherspoon PLC expressed dissatisfaction with the new Covid-19 regulations on Friday, stating that 366 of its 870 pubs will remain closed under new restrictions which will see cities across England placed under different tiers starting next week.
The FTSE 250-listed pub owner said only thirteen of its pubs were in areas classified as Tier One, adding that there are 51 pubs in Wales where the regulations equate to Tier One in England.
According to post-lockdown rules set out by the UK government, in Tier One, the rule of six applies indoors and outdoors, but in Tier Two there will be a ban on households mixing indoors, and pubs and restaurants will only be able to sell alcohol with a "substantial meal". Tier Three measures mean a ban on households mixing, except in limited circumstances such as in parks.
For Wetherspoon, Tier Two affects 435 pubs. This tier includes 17 pubs in Scotland where the regulations approximate to Tier Two in England, the pub chain said.
It highlighted that due to the new restrictions, 366 pubs which will remain closed. Of these, 315 are in Tier Three in England and 51 are in Northern Ireland and Scotland. These 51 pubs have similar restrictions to Tier Three in England.
"It is very disappointing that yet another raft of regulations has been introduced, which has effectively closed half our pubs. In reality, the government has extended a form of lockdown, by stealth, in large swathes of the country. There has been no evidence of widespread transmission of the coronavirus in pubs, as the Test and Trace system has evidenced," Wetherspoon Chair Tim Martin complained.
In October, the pub owner said it suffered severe losses in its financial year ended July 26 due to the Covid-19 lockdown which lasted around three months, with Martin stating at the time he believed the restrictions was was full of "ill-thought-out regulations" and not based on science. For financial 2020, JD Wetherspoon posted a pretax loss of GBP34.1 million, swinging from a profit of GBP102.5 million a year prior. Revenue fell 31% to GBP1.26 billion from GBP1.82 billion, with like-for-like sales down 30%.
Shares in Wetherspoon were trading 3.3% lower at 1,097.59 pence each on Friday morning in London.
By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com
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