Hundreds of towns ripe for our pubs, says JD Wetherspoon

JD Wetherspoon has the potential to open pubs in hundreds of towns up and down the country, the group's chief executive John Hutson said today.

The managed pub group expected to open 40 pubs in the current financial year on top of the 39 it unveiled last year, he added.

"There are hundreds of places that do not have a managed pub in them and we see these as opportunities," Hutson said.

There was still a "malaise" covering the property market, he added, and the group had taken advantage of pubs being sold off by collapsed companies and having to spend less on them to get them into shape.

Wetherspoons grew on the back of converting unlicensed premises into pubs, but this trend has shifted as pub prices have fallen.

He said he expected the current downturn in ex-pub values to last at least another 12 months. Wetherspoon itself wrote off more than £6m on the value of its pubs in the last financial year.

Of the 39 pubs Wetherspoons opened in 2009, Hutson said 29 of these were premises were already pubs. The cost of developing its pubs had fallen 39 per cent thanks to such deals, he added.

However Hutson said he was not going to dive into the market. "We bought around 100 pubs in 2000 and prices rose sharply afterwards. We can go faster in terms of opening than we have been but we're in no rush. 40 in the current year feels right, all things considered."

Wetherspoons announced record annual turnover and profits today. Sales were up more than five per cent at £955.1m and pre-tax profits rose nearly 14 per cent at £66.2m in the year to July 26, 2009.