Across the six-week period, like-for-like sales also saw a rise of 4.1% while non-like-for-likes were up 9.2% and new sites were also up 232%.
Food sales rose by 12.7% with drinks sales seeing an increase of 10.3%.
However, accommodation sales dropped by 2.7%, which the business put down to predominantly a slowdown in UK staycations and the closure of the port of Holyhead as JW Lees has a number of hotels on the north Wales coast, which were disproportionately impacted by the lack of traffic in and out of the town over the festive season.
Previous results
At the end of last year (December 2024), JW Lees boss William Lees-Jones vowed to continue growing the pub estate while calling out the Government over its proposals to change business property relief regulations, as the firm posted its annual results.
The business saw revenue rise by 9% to £95.8m (up from £8.3m in the 2023 financial year) with pre-tax profit up 104% to £7.1m, in the year ending 31 March 2024.
Lees-Jones also blasted Labour’s first Budget as “anti-business” in a social media post shared in November.
JW Lees has been operating since 1828. The seventh-generation business employs more than 1,600 people across its brewery and pub estate with 150 at the brewery and site in Middleton and over 1,375 in the 49 managed pubs inns and hotels with another 87 pubs let to JW Lees Pub Partners.
Company history
The business comprises JW Lees Brewery, JW Lees Pubs, The Alderley Edge Hotel, The Stanneyland’s Hotel, The Trearddur Bay Hotel and Willoughby’s Wine Merchants.
The year 2018 saw the biggest shake up of its beer range in 190 years after a 10-barrel micro-brewery was installed.
Most recently, the company’s Founder’s Hall site in Manchester has been shortlisted in the 2025 Publican Awards for Best New Site.
