
JDW opens new airport pub after multi-million pound investment
Pub giant JD Wetherspoon (JDW) is opening its latest airport pub after spending £3.5m developing it.

Pub giant JD Wetherspoon (JDW) is opening its latest airport pub after spending £3.5m developing it.

This property round-up includes updates from Shepherd Neame, Loungers, Joseph Holt and more.

Amber Taverns chairman James Baer has said new CEO Richard Lewis will seek to accelerate pub acquisitions to as many as 25 pubs a year but insists quality must not be compromised.

Wine bar operator Vagabond is set to open its first site outside London for five years.

NEOS Hospitality is converting another of its Revolución de Cuba Site into a Barbara’s Bier Haus.

Brewer and pubs operator Shepherd Neame has closed its Coach & Horses site in Mayfair, London, for a major refurbishment costing £280k.

Butcombe Group CEO Jonathan Lawson has reminded the Government the sector is “not a cash cow” after reporting a 5.2% lift in like-for-like (lfl) sales for its first half year results.

BrewDog contributed more than $50m (£38.5m) to new owner Tilray Brands’ revenues and has been cited as a major future growth driver.

The UK pub and bar market is forecast to grow 2% to £24.7bn this year, despite continued outlet decline, according to new Lumina Intelligence data.

Bar and restaurant operator ETM Group has reported sales rose by a whopping 72.4% during the World Cup at its Sport London bars.

NEOS Hospitality will reopen its former Revolución de Cuba site in Birmingham city centre as a Bonnie Rogues in September after a £1m renovation.

Pub behemoth JD Wetherspoon (JDW) is opening its third venue at Heathrow.

Pub behemoth JD Wetherspoon (JDW) has confirmed the opening dates for its latest site at a university.
Loungers is set unveil its first international site under the new brand ‘Southville’ in October.

Strict licensing laws and changing consumer habits are meaning Scotland’s on-trade is being impacted by ‘controlled fun’, one operator has highlighted.

McMullen has reported record sales for the year to 27 September 2025, driven by £25m of acquisition investment over the past two years.

Admiral Taverns has been named as the most highly rated pubco in the Pubs Code Adjudicator’s (PCA) 2026 Tied Tenant Survey.

Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) is to acquire a seven-strong package of sites from Whitbread, which will be converted to either Miller & Carter or Toby Carvery.

Butcombe Group has announced strategic changes to its leadership structure, appointing Alice Bowyer as managing director of its managed division.

Heartwood Collection IT director Rob Trippett has warned there’s a danger the amount of data available to hospitality operators right now can lead to businesses having too many KPIs.

The team behind London venues the Somerstown Coffee House, the Victoria and Faber is marking its 20th anniversary with a new site.

Incipio Group has confirmed it will open multiple new hospitality concepts at London’s Olympia development on 15 June, joining Des Gunewardena’s recently opened Pillar Hall.
Pub behemoth JD Wetherspoon (JDW) has confirmed its new pub at Birmingham University, Joe’s, will open later this month.

Pub behemoth JD Wetherspoon (JDW) has said a two-drink limit for passengers using airport hospitality venues would be “extraordinarily difficult to implement.

Heineken UK has announced a trio of changes to its on-trade senior leadership team and Beavertown Brewery.

Glendola Leisure has said it is continuously trying to manage and mitigate the impact of cost pressures including high interest rates and inflation.

Managed hospitality groups posted modest like-for-like growth in Q1 2026, but pubs lagged the market as high costs continued to overwhelm the sector.

Lane7 Group has acquired fellow competitive socialising business Par 59 as it looks to grow its presence across the UK.

Mission Mars, the operator of Albert’s Schloss and Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana, has reported group EBITDA growth of 46% in H1 FY26.

London and south-east-based pub company Young’s has agreed to acquire Cubitt House.

Like-for-like Easter bookings are up 6% at The Coaching Inn Group, demonstrating UK residents remain committed to staycations.

NEOS Hospitality has confirmed plans to transition two new sites into its immersive bar brands.

Heartwood Collection is accelerating growth in its pubs-with-rooms operation to offset rising costs, with £40m capex planned and a £100m turnover target, CEO Richard Ferrier told The Morning Advertiser (The MA).

Pub behemoth JD Wetherspoon (JDW) is set to open two new airport pubs in Spain.

Inception Group is converting part of its Mr Fogg’s City Tavern into an experiential gaming site this spring.

Market Halls has secured £11m in funding from OakNorth to support the next phase of its national growth strategy, including the acquisition of additional sites.
RedCat, the operator founded by former Greene King CEO Rooney Anand, is exploring investment options, as it looks to capitalise on growing demand for its premium pubs-with-rooms business.

Mark Brooke has stepped down from his role as chief executive at Amber Taverns in a mutual agreement with the pubco.

The City of London will be home to a new American-Irish pub and clubhouse shortly after Easter when the Horsemen & Fitzgerald’s opens its doors.

Pub giant JD Wetherspoon (JDW) is looking to open around 15 managed pubs and 15 to 20 franchised pubs in the current financial year, it revealed in a recent trading update.

Shepherd Neame has reported £84.7m revenue for the 26 weeks ended 27 December 2025, a slight dip from £85m in H1 2025.

Tilray Brands has entered into an asset purchase agreement to acquire certain strategic assets of BrewDog in the US.

Coaching Inn Group has expanded its estate to 43 sites, with seven pubs transferred from RedCat Hospitality.

Butcombe Group has unveiled plans to ramp up investment into its London managed estate, describing the capital as a “hugely exciting market”.

Some 38 BrewDog bars have closed today (Monday 2 March) with immediate effect following Tilray’s takeover of the brand.

American pharmaceutical company and cannabis giant Tilray has completed a £33m deal to acquire the BrewDog brand and certain “strategic assets”.

Tilray, a US pharmaceutical and cannabis giant, has emerged as a contender to take over BrewDog, industry sources told The Morning Advertiser (The MA).

Multiple operator Nightcap Group is set to transform an existing The Cocktail Club site into a standalone venue.

A demonstration has been planned outside a city centre BrewDog venue in response to the treatment of workers amid an ongoing sale process.

Pub behemoth JD Wetherspoon (JDW) is set to open a new site at The University of Surrey in Guildford.