JD WETHERSPOON, THE British chain which has more than 900 pubs, has announced plans to open 30 new pubs in Ireland.
The chain, which operates 931 pubs, opened its first Irish pub in Blackrock earlier this year.
Its second pub opened in Dún Laoghaire in Dublin this month, with further venues in Cork and Dublin also flagged to open soon.
JD Wetherspoon said it is investing £400 million (€510 million) in its business with 200 new pubs in total to be opened across the UK and Ireland.
The chain employs 34,000 staff, and says it will create 15,000 jobs over the next five years.
Company chairman Tim Martin said today: “We are looking forward to opening the new pubs, many of which will be in areas where Wetherspoon is not yet represented”.
He was also quick to defend the amount of corporation tax paid by the company, saying:
“Wetherspoon paid more than £600 million in taxes in our last financial year and this will rise to approximately £1 billion in the course of the next five years”.
The pub chain was recently involved in a row with Heineken over the supply of the company’s products to its newest bar in Dún Laoghaire, and no longer sells any Heineken drinks.
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