UK pub chain: Smoking ban driving expansion plans
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon said today that it planned to open 30 new pubs and create 1,200 jobs next year.
The expansion – part of investment in its estate worth £60m (€89m) – comes as the group prepares for the introduction of a smoking ban in England and Wales.
Chief executive John Hutson said he hoped that the smoking ban, which is already in place at a number of Wetherspoon sites, would result in more people visiting pubs in the long-term.
Mr Hutson added: “Our non-smoking pubs have proven very popular and this has given us the impetus to open more pubs in 2007.”
