Wetherspoon ( J.d.) Share Discussion Threads

[standish11] 21/1/2016 16:29

Per the trading update the starting pay for hourly paid staff has increased 13% since Oct 2014: am not sure how that relates to the minimum wage. Ruddles £1.95 a pint in Lancashire. Food prices are being moved up gradually to improve margins it seems: makes sense.

[mroalan] 21/1/2016 15:12

spoke to one of the staff at JD,s last evening said said they receive minimum wage£7 20 ish.

[mroalan] 20/1/2016 09:22

QUite here considering,as a fan i,ve noticed beer prices have taken off in my local,ruddles still the cheapest & 2 05 ish but most are now & 2 45 and up.

edit.as increases in labour costs eat into the bottom line. cheap shot blaming the staff for getting proper wages.

[s2lowner] 13/1/2016 15:33

hxxp://eatoutmagazine.co.uk/jd-wetherspoon-tops-yougov-brandindex-2015-list

[essentialinvestor] 11/11/2015 12:23

Tim appears proud of the exceptional longer term record in creating
shareholder returns, and rightly so - so would expect some type of
action to mitigate falling margins.

Perhaps more active portfolio management is the beginning of that?.

[markinblackpool] 07/11/2015 19:45

JD Wetherspoon calls time on pub portfolio
By James Buckley - Friday, November 06, 2015 11:59
E-mail Print Main news image
Pub operator JD Wetherspoon has instructed CBRE to sell 34 of its pubs.
The properties, which are being considered for sale either as a portfolio, in small packages or individually are located in strong town and city centre locations within England, Scotland and Wales.

Of the 34 pubs, 27 are owned either freehold or held on a long lease at a nominal rent with the remaining 7 outlets held on leases with an average unexpired term of 18 years. The units are generating total sales of in excess of £38m (net of VAT), with an average weekly turnover per pub of more than £22,000 per week.

Paul Breen, Senior Director in CBRE’s Specialist Markets team, said: “The portfolio represents a rare opportunity to acquire substantial high volume businesses which have seen sales growth in each of the last five years. Food sales represent more than a third of total sales, having increased by 40% over this period, which makes the pubs ideally positioned to benefit from the continued growth in eating outside of the home. We anticipate strong interest from existing operators and new entrants keen to create a platform which can be used to build a successful managed estate.”

The 34 properties are in addition to the 20 units that were put onto the market by JD Wetherspoon earlier this year.

The properties are as follows:

Bedford - Banker's Draft

Blackpool - Auctioneer

Chelmsford - Sir Thomas Mildmay

Chester - Forest House

Derby - Thomas Leaper

Didsbury - Milson Rhodes

Doncaster - Old Angel

Dundee - Capitol

Enfield - Picture Palace

Glasgow - Society Room

Gloucester - Water Poet

Grangemouth - Earl of Zetland

Hammersmith, London – Plough and Harrow

Heanor - Red Lion

Kingston Upon Hull - Zachariah Pearson

King’s Lynn - Lattice House

Lanark - Clydesdale Inn

Liverpool - Lime Kiln

Long Eaton - Twitchel Inn

Mansfield - Courthouse

Milton Keynes - Secklow Hundred

Pontypool - John Capel Hanbury

Portsmouth - Trafalgar

Putney, London - Rocket

Rotherham - Corn Law Rymer

Sheffield - Swim Inn

Stourbridge - Edward Rutland

Stourport-on-Severn – Ye Old Crown Inn

Stirling - 43-51 King Street

Swindon - Groves Company Inn

Trowbridge - Albany Palace

West Kirby - Dee Hotel

Wimslow - Bollin Fee

Worthing - Sir Timothy Shelley

[my retirement fund] 06/11/2015 10:20

I should add as I write this im sat in the Angel vaults in rainy Hitchin having just finished my 2.99 breakfast and about to refill my 3rd bottomless cup of coffee.I would like to say both the sausage and the beans could do with being from a higher quality manufacturer the staff seemed very happy on their salaries though even if it were at the expense of my taste buds!

[my retirement fund] 06/11/2015 10:15

So true EI however there is a chairman with a firm grip of the reins and loves his company so this is probably the very last thing he would do.You idea is great but it would take activists to get a foot in the door and a board sweep out first.That aside the stockmarkets have not seen any radical activists since the mid 80's whom would have had the ambitious mindset for such ventures.So lets all get back in our boxes and stop dreaming shall we?

[investoree] 05/11/2015 17:42

This afternoon following a site visit to The White Hart in Downham Market by King's Lynn & West Norfolk planning department they agreed planning permission for a new JDW pub conversion. I look forward to sampling their ales and curries when it is refurbished and reopened - hopefully before Christmas, although the conversion needs to be started within 3 years from today!

[essentialinvestor] 04/11/2015 14:18

JDW IMV could run the business for cash and pay fat dividends.

Simply stop any pub expansion and sell off the lowest performing pubs,
say circa 10% of the estate.

Half the share payouts to employees - the bulk of staff now benefit from higher hourly pay.

The result would be a cash goldmine imo, that is what I would do.

[my retirement fund] 04/11/2015 08:04

Perhaps theve hiked wages too soon and should have lock stepped others rather than led the charge market will punish

[mroalan] 13/10/2015 09:23

Oh should have added the manager is from Ripon.

[my retirement fund] 12/10/2015 21:56

This is probably more to do with a divulged government and disjointed councils and parish councils and is endimic of Wales.This is more a Welsh problem than wetherspoon specific!

[essentialinvestor] 18/9/2015 09:28

stand, had not read your post before my comment, similar point.

[essentialinvestor] 18/9/2015 09:25

I am strongly in favour of the living wage,
however before everyone jumps on Tim about this,
JDW pay a multi million amount in options every year to employees.

The dividend has not been raised for years, Tim as the major shareholder
would be the prime beneficiary of a lager dividend.

[johnwise] 18/9/2015 08:48

With up to £ Billion subsidy to just the top grocers alone the scale of taxpayer funding of low pay is extraordinary. Extraordinary because every time workers demand a living wage the media and politicians all trot out to say how it is unaffordable, that workers 'should do their bit', 'tighten their belts', that we are' all in it together.'
The tax payer should not have to support companies with tax credits paid to low level workers

The minimum wage has to rise. It should be at least £10 PH now and rising with inflation. Supporting Large PROFITABLE Companies to pay the current minimum and we pay them benefits is a scandal...


Lidl promises not to hike prices as it boosts pay for 9,000 workers by £1.2k a year

[standish11] 18/9/2015 08:33

"Wetherspoon increased the minimum hourly rate for staff by 5% in October 2014 and by a further 8% at the end of July 2015. Both decisions were taken without the knowledge that the government was about to announce a new minimum wage, now called a "the living wage". In addition, as Wetherspoon shareholders are aware, we pay about 40% of our profits (GBP30.7m in the year under review) as a bonus or free shares, over 80% of which is paid to people who work in our pubs.

Am not sure whether Lidl and Aldi pay their staff a good bonus. Ultimately employers have to pay the appropriate wage to attract and keep the calibre of employees they need. In my experience their staff are well trained ,good natured and helpful.

[rwauu] 18/9/2015 08:16

So who has better management? Lidl or Wetherspoon??? Time for other supermarkets to think about this too. Puting starbucks cafe's in Tescos just don't cut it when you have worse quality, worse price of products than Lidls or Aldis.

[rwauu] 18/9/2015 08:11

Wetherspoon likes the idea of sucking the living energy from employees and putting on the table zero hour and minimum wage contracts. Lidl on the other hand says business is great and we will share profits with our assets- employees.

[rwauu] 18/9/2015 08:06

compare this to that:


Ronny Gottschlich, chief executive of Lidl UK, said: “We recognise that every employee forms an integral part of team Lidl, and each individual’s contribution is valued.
"It’s therefore only right that we show our commitment, in the same way that the team commit to the business and our customers each and every day, by ensuring a wage that supports the cost of living."

“There was a nice sense of impasse with the coalition where issues such as this were settled in the economic arena and it was difficult for politicians to cause too much damage. My worry is that these decisions are now all in the hands of politicians,” Martin said. “We can not make the country richer by setting the minimum wage at an unrealistic level.”


Sorry Wetherspoon, you suck! Zero business from me to you. Lidl, you will get most if not all my business!

[johnwise] 17/9/2015 13:40

Good attention to detail and service, exceptionally well managed make jdw the best in the pub chain sector


Improvement in the menu this week, more choice, better value. Roast of the day is back on the menu at £5.95p

[my retirement fund] 08/9/2015 14:58

Whitebread being hammered today on the back of its forward looking statements on the new minimum wage.

[mikeh30] 26/8/2015 11:46

£8 target