Wetherspoon "very keen" to open their Scottish pubs as they announce April re-opening of English chains

J D Wetherspoon has said that they would be ‘very keen’ to open their Scottish pubs after they announced they will re-open outside areas in their English pubs in mid-April.
Wetherspoon is currently compiling a list of Scottish pubs which can reopen if and when the Scottish Government give the go ahead. (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)Wetherspoon is currently compiling a list of Scottish pubs which can reopen if and when the Scottish Government give the go ahead. (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
Wetherspoon is currently compiling a list of Scottish pubs which can reopen if and when the Scottish Government give the go ahead. (Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)

The UK-wide pub chain commented that they would be “very keen” to open outside areas at “a number” of their Scottish pubs, however, said they would have to “wait and see” until the Scottish Government gives more specific dates on when pubs and other hospitality services can begin to re-open.

Wetherspoon is currently compiling a list of Scottish pubs which can reopen if and when the Scottish Government give the go ahead.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The news comes after the company announced the re-opening of beer gardens, roof top gardens and patios at 394 of its pubs in England from Monday April 12 following stage 2 of England’s route map out of lockdown.

Nicola Sturgeon announced at Parliament that in the last week of April, Scotland could expect to see “a phased but significant” re-opening of the economy, including hospitality but no specific date has been given for pub re-openings.

Speaking about their Scottish pubs, a spokesperson from J. D Wetherspoon said: "We would be keen to open outside areas in a number of our Scottish pubs but there's no movement on that from the Scottish Government so we will have to wait and see.

"As and when the Scottish government announce those dates we would be very keen to reopen in Scotland.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"We are very keen and we are doing it in England but we would love to be in the same position in Scotland, however, that’s not for us to decide and we will wait to see what happens."

In the 394 English pubs, Wetherspoon will not be operating a booking system and will offer a slightly reduced menu, to include breakfast, burgers, pizza and fish and chips.

Test and trace will be in operation and hand sanitisers will be available.

Customers will be able to order and pay through the Wetherspoon app, however, Wetherspoon staff will be able to take orders and payment at the table from those who don’t have the app.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

John Hutson, Wetherspoon chief executive said: “We are looking forward to welcoming our customers and staff back to our pubs.”

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.