JD Wetherspoon has pushed annual sales beyond £2.2 billion, but Britain’s best-known pub chain is continuing to feel the squeeze from rising wages, repairs, business rates and other operating costs.
The pub giant recorded revenue of £2.238 billion for the 52 weeks to 26 July 2026, up 5.2% from £2.128 billion the previous year.
Like-for-like sales increased by 4.2%, with bar sales proving particularly strong, rising 6.1%. Food sales increased by 1.2%, while machine sales grew 7.4% and hotel room sales were 1.3% higher.
However, higher turnover did not translate into higher underlying profits.
Underlying pre-tax profit fell from £81.4 million to £58.6 million, a drop of around 28%, as the company faced another significant increase in its operating costs.
Costs continue to bite
Wetherspoon reported an additional £46 million in wage costs, alongside a £31 million increase in repairs and an extra £9 million in business rates.
The company has repeatedly warned about the mounting cost pressures facing the wider hospitality sector.
Compared with 2019, Wetherspoon said sales per pub are now 36.6% higher, ahead of CPI inflation of around 33%. But several major costs have increased considerably faster, with energy costs up 77.4%, repairs up 84.5% and wages up 64.4%.
The figures underline one of the biggest challenges facing UK pubs: customers may be spending more, but the cost of keeping the doors open has also risen sharply.
Strong start to the new financial year
There was more encouraging news from Wetherspoon’s current trading.
Like-for-like sales jumped 8.6% during the nine weeks to 27 September 2026, with the company pointing to exceptional weather as well as investment in beer gardens and outdoor seating.
August was particularly strong, with Wetherspoon reporting like-for-like sales growth of 7.7%.
The group said this represented the 48th consecutive month in which its sales performance had beaten the wider sector measure used by the NIQ RSM Hospitality Business Tracker.
More Wetherspoon pubs planned
Wetherspoon finished the financial year with 792 managed pubs.
Eight managed pubs opened during the year, while 10 trading pubs and five non-trading properties were sold.
The company is now planning to open around 15 additional managed pubs during the current financial year.
Its franchise operation is growing too.
Fifteen franchised Wetherspoon pubs opened during the year, taking the total to 23, with another 15 to 20 franchise sites planned.
Tim Martin renews warning over pub taxes
Wetherspoon chairman Sir Tim Martin has continued to argue that Britain’s pubs face an unfair tax burden compared with supermarkets.
Commenting alongside the results, Martin said the hospitality industry had faced significant tax and regulatory cost increases and argued that this had widened the price difference between pubs and supermarkets.
Wetherspoon has long campaigned for changes to the way hospitality businesses are taxed, particularly the difference between VAT treatment for pubs and supermarkets. Its March 2026 interim results again called for greater tax parity between the two sectors.
Despite the cost pressures, Wetherspoon continues to invest in its estate and expects underlying pre-tax profit for the current financial year to be around the level of current market expectations, reported at approximately £74 million.
For pub-goers, the figures paint an interesting picture: Wetherspoon is selling more than ever, but even one of Britain’s largest pub operators is finding that running a pub has become substantially more expensive.
