Success! JD Wetherspoon

Other companies may have lots more pubs but Wetherspoon goes for quality, not quantity. The founder, Tim Martin, continues to lead the way as Chairman of an estate now approaching 700 pubs. The pubs are large, often carved out of interesting old buildings, with an average annual turnover of more than £1m each.

The first Wetherspoon pubs were set up in the 1980s, long before legislation and changes in the beer market put a wedge between brewers and pub estates. Independent of the brewing industry, but very much involved in selling real ales, Wetherspoon has stuck to providing traditional elements of the pub - comfort, a warm welcome, reasonably priced beers of all types - while also adapting to a changing pub market. This has meant adapting to the ban on smoking but Wetherspoon was already shifting to a food model: by early 2008, over 30% of sales were coming from food, from 17% in 1998. Coffees and teas are also selling well.

Secrets of Success

• There's no need to change the traditional pub; tourists come here to drink in them
• Get the property basics right and you can sell anything
• Location, location, location

Business Basics: JD Wetherspoon plc

• Pub estate approaching 700 pubs (all company-managed) across Britain and Ireland


• Sales of £888m in 2007. Pre-tax profit £62m


• Competitors include Mitchells & Butlers, Punch Taverns, other managed pubs