Propel Newsletter Archive Page

JD Wetherspoon to open two pubs at airport in Barcelona: JD Wetherspoon is to open two pubs at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona – El Prat airport. It follows on from the opening of the company’s first pub in Spain, at Alicante airport, last month. The first of the two pubs is set to open at Terminal 1 in September 2026, and the second at Terminal 2 in January 2027. They are both airside. The pubs, as yet unnamed, will have a combined customer area of more than 5,700 square feet and have room for almost 600 customers. They will be operated by Ibersol Group, one of the largest franchised brand operators in Spanish and Portuguese travel. The pubs will be open seven days a week from 5am to 11pm and food will be served at all times, up to an hour before closing. The menu will include many meals available in Wetherspoon pubs in the UK, including breakfast dishes, burgers and pizzas, as well as local dishes. The pubs will also serve real ale. Wetherspoon founder and chairman Sir Tim Martin said: “We are delighted to have secured two fantastic sites at Barcelona airport.In the short time since opening our pub at Alicante airport has proven popular with travellers and we are confident we can replicate that at our two new pubs in Barcelona. We aim to open a number of pubs overseas in the coming months and years, including those at airports.” Last week, JD Wetherspoon said it saw like-for-like sales in the seven weeks to 15 March 2026 increase 2.6% but warned cost increases combined with “clearly considerable pressure on consumer finances” may result in profits that are “slightly below current market expectations”. Total sales for the 26 weeks to 25 January 2026 were a record £1,087m, a 5.7% increase on last year’s figure of £1,030m. Like-for-like sales were up 4.8% compared with the year before. Like-for-like bar sales increased 7.0% on last year while like-for-like food sales were up 1.3% and slot/fruit machine like-for-like sales increased 8.9%. Like-for-like room sales for hotels declined 0.6%, following the removal of third-party, online booking agents in the UK. Profit before tax and separately disclosed items was down 31% to £22.4m (2025: £32.9m). Operating profit, before separately disclosed items, fell 18% to £52.9m (2025: £64.8m). Operating margin, before separately disclosed items, was 4.86% (2025: 6.30%). Sir Tim Martin will be among the speakers at the Excellence in Pub & Bar Retailing Conference. The all-day conference takes place on Tuesday, 19 May at One Moorgate Place in London and is open for bookings. Sir Tim will discuss the group’s move into franchising and handing his brand over to other operators, its international expansion plans and maintaining its value-led proposition in a hostile cost environment. For the full speaker schedule, click here. Tickets are £345 plus VAT for operators and £395 plus VAT for suppliers. There is a 20% discount for operators and suppliers who are Premium Club subscribers. Email: kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com to book places.

Premium Club subscribers to receive updated Multi-Site Database with 3,555 operators and 19 new companies tomorrow: Premium Club subscribers are to receive the updated Multi-Site Database tomorrow (Friday, 27 March), at 12pm. The next Propel Multi-Site Database provides details of 3,555 multi-site operators and is searchable in seven main segments. The database features 1,026 (29%) casual dining operators, 806 (23%) pub and bar operators, 633 (18%) cafe bakery operators, 500 (14%) quick service restaurant operators, 293 (8%) hotel operators, 240 (7%) experiential leisure operators and 55 (2%) fine dining operators. The database is updated each month, and this edition includes 19 new companies. The database includes new companies in the cafe bakery sector include Bristol coffee shop Two Ways Coffee, Lancashire café concept Neighbourhood Coffee House and London sandwich concept Mondo Sando. Premium Club subscribers also receive access to five additional databases: the New Openings Database, the Turnover & Profits Blue Book, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Database and the Who's Who of UK Hospitality. All Premium Club subscribers will be offered a 20% discount on tickets to Propel paid-for events and discounts on specialist sector reports. Operators that are Premium Club subscribers are also able to send up to four members of staff to each of our four Multi-Club Conferences for free. Premium Club subscribers receive their daily Propel Info newsletter 11 hours earlier than standard subscribers, at 7pm the evening before. They also receive videos of presentations at eight Propel conference events two weeks after they are held. This represents around 100 videos of industry insight over the course of the year. Premium Club subscribers also receive exclusive opinion columns every Friday at 5pm, which include the thoughts of Propel chief operating officer – editorial, Mark Wingett, and a host of industry leaders from across the sector. A Premium Club subscription costs an annual sum of £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Companies can have an unlimited number of people receive access to Premium Club for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or supplier. A new Premium Unlimited Plus option, which costs £1,995 plus VAT per annum, has some amazing additional benefits including four free tickets to Propel’s paid-for conferences – Excellence in Pub & Bar (19 May), Operational Excellence (9 July) and Talent & Training (15 October) – and the opportunity to run one free sponsored message or situation vacant notice during the year on the newsletter. Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.

Pret franchisee Carebrook Partnership reports record turnover but profit falls: Pret A Manger franchisee Carebrook Partnership has reported record revenue for the year to 3 April 2025, but its profit fell. Turnover grew from £26,265,957 in 2024 to £31,136,271. Pre-tax profit dropped from £1,634,898 to £1,297,080 as costs rose by more than £1m to £10,812,834 and administrative expenses grew by more than £4m to £20,232,437. The 2024 figures also included £386,817 received in insurance claims. During the year, in September 2024, Carebrook opened Pret's landmark 700th store – and the franchisee's 18th – in Edmonton, north London. Carebrook signed an agreement to expand Pret into Ireland and Northern Ireland in 2022, and post year end it opened its latest location on the island, at Belfast International airport. The store, which opened in the airport's departures area in September 2025, was the third Pret in Northern Ireland. Gerard Loughran, who runs Carebrook with Ray McNamara, first worked for Pret before becoming its first franchisee. The duo also have eight Pret outlets in the Republic.

The Gladwin Brothers – ‘Soho site struggling but London neighbourhood venues thriving’, ‘transition from restaurants to pubs has been a success’: The Gladwin Brothers have said while their Soho site is struggling, their London neighbourhood venues are thriving. The brothers, Richard and Oliver, own five London sites, including Rabbit on the King’s Road, Sussex British Bistro in Soho and the Black Lamb in Wimbledon. Their first pub, the Pig’s Ear in Chelsea, opened in 2024. This was followed last month by the acquisition of a second pub and their first location outside of London. The Black Horse in Amberley, Sussex, reopened this week to become the brothers’ sixth site overall. They told The Telegraph Soho’s Sussex British Bistro is currently struggling due to high West End rents and dwindling trade in central London. “It’s a prime spot where people used to work five days a week,” said Oliver. “We’ve sadly seen not so many covers because they’re all at home working from their desks.” By contrast, the brothers said most of their neighbourhood restaurants, are thriving, and the restaurants are topping £10m in revenue. They said since opening their first site, The Shed in Notting Hill, in 2012, wages have doubled. “We certainly haven’t doubled our prices,” said Richard. Oliver went on to say that he often has chefs washing up rather than hiring a kitchen porter. Richard added that the transition from restaurants to pubs has been a success. He said: “I love the community of a pub. You can have a beer, have a coffee, or just have a chat. As Englishmen, we’re so much more comfortable in that environment. In a restaurant, you’re committing to £150.” Of the Black Horse, he added: “It’s always been more of a restaurant destination. If anything, I want to get it back to being more of an old boozer.”