Wetherspoon is facing a huge challenge to bring customers back into its bars, the company's boss has said.
Tim Martin revealed that while his business had cut losses significantly, it has still not managed to return to a profit since the pandemic, and sales remain lower than in 2019. "During lockdown, dyed-in-the-wool pub-goers, many for the first time, filled their fridges with supermarket beer - and it has proved to be a momentous challenge to persuade them to return to the more salubrious environment of the saloon bar," he said on Friday.
Total sales rose from £773m to more than £1.7bn in the year to the end of July. But sales were still behind the more than the £1.8bn the company made in 2019. The same story could be seen on pre-tax losses, which were cut from £167m before exceptional items last year, to just £30.4m this year. Before the pandemic the company made a profit of £132m.
