A JD Wetherspoon pub on the Bristol border is one of 32 venues up for sale as pressures on the hospitality industry continue to mount. Customers have been left 'gutted' to hear the news that the Jolly Sailor on the High Street in Hanham has been selected to be sold.
It will be the second Wetherspoon pub to close in Bristol in just over a year if the sale goes through after the closure of St George's Hall in Redfield last September.
The group, which operates approximately 800 pubs across the UK and Ireland, said it was a "commercial decision". In July, the pub had previously warned of finance worries citing £30 million losses after raising staff pay and funding repairs across its venues.
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Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “On occasion Wetherspoon does put some of its pubs up for sale. This is a commercial decision. The pub will continue to operate as a Wetherspoon outlet until it is sold.”
Estate agents CBRE and Savills will sell the 32 pubs, nine of which are in London, with the latter company overseeing the sale of the Jolly Sailor in South Gloucestershire. The pubs comprise a mix of ten freehold and 22 leasehold pubs, which are either up for sale individually, in small packages or as a portfolio.
Paul Breen, director at Savills commented: “Following the success of our earlier marketing campaigns for JD Wetherspoon we are delighted to be launching these 32 properties to the market. These venues are well configured and fitted to a high standard which will make them appealing to a broad range of potential buyers.”
The Jolly Sailor property listing describes the pub as a freehold unit in a densely populated residential area on a prominent high street. It's a two-storey building with enough seating for around 74 customers.
It has a history that dates back to the late 18th century when the building was purchased by a group of merchants who turned it into a brewery. Charles Coole is the pub’s earliest recorded landlord, who ran the establishment between 1853 and 1874.
A number of customers have shared their disappointment on Facebook in light of the news of the closure. Nicola Portingale said she hoped another pub group would be able to take over.
"Yep gutted got told last Friday by the staff. It's more than just a pub to Hanham it's a friendly social pub where lots of locals meet up every day, hopefully another chain of pubs [will] take over," they wrote.
Clare Patton remarked it was "sad" news while Ann Sperring feared the building "will be flats", as "it's always been a pub". Other pub goers were left questioning which Wetherspoon they would have to move to. "We will have to go to Kingswood," Tomas Brimblecombe wrote.
The pubs up for sale across the UK are as follows:
- Barnsley – Silkstone Inn
- Beaconsfield – Hope & Champion
- Bexleyheath – Wrong ‘Un
- Bournemouth – Christopher Creeke
- Cheltenham – Bank House
- Durham – Water House
- Halifax – Percy Shaw
- Hanham – Jolly Sailor
- Harrow – Moon on the Hill
- Hove – Cliftonville Inn
- London Battersea – Asparagus
- London East Ham – Miller’s Well
- London Eltham – Bankers Draft
- London Forest Gate – Hudson Bay
- London Forest Hill – Capitol
- London Hornsey – Toll Gate
- London Holborn – Penderel’s Oak
- London Islington – Angel
- London Palmers Green – Alfred Herring
- Loughborough – Moon & Bell
- Loughton – Last Post
- Mansfield – Widow Frost
- Middlesborough – Resolution
- Purley – Foxley Hatch
- Redditch – Rising Sun
- Sevenoaks - Sennockian
- Southampton – Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis
- Stafford – Butler’s Bell
- Watford – Colombia Press
- West Bromwich – Billiard Hall
- Willenhall – Malthouse
- Wirral – John Masefield
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