September 7, 2007

Wetherspoons see sales drop

The owner of around 670 town centre pubs and bars JD Wetherspoons has announced that since the smoking ban in England has come into force, sales of drinks has fallen.

The sales figures from the outlets for the month of August had risen but by only 1.1 per cent, but the figures for the month before (July) were up by 5.3 per cent. So there is a marked decrease and this is despite the company sending a lot of money promotions to attract a new type of customer, those who regularly eat out, but have never really considered a pub before. This is mainly because of the smoking, but now that has been banned, the customer base should change.

Pubs have lost a chunk of revenue with the smoking ban, these customers may not return. But in contrast there are possibilities for the pubs to find a clientele, maybe a more sophisticated café crowd or the like.

Source [Bloomberg]

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