PUB group JD Wetherspoon has said 22 of its pubs remain up for sale after offloading 28 already so far this year as part of an overhaul of its estate.
The group denied the move was a "money-raising exercise" amid tough trading conditions, insisting that the "almost all" of the sales are in areas where it has another pub nearby.
It comes after the firm - which has 827 pubs across the UK - warned last September that 32 pubs were being put up for sale due to a "commercial decision" as it battled higher food and energy costs.
Wetherspoon put two of its Belfast properties on the market last year after calling time in a long-running bid to open pubs on both Royal Avenue and University Road.
The former JJB Sports outlet in Belfast city centre was listed with a guide price of £850,000, eight years after Wetherspoon bought the premises.
The pub group, headed by the Belfast-raised Tim Martin, also bought the former Methodist Church on University Road in the south of the city around the same time.
It was placed on the market seeking offers of around £750,000.
Read more:
- Wetherspoon calls time on Belfast super pub bid
- South Belfast pub The Eglantine snapped up by the Clover Group
- ‘Guinness only' pub planned for Belfast city centre
- Tortilla confirm opening date for its first restaurant in Northern Ireland
- Flame to open new £750k Belfast restaurant on July 5
The former church is no longer listed for sale, while the Royal Avenue unit is now on the market as a rental property.
Wetherspoon has just three pubs left in Northern Ireland: The Bridge House in Belfast, The Central Bar in Carrickfergus, and The Spirit Merchant in Newtownards.
It also owns the former Café Vaudeville premises on Belfast's Arthur Street, which is on long-lease to Revolution Bars.
It has seven outlets in the Republic.
Trading update
In a trading update on Wednesday, Wetherspoon said it was a "misinterpretation" to suggest the move to offload the properties was down to difficult trading conditions.
It said: "In fact, the disposals have raised relatively modest amounts (although every little helps) and almost all are related to circumstances ... where there is another Wetherspoon pub nearby."
It came as Wetherspoon notched up another double-figure hike in sales and said it was being boosted by easing energy costs.
The firm saw sales lift 11.5 per cent year on year in the 10 weeks so far of its final trading quarter and are up 12.9 per cent in the financial year to date.
Compared with pre-Covid trading in 2018-19, sales in the fourth quarter so far are 11 per cent higher.
The firm said profits for the year to July 30 are set to be in line with market expectations, having improved its outlook in May.
It added that lower costs are set to boost its performance in the next financial year.
Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: "As a result of a continued improvement in sales and a slightly reduced expectation for cost increases, for example energy costs, the company anticipates an improved outcome for the next financial year, and anticipates an outcome for the first half of 2023-24 approximately in line with the second half of 2022-23."
In May, Wetherspoon predicted record sales for the year to July after sales jumped 12.2 per cent in the three months to April 30 thanks to a bumper Easter and May bank holiday trading.
