Wetherspoons closing dozens of pubs across the UK including three in Merseyside - see full list of closures

Wetherspoon has confirmed which of its pubs are closing down amid a slow recovery in trading, including three in Merseyside. The Wild Rose in Bootle has already permanently downed shutters after being sold off, The Willow Grove in Southport has also been sold, while the John Masefield in New Ferry remains up for sale.

The John Masefield, on New Chester Road, is popular with locals and described as a “classic” Merseyside pub. The watering hole is named after the Poet Laureate John Masefield, who attributed his love of books to his time in the area as a young man after being sent to join the HMS Conway, which was moored off New Ferry Pier.

But the pub will soon be one of dozens of Wetherspoons sites to call last orders as the firm grapples with “substantially higher costs” including repairs and staff wages. In October, Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin said the company had undergone a “momentous challenge”  to tempt patrons back after lockdown and suggested pub-goers were opting for cheaper booze on offer in supermarkets.

Giving a talk at Cambridge Union, he said: “To coin a Shakespeare phrase, ‘the multiplying villainies of nature do swarm upon’ the hospitality industry. Following the lockdowns and restrictions of the pandemic, and surprisingly perhaps, the aftermath has been just as difficult for many companies.

“Most commentators, including most publicans, understandably predicted a post-lockdown boom in which the public would react to enforced cabin fever by embarking on a celebratory spree.  But the reality has in contrast been a painstakingly slow recovery in sales, for some but not all, accompanied by great inflation in costs.”

However, Mr Martin said that the pub chain has “’improved its prospects in a number of ways in recent financial years”, adding that its  “underlying sales are improving”.

Which Wetherspoon pubs are set to close - full list

Wetherspoon pubs already sold

• Harvest Moon - Orpington
• Alexander Bain - Wick
• Chapel an Gansblydhen - Bodmin
• Moon on the Square - Basildon
• Coal Orchard - Taunton
• Running Horse - Airside Doncaster Airport
• Wild Rose - Bootle
• Edmund Halley - Lee Green
• The Willow Grove - Southport
• Postal Order - Worcester
• North and South Wales Bank - Wrexham

Wetherspoon pubs still up for sale

Although these pubs will close as Wetherspoons pubs, there is still a chance they could be snapped up by another company after going up for sale.

• The Butlers Bell - Stafford
• Worlds Inn - Romford
• Silkstone Inn - Barnsley
• Wrong ‘Un - Bexleyheath
• The Percy Shaw - Halifax
• Jolly Sailor - Hanham
• The Alfred Herring - Palmers Green
• The Moon & Bell - Loughborough
• The Widow Frost - Mansfield
• Resolution - Middlesbrough
• Foxley Hatch - Purley
• The Rising Sun - Redditch
• Sennockian - Sevenoaks
• Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis - Southampton
• The Columbia Press - Watford
• The Malthouse - Willenhall
• The John Masefield - New Ferry
• The Crosse Keys - Peebles
• Lord Arthur Lee - Fareham
• The Saltoun Inn - Fraserburgh
• General Sir Redvers Buller - Crediton
• Plough & Harrow - Hammersmith
• Thomas Leaper - Derby
• Cliftonville - Hove
• Tollgate - Turnpike Lane
• Asparagus - Battersea
• Millers Well - East Ham
• Hudson Bay - Forest Gate
• Angel - Islington
• The Billiard Hall - West Bromwich
• Capitol - Forest Hill
• The Bankers Draft - Eltham
• Moon on the Hill - Harrow
• The Bank House - Cheltenham
• Last Post - Loughton