Wetherspoon’s is to open its first pub outside the UK and Ireland, serving alcohol from 6am every day to sun-seeking Britons waiting for their plane in the departure lounge at Alicante airport.
The opening in Spain, scheduled for January, will be the first foray on to continental European soil for the pub chain, which said it expects to pursue more footholds on the continent in the coming years.
The expansion into mainland Europe comes nearly a decade after the outspoken Wetherspoon’s founder and chair, Tim Martin, celebrated Britain’s vote to leave the EU, a policy he vocally backed.
The airport pub, named Castell de Santa Bàrbera after a culturally significant medieval coastal fortress in Alicante, expects to cater to holidaymakers travelling home from Spain’s Costa Blanca tourist hotspot.
Alongside its usual dining fare, such as fry-ups, burgers and pizzas, the departure lounge pub will also serve traditional local dishes such as garlic prawns and Spanish omelette.
Martin’s plan to expand his chain of more than 800 pubs into mainland Europe comes weeks after the chain announced slowing growth in its sales over the first 14 weeks of the financial year.
However, a business known for its metronomic ability to deliver rising revenues did increase sales by 3.7% over the period.
The newly built pub in Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport will occupy about 93 sq metres (1,000 sq ft) of floor space. Smaller than a tennis court, it will occupy relatively little space compared with some of the chain’s cavernous existing venues.
But it will have an external terrace with customer seating, where drinkers can top up their tans before their gate is called. Food will be served at all times, up to an hour before closing.
Martin said: “We are very much looking forward to opening our first overseas pub. We believe it will be popular with people travelling home from Alicante airport.
“We aim to open a number of pubs overseas in the coming months and years, including those at airports.”
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Martin first revealed plans to open pubs on a franchise basis in Europe earlier this year, singling out holiday destinations such as Alicante and Mallorca.
Wetherspoon’s already has pubs outside the UK, in the Republic of Ireland, although it has cut back its business outside Dublin.
But the love-it-or-hate it chain has never previously served the continental European market.
However, it is well versed in the art of slaking air passengers’ thirst as the sun comes up. The company opened its first airport pub in 1992 at Heathrow Terminal 4, and has venues in several other UK airports, including Gatwick, Stansted and Edinburgh.
