Charity and community
Charity and community
Publishing date: October 2024
Company-nominated charities
UK company-nominated charity: Young Lives vs Cancer
The UK company-nominated charity is Young Lives vs Cancer (previously CLIC Sargent). It supports children and young people with cancer… and their families. Since the partnership began in 2002, Wetherspoon has raised over £23.5 million for the charity. This achievement is thanks to the generosity and commitment of customers and employees.
Those funds raised more recently are detailed below, by year.
| Amount donated (£) | |
| August 2011–July 2012 | 1,408,921 |
| August 2012–July 2013 | 1,606,163 |
| August 2013–July 2014 | 1,653,941 |
| August 2014–July 2015 | 1,714,125 |
| August 2015–July 2016 | 1,622,461 |
| August 2016–July 2017 | 1,749,691 |
| August 2017–July 2018 | 1,674,090 |
| August 2018–July 2019 | 1,541,618 |
| August 2019–July 2020 | 1,114,668 |
| August 2020–July 2021 | 214,888 |
| August 2021–July 2022 | 1,638,288 |
| August 2022–July 2023 | 1,531,407 |
| August 2023–July 2024 | 1,481,433 |
Republic of Ireland company-nominated charity: LauraLynn
In 2015, Wetherspoon nominated LauraLynn as its supported charity in the Republic of Ireland.
The charity provides palliative and supportive care services to meet the needs of children with life-limiting conditions… and their families.
Thanks to the efforts of customers and employees, as at July 2024, just under €335,000 has been raised, detailed below, by year.
| Amount donated (€) | |
| August 2015–July 2016 | 9,669 |
| August 2016–July 2017 | 18,842 |
| August 2017–July 2018 | 22,089 |
| August 2018–July 2019 | 33,826 |
| August 2019–July 2020 | 85,885 |
| August 2020–July 2021 | 98,990 |
| August 2021–July 2022 | 18,119 |
| August 2022–July 2023 | 28,944 |
| August 2023–July 2024 | 18,783 |
The Royal British Legion poppy appeal
Wetherspoon pubs and hotels continue to support this appeal, selling poppies and raising around £60,000 a year.
FareShare
FareShare is the UK’s largest charity fighting hunger and food waste. It saves good food from going to waste, redistributing it to frontline charities. Since working with FareShare, Wetherspoon has donated over 300 meals a week, on average, to the charity.
Local charities
Wetherspoon pubs and hotels in the UK and Ireland also fundraise for and support a range of local and other charities and organisations, including the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the Trussell Trust.
In 2022, to fund ongoing humanitarian support in Ukraine, the pubs raised £19,000 on behalf of the Disasters Emergency Committee.
Industry trade bodies and associations
Wetherspoon is a member of the following trade bodies, associations and charities:
UK Hospitality – campaigning on behalf of its retailer members, encouraging the government to recognise and act on the economic, social and charitable values which pubs bring to communities up and down the land.
British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) – members are responsible for 90% of the beer brewed in Britain today and represent around 20,000 of Britain’s pubs. They include international companies, family brewers, managed locals and the nation’s largest tenanted pub estates. The association’s aim is to support, represent and campaign for the well-being of the beer and pub sector.
Drinkaware – an independent charity working to reduce harm from alcohol misuse in the UK.
National Pubwatch – a voluntary organisation set up to promote best practice through supporting local pubwatch schemes’ work. Its aim is to achieve a safer drinking environment in all licensed premises throughout the UK.
Zero Carbon Forum (ZCF) – a non-profit organisation, empowering members of the hospitality industry to reach sustainability targets with more speed, efficiency and profit – as a united effort.
The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) – a not-for-profit organisation supporting companies in working towards sustainability, guiding customers to make more sustainable choices.
Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (Sedex) – the world’s largest collaborative platform for sharing responsible sourcing data on supply chains (including labour rights, health and safety, the environment and business ethics), used by over 50,000 members in more than 150 countries.
Licensed Trade Charity – an independent charity with a mission to equip licensed trade workers to be self-reliant and to provide the right guidance to people facing a crisis, by offering practical, emotional and, if necessary, financial support. The charity receives financial support from Wetherspoon.
Community engagement
Pubs as part of the local community
Pubs are a focal point of the community. Wetherspoon tries to contribute in several ways.
Pubs offer patrons affordable food and drinks, in comfortable surroundings and being a local community meeting place.
The company has several practices and procedures enabling pubs to operate without causing a disturbance to those living and/or working around them, so that we become, and remain, a ‘good neighbour’ in the local community.
Research (published in June 2018) by the data and research consultancy CGA has shown that a Wetherspoon pub more often has a positive effect on the local area and can stimulate general local interest in eating out.
Pubs’ design and facilities, including local art and history
Over the years the company has invested in communities through the restoration of local and historic buildings, by providing facilities, high-street reinvigoration and local history promotion.
Many of the company’s pubs are restored from interesting and, in several cases, unique buildings which are steeped in history, including from the world of entertainment, banking and railways. The interiors are individually designed and contain a wealth of local artwork, including paintings, sculptures and local history information reflecting the history of the building and its surrounding area.
The company works with, and is very grateful to, many local history societies. These support the company as part of the original pub design process – and continuing into the future.
Copies of many of the history panels, photographs and other information are available on the company’s website (search for ‘pub histories’).
The company has won several awards for pubs’ design and community facilities.
See: Design awards
Loo of the Year
Of the company’s toilet facilities, 677 have been awarded the highest platinum or diamond status by the National Loo of the Year awards. The awards are aimed at highlighting and improving standards of away-from-home washrooms across the UK. Toilets are judged against numerous criteria, including décor and maintenance, cleanliness, accessibility, hand-washing and -drying equipment and overall management.
Public-access defibrillators
These have been installed in 20 pubs and at the Wethercentre (the head office in Watford) for use by the wider community. Most of them are sited on an external wall, although some are currently inside the building. Following feedback from our employees and customers, we have committed to continue to install these at the pubs and hotels.
Public-access defibrillators are available at The Furze Wren (Bexleyheath), The Three Hulats (Chapel Allerton), The Moon under Water (Cheltenham), The Counting House (Congleton), The Guildhall & Linen Exchange (Dunfermline), The Regal (Gloucester), The Rodboro Buildings (Guildford), The Gordon Highlander (Inverurie), The Gold Cape (Mold), The Union Rooms (Plymouth), The Watch Maker (Prescot), The Unicorn Hotel (Ripon), The Regal Moon (Rochdale), The Salt Cot (Saltcoates), The Bankers Draft (Sheffield), The Sir Henry Segrave (Southport), The Society Rooms (Stalybridge), The William Webb Ellis (Twickenham), The Tim Bobbin (Urmston) and The Horseshoe (Wombwell).
Supporting customers with disabilities
The company has worked with the charity Changing Places which supports those with physical disabilities (such as spinal injuries, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis) who may need extra facilities or space to allow them to use a toilet safely and comfortably. Changing Places toilets are different from standard accessible toilets (or disabled toilets) and larger – to meet the needs of those using them. We have built Changing Places toilets in 11 pubs, providing these facilities for disabled customers and their carers.
Changing Places facilities are available at The Pilgrim’s Progress (Bedford), The Velvet Coaster (Blackpool), Captain Ridley’s Shooting Party (Bletchley), The Prior John (Bridlington), The Booking Office (Edinburgh), The Lifeboat (Formby), The Troll Cart (Great Yarmouth), Sandford House (Huntingdon), The Mossy Well (Muswell Hill), Royal Victoria Pavilion (Ramsgate) and The Iron Duke (Wellington).
We have teamed up with Good Food Talks to make it easier for our visually impaired customers to browse through the menu at their local Wetherspoon. Good Food Talks (goodfoodtalks.com) enhances facilities for the blind and visually impaired, when dining out, as well as for those with other reading difficulties, allowing browsing and listening to the menu through a fully accessible website and mobile app (Android and iOS).
Working in partnership with Mencap, we provide work placements in our pubs for those with learning difficulties.
Wetherspoon supports the Not Every Disability is Visible campaign, highlighting the stigma and misunderstanding which can surround those with invisible disabilities, including colitis and Crohn’s disease.
Levelling-up
The Purpose Coalition (www.purpose-coalition.org) was founded with the aim of demonstrating the contribution which private-sector businesses, such as Wetherspoon, can make to the government’s levelling-up agenda, by providing social mobility and equality of opportunity across the UK, in areas with wide-ranging affluence and deprivation.
This support can come in many ways, including:
- social security and mobility through employment, skills, training, an extensive apprenticeship programme and a culture of supporting internal promotion and progression
- bonus scheme for all employees and share ownership, through the share incentive plan
- employee engagement in decision-making and active participation in the business strategy
- appointing two employee directors and two further associate employee directors, who attend board meetings and offer the experience of pub-based employees who are in close contact with customers
- community investment through the restoration of local and historic buildings, providing community facilities, high-street reinvigoration and local history promotion
- offering patrons affordable food and drinks, in comfortable surroundings – a local community meeting place
- supporting other UK companies, including microbreweries, food suppliers, crockery- and carpet-makers
- taxes paid – contributing to the UK economy (see below)
How pubs and Wetherspoon contribute to the economy
Wetherspoon and other pub and restaurant companies have always generated far more in taxes than is earned in profits.
In the financial year ended July 2024, the company generated taxes of £780.2 million.
The table below shows the tax revenue (£6.2 billion) generated by the company, its staff and customers in the last 10 years. During that period, each pub (on average) generated £7.1 million in tax. During this 10-year period, the tax generated by the company equates to approximately 26 times the company’s profits after tax.
Pubs in Ireland contributed €14.0 million of tax contributions during the year, of which €7.9 million related to VAT, €3.5 million to alcohol duty and €2.3 million to employment taxes.
| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | TOTAL | |
| 2015 to 2024 | |||||||||||
| £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | |
| VAT | 394.7 | 372.3 | 287.7 | 93.8 | 244.3 | 357.9 | 332.8 | 323.4 | 311.7 | 294.4 | 3,013.0 |
| Alcohol duty | 163.7 | 166.1 | 158.6 | 70.6 | 124.2 | 174.4 | 175.9 | 167.2 | 164.4 | 161.4 | 1,526.5 |
| PAYE and NIC | 134.7 | 124.0 | 141.9 | 101.5 | 106.6 | 121.4 | 109.2 | 96.2 | 95.1 | 84.8 | 1,115.4 |
| Business rates | 41.3 | 49.9 | 50.3 | 1.5 | 39.5 | 57.3 | 55.6 | 53.0 | 50.2 | 48.7 | 447.3 |
| Corporation tax | 9.9 | 12.2 | 1.5 | – | 21.5 | 19.9 | 26.1 | 20.7 | 19.9 | 15.3 | 147.0 |
| Corporation tax credit (historic capital allowances) | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | -2.0 | -2.0 |
| Fruit/slot machine duty | 16.7 | 15.7 | 12.8 | 4.3 | 9.0 | 11.6 | 10.5 | 10.5 | 11.0 | 11.2 | 113.3 |
| Climate change levies | 10.2 | 11.1 | 9.7 | 7.9 | 10.0 | 9.6 | 9.2 | 9.7 | 8.7 | 6.4 | 92.5 |
| Stamp duty | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 4.9 | 3.7 | 1.2 | 5.1 | 2.6 | 1.8 | 25.8 |
| Sugar tax | 2.6 | 3.1 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 2.9 | 0.8 | – | – | – | 15.4 |
| Fuel duty | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.9 | 20.0 |
| Apprenticeship levy | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.6 | – | – | 13.9 |
| Carbon tax | – | – | – | – | – | 1.9 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 15.6 |
| Premise licence and TV licences | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 7.8 |
| Landfill tax | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1.7 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 8.6 |
| Insurance premium tax | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | – | 1.7 |
| Furlough tax | – | – | -4.4 | -213.0 | -124.1 | – | – | – | – | – | -341.5 |
| Eat Out to Help Out | – | – | – | -23.2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | -23.2 |
| Local government grants | – | – | -1.4 | -11.1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | -12.5 |
| TOTAL TAX | 780.2 | 760.4 | 666.9 | 39.1 | 442.1 | 765.1 | 730.7 | 695.3 | 672.4 | 632.4 | 6,184.6 |
| TAX PER PUB (£m) | 0.98 | 0.92 | 0.78 | 0.05 | 0.51 | 0.87 | 0.83 | 0.78 | 0.71 | 0.67 | 7.10 |
| TAX AS % OF NET SALES | 38.3% | 39.5% | 38.3% | 5.1% | 35.0% | 42.1% | 43.1% | 41.9% | 42.1% | 41.8% | 36.7.% |
| PROFIT/(LOSS) AFTER TAX | 58.5 | 33.8 | -24.9 | -146.5 | -38.5 | 79.6 | 83.6 | 76.9 | 56.9 | 57.5 | 236.9 |
