REG - Wetherspoon (JD) PLC - Response to Press Comment

J D WetherspoonAnnouncement

06/05/2026 17:15

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RNS Number : 3062D  Wetherspoon (JD) PLC  06 May 2026

 

 

 

6(th) May 2026

 

Wetherspoon Comments on Michael O'Leary's Proposed Two Drink Limit at
Airports.

Wetherspoon does not agree with Michael O'Leary's suggestion, reported in the
Times and elsewhere, of a two-drink limit for passengers using airport cafes,
restaurants and bars.

This proposal would be very difficult to manage and would be regarded as an
unnecessarily "big brother" approach by many people.

Airport hospitality venues are highly supervised environments, covered by CCTV
and run by experienced managers.

Airport venues are responsible to the airport authorities and to the police
for compliance with the laws regulating the sale of alcohol.

Wetherspoon applies the same strict policies and procedures to prevent
excessive consumption of alcohol in its airport sites as in all our pubs.

Wetherspoon also patriciates in the "One too Many" campaign, which is used by
airport hospitality venues to discourage passengers from anti-social behaviour
on flights.

Wetherspoon has analysed its airport sales for the last six months.

65% of sales in airport pubs are from food, soft drinks, tea and coffee.

Tea and coffee account for 17% of overall drink sales and soft drinks account
for a further 23%.

Of the remaining 35% of sales which are alcoholic drinks, a significant
proportion accompany a meal.

 

Wetherspoon  managers work closely with the airport authorities to identify
customers arriving at the airport who may have had too much to drink, so that
the necessary action can be taken to prevent them boarding flights.

Wetherspoon has operated at Heathrow airport since 1992, Gatwick since 1994
and at Stansted since 2003 and it has never been suggested to us that our
customers have caused issues on flights.

Wetherspoon airport pubs are operated by some of our most experienced managers
who have been in their roles for many years, alongside similarly long-serving
teams.

The general view among airport managers is that a two-drink limit would
encourage unsupervised consumption from "off-trade" sales (from off-licenses
or supermarkets, for example) in public areas, even before arriving at
airports.

The company believes that the problem is worse on some incoming flights from
certain destinations, where the airport controls are perhaps less- a view
shared by Mr O'Leary.

Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said:

"It is in everyone's interests to have good behaviour at airports and on
flights. A two-drink limit would be extraordinarily difficult to implement,
short of breathalysing passengers, and would, in our opinion, be an
overreaction- especially since many of the problems stem from incoming
flights."

 

 

ENDS

 

 

Enquiries:

Nigel Connor                 Legal Director
              07818 232529

Eddie Gershon              Company
Spokesman              07956 392234

 

Please send any questions by email to investorqueries@jdwetherspoon.co.uk
(mailto:investorqueries@jdwetherspoon.co.uk)

 

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