WETHERSPOON is set to invest £145 million opening new pubs and upgrading existing ones, creating 2,000 new jobs, the company has announced.
The pub chain, headed by former Belfast schoolboy Tim Martin, said the projects will start within weeks of its pubs reopening fully as the lockdown eases.
A total of 18 new pubs will open and "significant extensions and upgrades" will be made to scores of current pubs.
The company yesterday listed ten locations where it will invest, including Dublin.
Wetherspoon has yet to clarify its plans for the former Café Vaudville on Belfast's Arthur Street.
The pub chain bought the Belfast city centre venue in 2019. The property is currently let to the Revolution Bars Group and trades as Revolucion de Cuba.
Wetherspoon said yesterday that its £145m investment plan involves 75 projects.
Once those are complete, the company said it anticipates investing £750m to open 15 new pubs and enlarging 50 existing pubs each year for 10 years, creating 20,000 new jobs.
Founder and chairman Tim Martin said: "Our immediate investment will provide work for architects, contractors and builders as well as result in 2,000 new jobs for staff in our pubs.
"We are geared up to start on the first projects within a few months.
"We are also committed to our long-term investment and job creation programme over the next decade.
"However, the investment is conditional on the UK opening back up again on a long-term basis, with no further lockdowns or the constant changing of rules."
