Cavan not on the menu for wetherspoons expansion

Towns in Cavan and Monaghan have been ruled out, in the near future at least, by UK pub chain JD Wetherspoon as the company gears up for a major multi-million euro expansion elsewhere across Ireland over the next five years.

The company has announced its intention to open 30 new pubs nationwide, spending in the region of €50 million, in a bold attempt to establish its low-cost food and drink brand in Ireland.
Wetherspoon already operates two pubs in south Dublin - the Forty Foot in Dun Laoghaire and the Three Tun Tavern in Blackrock, and has acquired five more prime sites in Dublin, Cork and Waterford.
Earlier this month it was reported Wetherspoon, which already operates 931 pubs in the UK employing more than 34,000 staff, had bought the former Camden Hall hostel on Camden Street in the capital, with plans to turn it into a 100-room hotel and pub as part of a €4m investment.
The company’s Irish expansion is expected to further create up to 1,350 new jobs.
However, neither counties Cavan, Monaghan, nor neighbouring Leitrim and Longford, can expect to see a Wetherspoon opening any time soon, after much of the region was left off the company’s map for expansion.
The nearest JD Wetherspoon pub in the region is The Linen Hall located on Townhall Street, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, which first opened in October, 2001.
Wetherspoon’s Irish plans were announced as part of a wider £400m expansion plan, which will see the brand open 200 new pubs in Ireland and Britain, creating 15,000 jobs over the coming years.
Company spokesperson Eddie Gershon told The Anglo-Celt that Wetherspoon was “looking to larger towns and cities before approaching some of the smaller towns”.
While local counties have not been included this time out, the same spokesperson refused to rule out the possibility that a Wetherspoon could open in the future, but “certainly not in the near future”.