Wetherspoons to close dozens of pubs across the UK including two in Yorkshire - check out the full list

National pub chain Wetherspoons has announced a range of pub closures due to a slow recovery in trading. Amongst the closures will be two from Yorkshire.

The Running Horse at Doncaster Airport and the Silkstone Inn in Barnsley are on the closures list. The pub at Doncaster Airport has been sold off already due to the closure of the airport.

These are two of the 35 sites which were put up for sale by the company several months ago. The Silkstone Inn remains up for sale.

The Silkstone Inn got its name from the rich coal mining history of South Yorkshire. According to the Wetherspoons website, many of the members of the Barnsley British Co-operative Society were associated with the coal trade.

By the turn of the 20th century, ‘coal was king’ in Barnsley – the capital of the South Yorkshire coalfield. The rich Silkstone seam was worked at several pits in the area, which had ‘Silkstone’ as part of their name.

Speaking at Cambridge Union in October 2022, Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin said the company had undergone a “momentous challenge”  to tempt patrons back after lockdown and suggested pub-goers were opting for cheaper booze on offer in supermarkets. He said: “To coin a Shakespeare phrase, ‘the multiplying villainies of nature do swarm upon’ the hospitality industry.

“Following the lockdowns and restrictions of the pandemic, and surprisingly perhaps, the aftermath has been just as difficult for many companies. Most commentators, including most publicans, understandably predicted a post-lockdown boom in which the public would react to enforced cabin fever by embarking on a celebratory spree.

“But the reality has in contrast been a painstakingly slow recovery in sales, for some but not all, accompanied by great inflation in costs.” However, Mr Martin did point out that the chain has “’improved its prospects in a number of ways in recent financial years”, adding that its  “underlying sales are improving”.

Which Wetherspoon pubs are set to close - full list

Wetherspoon pubs already sold

• Harvest Moon - Orpington
• Alexander Bain - Wick
• Chapel an Gansblydhen - Bodmin
• Moon on the Square - Basildon
• Coal Orchard - Taunton
• Running Horse - Airside Doncaster Airport
• Wild Rose - Bootle
• Edmund Halley - Lee Green
• The Willow Grove - Southport
• Postal Order - Worcester
• North and South Wales Bank - Wrexham

Wetherspoon pubs still up for sale

Although these pubs will close as Wetherspoons pubs, there is still a chance they could be snapped up by another company after going up for sale

• The Butlers Bell - Stafford
• Worlds Inn - Romford
• Silkstone Inn - Barnsley
• Wrong ‘Un - Bexleyheath
• The Percy Shaw - Halifax
• Jolly Sailor - Hanham
• The Alfred Herring - Palmers Green
• The Moon & Bell - Loughborough
• The Widow Frost - Mansfield
• Resolution - Middlesbrough
• Foxley Hatch - Purley
• The Rising Sun - Redditch
• Sennockian - Sevenoaks
• Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis - Southampton
• The Columbia Press - Watford
• The Malthouse - Willenhall
• The John Masefield - New Ferry
• The Crosse Keys - Peebles
• Lord Arthur Lee - Fareham
• The Saltoun Inn - Fraserburgh
• General Sir Redvers Buller - Crediton
• Plough & Harrow - Hammersmith
• Thomas Leaper - Derby
• Cliftonville - Hove
• Tollgate - Turnpike Lane
• Asparagus - Battersea
• Millers Well - East Ham
• Hudson Bay - Forest Gate
• Angel - Islington
• The Billiard Hall - West Bromwich
• Capitol - Forest Hill
• The Bankers Draft - Eltham
• Moon on the Hill - Harrow
• The Bank House - Cheltenham
• Last Post - Loughton