Coleraine Wetherspoons SOLD!

Wetherspoon has sold The Old Courthouse pub in Castlerock Road, Coleraine.

It is one of five Northern Ireland pubs that the company has sold to The Granny Annie’s Group.

They will continue to run it as a pub and staff at the pub will be transferred to the new owner so there will be no job losses.

Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin said: “We understand that our loyal customers at The Old Courthouse will be disappointed with the decision to sell the pub. However, as a company we have to make commercial decisions and it was decided to sell the pub.”

JD Wetherspoon has sold five of its pubs in Northern Ireland.

Wetherspoon will continue to run its pubs in Belfast, Newtownards, Carrickfergus and Lisburn.

The company aims to open two new pubs in Belfast; a former retail unit in Royal Avenue and a former church in University Street.

It still requires various permissions on both sites, so as yet, there are no on site or opening dates. Wetherspoon intends to spend more than £4.5 million and create 100 new jobs across the two developments.

A spokesperson for Granny Annie’s commented: “We are delighted to have acquired five of the JD Wetherspoon’s Northern Ireland pub portfolio.

“These include The Linen Hall in Enniskillen, The Old Courthouse in Coleraine, The Spinning Mill in Ballymena together with The Ice Wharf and The Diamond in Derry.

“The outlets will continue to trade as normal over the Festive Season. A £3m renovation programme will commence in early 2017.

“The Granny Annie’s Group already own and operate a number of hugely popular venues across Northern Ireland including Derry, Limavady and Belfast. Further properties in Belfast and Portrush have already been acquired earlier this year and are scheduled to open during the first half of 2017.”