JD Wetherspoons, with Lytham’s Railway Hotel and St. Anne’s Trawl Boat Inn among its 826 sites across the UK and Ireland, has today reported bumper profits before tax for the year to the end of July of £42.6m. That compared to a loss of just over £30m during the previous 12 months as budget-conscious consumers are flocking to the low-cost pub chain amid the cost-of-living crisis.

Like-for-like sales rose by 12.7% and total sales by 10.6% to £1.92bn. Food sales were a major factor behind the revenue rise while bar sales were up 9%.

Wetherspoons said that momentum had continued since the end of the financial year with sales, on a comparable basis, up by just shy of 10% over the nine weeks to 1 October.

The pub chain employs 42,000 staff of which 54% are aged 24 years or under. The staffing ratio is 53% female and 47% male.