Wetherspoons biggest UK rival isn’t as famous but has 1,800 pubs

Wetherspoons has a rival that you’ve probably not heard of, but owns almost 1,800 pubs across the country.

Four companies make up 27% of the UK’s pub market, according to accountancy firm Gerald Edelman, with JD Wetherspoon taking up 8.9%. The brand has 800 pubs in the UK and Ireland.

Their success is largely attributed to maintaining a hybrid model of drinks and food, with food sales constituting 36% of 2020-2021 company revenue.

The popular pub chain is followed by Mitchells & Butlers with 7.2%. Founded in 1898, Mitchells & Butlers runs approximately 1,784 pubs, bars and restaurants throughout the UK.

Its branded restaurants and bars include All Bar One, Miller & Carter, Nicholson's, Toby Carvery, Harvester, Browns Restaurants, Vintage Inns, Ember Inns, Son of Steak, Stonehouse Pizza & Grill, Crown Carveries, O'Neill's, Premium Country Pubs, and Sizzling Pubs.

Among Mitchells & Butlers’ portfolio is Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, a St Albans pub that was previously listed by the Guinness Book of Records as being the UK’s oldest.

In the 1980s, the company operated around 7,000 pubs, with beer being its biggest seller. Nowadays, 50% of sales come from food - the company serves around 135 million meals a year and 435 million drinks.

They run everything from historic pubs to modern city centre brasseries, from Liverpool's grand Philharmonic Dining Rooms to the Horseshoe Bar in Glasgow.

Mitchells & Butlers was formed when Henry Mitchell's old Crown Brewery merged with William Butler's Brewery, both of which were founded in Smethwick, West Midlands, in 1866.

The other two companies that complete the UK’s top four are Greene King (6.2% of the market) and Stonegate Pub Company (4.4%).

Market concentration (the extent to which a small number of businesses control a market) is expected to increase in the coming years, with key industry players adopting aggressive merger and acquisition strategies.