UP TO 10,000 new jobs will be created by pubs group JD Wetherspoon as part of a five-year expansion drive.
The popular chain said it will invest in opening 250 new pubs around the country, including Merseyside, funded by a £250m investment.
The business, which currently employs 21,000 people and has 743 pubs across the UK, said it expects to open new pubs in a variety of locations from Sheffield to Livingston, Leominster, Otley, New Malden, Liverpool, Haverfordwest and Newcastle.
The job opportunities will include management positions, as well as bar and kitchen staff.
Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: “Our pubs are extremely popular and we wish to build on their success by opening more.
“I am confident that the new pubs will be an asset to their respective towns and cities.”
Wetherspoon opened its first pub in December, 1979.
In September, it hailed its best ever annual results after the company went back to basics to ride out the recession.
It reported underlying pre-tax profits up 13.6% to £66.2m and sales of £955.1m in the year to July 26 – a record since the firm was incorporated in 1983, according to Wetherspoon.
The chain said it took lessons from the recessions of the 1980s and 1990s to combat tough trading conditions, “concentrating on the key ingredients of standard, service, staff training and incentives”.
Wetherspoon opened 39 pubs in the last financial year and said in September that it expected to open a similar number in the current financial year.
It has 30 pubs on Merseyside and is actively seeking more locations to build on or refurbish pubs within the Wetherspoon portfolio.
Recent investments in its Merseyside properties include Bootle’s Merton Inn, which re-opened in May this year after it was purchased by Wetherspoon and underwent an extensive £850,000 refurbishment, leading to 35 new jobs.
And the latest Merseyside property to join the Wetherspoon fold is Childwall’s Fiveways pub, which was purchased from Punch Taverns for an undisclosed sum and is currently undergoing an £800,000 facelift.
