Wetherspoon create jobs Free 251224

It aims to have a total of 125 of the giant stores open by 2003.

Two thirds of the jobs will be part-time, with B&Q saying it is particularly hoping to recruit older workers.

Personnel director George Bramhill said that they found older employees more reliable.

“More importantly our customers love them. People who need advice on a DIY project are more likely to take it from someone who looks like they might have undertaken that project at some time themselves,” he said.

Screwfix expansion

Kingfisher, which also owns Comet, Superdrug and Woolworths, has seen its DIY business surge ahead over the last year.

In December the group said its latest like-for-like sales, which exclude the effect of new stores, were up 8% on last year.

The group’s DIY business has also been boosted by acquisitions, including the takeover of French DIY group Castorama and of the direct hardware business Screwfix Direct, based in Yeovil.

The Screwfix business will account for 200 of the jobs to be created this year, the company said. It also said it was planning to expand its online operations.

JD Wetherspoon’s 3,000 new jobs will come with the opening of 90 new pubs. In total it plans to open about 500 new pubs by the end of 2004 which would create 15,000 full and part-time jobs.

Among the buildings due to open as pubs this year are former banks in Airdrie and Stevenage, a former leisure centre in Arbroath, a former garage in Hull and a disused nightclub in Nottingham.

Former post offices, churches, theatres and shops are also on the list of buildings set to become Wetherspoon pubs.