The building at 3 Market Square in Marlow has appeared on a commercial property listing website despite approved plans for a new Wetherspoons pub at the spot.
An advertisement for retail premises is live on the Novaloca website, stating that 3 Market Square on Marlow High Street has been on the market since May 2023.
The terms of the listing made no reference to Wetherspoon’s purchase of the building in March 2022, reportedly for a sum of £3.5 million, but stated that the ground floor of the property was being let to M&Co for a term of ten years until March 2029, with the top floor let to Garrett McKee Tebbot and Wells Ltd for a ten-year term, until August 2023.
A spokesperson for Wetherspoon said the information on the website was “incorrect”, adding that no changes had been made to the planned future of the venue, which will be called ‘The Swan Hook’.
They confirmed: “Wetherspoon is going to develop the site into one of its pubs.”
Andy King, a consultant at the property firm Ryden, whose contact details are featured on the listing, said Ryden managed the 3 Market Square property during the Covid-19 lockdown but that its involvement had long since ceased, since Wetherspoon’s purchase of the site in 2022.
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He added: “It’s a mystery to me – we’ve had a few calls from people wondering what’s going on. We can say that our name has been put there incorrectly and as far as we know the property is not on the market.”
Wetherspoon first acquired permission to develop a new venue at 3 Market Square back in November 2022, with planning documents revealing that the pub was expected to create between 50 and 60 new staff roles.
When the fresh wave of pub closures was announced back in July, a spokesperson for the company said the Marlow venue would not be impacted and had “no connection” to the other branches that had been put on the market.
Despite the cuts made to its UK hospitality portfolio, Wetherspoon has experienced record sales growth this year, with its remaining 800 pubs taking in their highest-ever Easter Sales in April 2023.
Chairman Tim Martin, told Sky News in March that he was "cautiously optimistic" about the coming year, despite "ferocious" interest rate rises.
Adding: "Supply or delivery issues have largely disappeared, for now, and were probably a phenomenon of the stresses induced by the worldwide reopening after the pandemic."
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