Wetherspoon invests £2.8m to open new Waterloo station pub

JD Wetherspoon is to open a new pub at London Waterloo station next week following a £2.8 million investment.

The value pub chain said it is creating 70 jobs at the venue.

The Lion & The Unicorn will open in The Sidings, within the former Eurostar terminus, on Tuesday September 3, the pub group said.

The pub will be open from 6.30am until 12am Monday to Thursday, from 6.30am until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 7.30am until 12am on Sundays.

Wetherspoons said: “The new pub will specialise in real ales and traditional ciders, as well as craft and world beers, serving a wide range of different draught ales, as well as bottled beers, including those from local and regional brewers.”

It added that the new pub’s interior design was inspired by the historic architecture that made The Lion And Unicorn Pavilion a fan favourite at the Festival of Britain in 1951.

Wetherspoon regional manager Barry Brewster said: “We are looking forward to welcoming customers into The Lion & The Unicorn and we are confident that the pub will be a great addition to Waterloo’s social scene.”

The opening comes after Brewdog launched its flagship site at the station in 2022, which was at the time the UK’s largest pub.

Wetherspoons has trimmed the size of its pub estate in recent years, selling or surrendering the lease on 26 of its outlets since November.

However, it stressed last month that it is still aiming to grow its portfolio of 801 venues to 1,000 sites in the longer term.