Driven by a shift to pure-play hospitality, Marston’s reported 2.9 percent Q3 sales growth and remains confident of meeting full-year profit expectations.

Marston’s has reported solid third-quarter trading, supported by rising sales and encouraging progress in its transition to a pure-play hospitality model.

Like-for-like sales rose 2.9 percent in the 15 weeks to 12 July 2025, in line with expectations. Excluding the impact of last year’s Euro 2024 Championships, like-for-like sales were up 4 percent. Year-to-date growth now stands at 2 percent, as the company “continues to build momentum” into the final quarter.

The group announced its exit from brewing last year to focus entirely on pubs. Chief executive Justin Platt called the strategy a “new chapter” for Marston’s, which owns more than 1,370 pubs across the UK.

As part of its transformation, Marston’s has begun segmenting its estate into five distinct formats: locals, sports pubs, adult dining, family, and two-room venues. So far, 26 pubs have been refurbished under this approach, including 21 ‘two-door’ concepts and five Grandstand sports bars.

A further five Woodie’s family pubs are due to open before the end of July, putting the group ahead of its target of 30 format conversions this year.

“We’ve made excellent progress against our strategic priorities so far this year, delivering improved margin performance, strong cash generation, and the roll-out of our new pub formats,” concluded Platt. “This momentum and our disciplined execution across the business gives us great confidence for the future, and we remain firmly on track to deliver on full-year market expectations.”

Pubs first

Justin Platt said…… “We’ve made excellent progress against our strategic priorities so far this year, delivering improved margin performance, strong cash generation, and the roll-out of our new pub formats……