Wetherspoons has opened a new pub inside London’s busiest airport. The Sir Frank Whittle opened within Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 2 on Tuesday, as the chain accelerates its airport expansion.
The £3.5 million pub opening is said to have created 100 new jobs, and is open from 4am to 11pm seven days a week, specialising in real ales and traditional ciders.
Named after jet engine pioneer
The pub, which is located airside (after security), is named after the former RAF officer who co-created the turbojet engine. It has become Wetherspoon’s 10th airport pub, with others located in Heathrow Terminals 4 and 5, Gatwick, Stansted, Birmingham and Edinburgh.
The chain recently opened its first airport site outside the UK, in Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernandez airport in Spain.
Further expansion planned
The expansion is set to continue with three more airport pubs to open in the next six months, starting with the Belle Vue at Manchester Airport in September. There will be two more openings at Barcelona Airport, in the airside areas of Terminal 1 this September followed by Terminal 2 next January.
The company had never opened a pub outside the UK and Ireland until February this year, operating 806 sites nationwide.
