Pub group JD Wetherspoon has said it plans to open up to 25 bars over the year ahead as it reported a jump in first-quarter sales.

The chain is set to launch five to 10 managed pubs in the year up to next August, in addition to the 797 it already has, while also boosting its current 25-strong franchised estate with another 10 to 15 sites.

Spokesperson Eddie Gershon said at least six of these new bars already had locations planned in London’s West End, West Bromwich, Hull, Edinburgh, and Barcelona Airport. Another pub in Amersham is also set to open in December this year, according to the website.

Wetherspoon has already opened six managed pubs in the financial year so far – in Manchester Airport, Heathrow Airport, Crewe in Cheshire, Ferndown in Dorset, Dibden Purlieu in Hampshire and Kempston in Bedfordshire.

The company reported an 8.2 per cent rise in like-for-like sales in the 14 weeks to 1 November, with bar sales leading the way with a 9.4 per cent jump and food up 6.8 per cent. But sales growth eased back in the most recent five weeks, to 7.5 per cent against the 8.6 per cent surge seen in the first nine weeks of the quarter.

Chairman Tim Martin said: “The company has had a good start to the financial year. There are still three quarters to go, and profit forecasts are very dependent on the level of sales growth.”

But he said the group was “comfortable” with current market expectations for profits of £76.4 million on a 53-week basis. It previously saw pre-tax profits tumble 28 per cent to £58.6 million for the 52 weeks up to 26 July as booming sales were offset by rising staff and other costs.

Mr Martin took the opportunity in the group’s latest update to hit out at policies he said make it an uneven playing field for pubs and supermarkets, saying analysis shows recent government moves to hike labour costs means the gap has widened even further. He said calculations estimate the labour cost of a pint at £1.68 in pubs, but about 15 pence in a supermarket.

“This economic effect has widened the price gap between a pub pint and a supermarket pint in recent decades, which has been a major factor in pubs losing half their beer sales to supermarkets since the millennium,” he said.

“However, it has also resulted in a substantial decrease in employment,” he added. “The net effect has been to push up the cost of a pint or a meal in a pub relative to supermarkets- and to reduce the number of jobs in the economy.”