Scottish pubs in 'very safe hands' as JD Wetherspoon appoints boss for Scotland

JD Wetherspoon has appointed a new boss to oversee all of its 60 pubs across Scotland.

Helen Dumbreck who takes up the position of general manager, has worked for the pubs giant for the past 21 years and has held roles as a pub manager, area manager and regional manager.

She will have overall responsibility for Wetherspoon’s Scottish pubs, which employ more than 2,500 people and have annual gross sales of £160 million.

Chief executive John Hutson said: “Helen richly deserves her promotion to general manager. She is Wetherspoon through and through and our Scottish pubs are in very safe hands with her at the helm.”

The JD Wetherpoon Scottish estate includes the Caley Picture House on Lothian Road in the centre of Edinburgh.

Hailing from Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, Dumbreck started her Wetherspoon career as a part-time bar associate at The Salt Cot, Saltcoats, where she spent three years.

She spent a further three years at The Wheatsheaf in Kilmarnock, becoming pub manager there in 2005, followed by four years in Glasgow at The Society Room, before being appointed as area manager in 2011 and regional manager in 2017.

Dumbreck said: “I am delighted to be appointed as general manager for all Wetherspoon pubs in Scotland. I look forward to working with the area and pub managers, as well as all staff, to ensure that the pubs continue to be popular with our customers and successful.”

In March, Wetherspoon said it would be pumping £145m into opening new pubs and upgrading existing sites, including in Scotland, creating some 2,000 jobs.

Helen Dumbreck, who takes up the position of general manager, has worked for the pubs giant for the past 21 years.

It has a pipeline of 75 projects – 18 of which are new pubs and 57 “significant extensions and upgrades” to its existing 871 pubs.

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