Pub chain Marston's to roll out more Two Door and Grandstand venues as new formats fuel significant profit surge in 2025
Pub company Marston’s has toasted a successful 2025 with a significant surge in profits attributed to the success of its innovative new pub formats, which are proving a major hit with customers and driving strong commercial returns.
The Wolverhampton-based national pub chain reported “significant profit growth” with pre-tax profits rising by 71.3 per cent from £42.1 million to £72.1 million this year.
The uplift comes as a result of a strategy focused on modernising the Marston's estate through targeted investment and format conversion.
Marston’s CEO, Justin Platt, who took over in January 2024, said 2025 has been "a good year in the round" - with "significant profit growth" and increased customer loyalty, with guest satisfaction at the highest level it has ever been.
Along with its digital transformation and disciplined approach to cost management, the pub company's new pub formats take much credit for the last two years of growth.
The new formats explained
The new pub formats are the result of extensive research into how modern-day patrons are using pubs, which has changed dramatically over the last two decades.
“A pub today is used for a lot broader a range of occasions than it was 20 years ago,” Mr Platt explained, saying pubs today are not just for Friday and Saturday nights out - they can a Tuesday lunchtime charity meeting venue, a work from home on a Wednesday venue, for a big Sunday lunch or a Friday night meal out with family and friends - a whole range of occasions.
He said: "We did a lot of work talking to our guests, understanding what they want. That allowed us to identify five clear target segments in the market, and we designed those formats specifically against what guests told us they wanted in each of those segments."
The company, headquartered in St Johns Square, Wolverhampton, identified five clear target segments, designing formats to meet the specific needs of each.
The five Marston's pubs:
1: Grandstand: The local sports pub concept, with big screens and designed to share big events. This is a key focus for acceleration, particularly in a World Cup year.
2: Woodie's: The family pub for dining. Launches came in the summer, with encouraging early data suggesting a focus on this format will follow in the subsequent year.
3: Two Door: The split pub format, featuring two separate areas — each with their own entrance — one for drinkers and one for diners. This format, alongside Grandstand, is a primary focus for expansion next year.
4: Signature: A more high end, adult-based dining environment, focused on quality food and service and a range of leading drinks brands
5: Local Pub: The traditional community venue, with a warm and welcoming atmosphere for regular and locals
The formats have delivered a 23 per cent revenue uplift and have been "really well received by guests but have also done well in commercial terms as well" - Mr Platt said.
Following the conversion of 31 venues this year, Marston’s is looking to accelerate its conversion programme to convert a further 50 sites in 2026. The focus of the acceleration will be the Two Door and Grandstand concepts, where the pub business has the most data to prove their success.
Mr Platt said: "We're definitely putting the foot on the accelerator of Two Door and Grandstand through next year. And then, and the other factor with that is that, of course, in a World Cup year, the Grandstand sports pub concept we think will succeed, which is one of the reasons we want to get behind it.
"But Woodie's is doing well. Our Woodie's launches kind of came in the summer, so we don't have as much data yet. The data we do have is as encouraging, so I would anticipate that the following year will be an important year for Woodie's launches."
The Two Door, Grandstand and Woodie’s concepts, which are being rolled out in the West Midlands and Staffordshire, have not yet made their way into Shropshire. The Bell Inn at Tong, on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border, however, is a popular Signature venue offering a high end dining experience for adults.
Mr. Platt stressed the new pub formats strategy is about refurbishing and improving existing pubs, rather than opening new ones.
"It works for us commercially, but importantly it works for our guests - it provides an environment that they want to come to and spend their socialising time at.
“Our focus is very much on driving the quality out of the pubs that we have, and these formats provide a great opportunity to do that,” he said - pointing to successful local examples like The Spread Eagle in Wednesbury, a newly-reopened Two Door pub, and The Woodman in Netherton, which he described as a “great Grandstand pub.”
With a strong year of results behind it, an 11 per cent year on year increase in Christmas bookings and the new formats proving a hit with locals in the Black Country, Marston's is looking ahead to 2026 with “significant momentum and confidence” and a plan to keep delivering "great experiences” for customers and sustainable value for shareholders.
