VS Series
Greene King v Wetherspoons
Your local, two ways: the brewer against the value pub
Wetherspoons leads on pre-tax profit, profit margin and growth; Greene King on turnover and net assets. Greene King is the biggest by turnover at £2,539m, against £2,238m at Wetherspoons. Wetherspoons keeps more of every £100 it takes, £3.47 as pre-tax profit.
The year ends are up to 7 months apart, so this compares each company's most recent filing rather than the same twelve months.
Accounts compared: Greene King to Jan 2026 · Wetherspoons to Jul 2026
Who they are
Greene King
Greene King Limited · 00024511Greene King is a pub company and brewer that runs pubs, restaurants and hotels across Britain.In brief: pubs and brewing · managed and tenanted pubs · Bury St Edmunds, 1799 · owned by CK Asset HoldingsFull profile →Wetherspoons
J D Wetherspoon PLC · 01709784Wetherspoon runs pubs in the UK and Ireland serving low-priced food and drink, and also runs a number of hotels.In brief: pub chain · low-priced food and drink · company-managed pubs and hotels · listedFull profile →The Numbers
The leader on each measure is marked. Movements are against each company's own prior year. Pre-tax profit is filed except where marked (est.).
Category winners
Biggest by turnover
Greene King
£2,539m
Most pre-tax profit
Wetherspoons
£78m
Highest profit margin
Wetherspoons
3.5%
Fastest-growing turnover
Wetherspoons
+5.2%
Biggest employer
Wetherspoons
42,409 staff
Highest pay per head
Greene King
£22,000
Most turnover per head
Greene King
£65,000
Largest net assets
Greene King
£2,302m
Most cash
Greene King
£133m
The Takeaway
- Wetherspoons converts the most of its turnover. Of every £100, £3.47 reaches pre-tax profit, against a loss of £0.92 at Greene King.
- Greene King is the largest on the top line, £2,539m of turnover, 1.1x Wetherspoons's £2,238m.
- Wetherspoons is growing fastest, turnover +5.2% on its own prior year.
- Wetherspoons is the biggest employer with 42,409 people; Greene King pays the most per head, an average staff cost of about £22,000.
- Greene King has the largest balance sheet, net assets of £2,302m.
Who keeps the most of every £100 of sales?
Wetherspoons keeps the most: £3.47 of every £100 of turnover becomes pre-tax profit. Greene King does worst, losing £0.92.
Financing bites hardest at Greene King: £4.90 of every £100 goes on interest.
Every profit figure here is the one the company filed.
The chart splits each company's turnover into £100: what goes on people, on interest and on everything else, and what is left as profit.
Out of every £100 of turnover
Each column is £100 of that company's own turnover, so companies of any size compare on one scale; the figures are pounds out of each £100, not millions. Companies run from the best margin to the worst. Payroll is staff costs, financing is interest paid, other running costs are everything else, and profit is pre-tax profit, filed or estimated as marked in the table. A loss is not an extra cost: it is the part of the costs that runs past the £100 line, marked with a red bracket. Hover over any segment for its figure.
Who is the biggest, and does the comparison hold?
By turnover the order is Greene King (£2,539m), Wetherspoons (£2,238m).
By headcount, Wetherspoons leads with 42,409 employees.
The comparison holds with the dates stated plainly: Greene King to Jan 2026, Wetherspoons to Jul 2026. All are on the same filing basis.
Turnover on the latest filing
Who is growing fastest?
Wetherspoons grew fastest, turnover +5.2% on its own prior year, ahead of Greene King (+3.6%).
Turnover change on each company's own prior year
Who employs the most, who pays the most, and who brings in the most per head?
Wetherspoons employs the most, 42,409 people, against 38,881 at Greene King.
Greene King has the highest average staff cost, about £22,000 a head; Wetherspoons the lowest, about £21,000.
Greene King brings in the most turnover per employee, about £65,000, against £53,000 at Wetherspoons. It says as much about the business model as the workforce: a marketplace or a wholesaler needs far fewer people per pound than a restaurant or a gym.
Who owns each one?
Ownership as recorded on the Companies House register of people with significant control, in the bands the register uses.
Held by Ck Noble (Uk) Limited
A company recorded as a person with significant control. 7 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns Greene King →
J D Wetherspoon PLC · 01709784Owned by its shareholders
Listed on the London Stock Exchange, so no single controller appears on the register. 4 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns Wetherspoons →
What does the full ledger show?
| Measure | Greene King | Wetherspoons |
|---|---|---|
| Registered name | GREENE KING LIMITED | J D WETHERSPOON PLC |
| Company number | 00024511 | 01709784 |
| Incorporated | 1887 | 1983 |
| Accounts filed | 6 June 2026 | 30 October 2026 |
| Turnover, prior year | £2,451m | £2,128m |
| Pre-tax profit, prior year | -£147m | £89m |
| Staff costs | £862m | £892m |
| Payroll share of turnover | 34.0% | 39.9% |
| Employees, prior year | 40,588 | 42,081 |
| Dividends paid | n/d | £13m |
| Charges outstanding | 7 | 4 |
A figure the filing does not disclose is shown as n/d; a zero in a filing is treated as not disclosed. Rounding: below £0.1m in thousands, £0.1m to £2m to one decimal place, above that to the nearest million.
Greene King v Wetherspoons: common questions
Who is the biggest of Greene King or Wetherspoons?
Greene King, with turnover of £2,539m in the year to January 2026.
Which makes the most profit?
Wetherspoons: £78m pre-tax in the year to July 2026.
Which employs the most people?
Wetherspoons, with 42,409 employees in its latest accounts.
Greene King or Wetherspoons: which is bigger?
Greene King, with turnover of £2,539m against £2,238m at Wetherspoons on their latest filings. On margin, Wetherspoons keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit. The full head to head is in the VS Series. Read the VS page →
Where do these figures come from?
Each company's latest accounts filed at Companies House. Each links to its full Spark Intel profile, which names the filing it comes from.
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