JD Wetherspoon insists that its decision to install two 32in plasma TVs into each of its 650 pubs is less of a break with the company’s “no jukebox, no TV” tradition than it appears to be.

Company spokesman Eddie Gershon said the TVs would be unobtrusive and would primarily transmit subtitled (and soundless) news to its customers.

This has proved popular in the handful of pubs with TVs among a new customer base who have taken advantage of the group’s new early opening hours at 9am or 8am for coffee and breakfast.

However, pub managers will be allowed to turn up the sound at their discretion for certain sporting events, including the World Cup which Wetherspoon warned earlier this month could impact its sales in June and July.

But Gershon said Wetherspoon pubs would not be competing with sports venues that broadcast events non-stop nor with its other brand, Lloyds No 1, which screens pop videos.

The project will cost around £2,500 per pub.

By Angela Frewin

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