PUB chain JD Wetherspoon has put Peebles’ Cross Keys up for sale.

Staff at the Northgate bar and restaurant with rooms were unable to make any comment but one said ‘you could start a campaign to save our pub’.

Some of them have worked at the hostelry since it was formally opened by Tweeddale MP David Mundell in July 2014.

The Cross Keys joins seven other Wetherspoon pubs put on the market this week.

The others are in London, Devon, Hampshire, Derby and Fraserburgh; and the national pub operator has advertised at total of 40 bar businesses for sale since September.

There is no price, on the jwdisposals website and offers are invited for the Grade II listed freehold building.

Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “We can confirm that Wetherspoon has placed The Cross Keys pub on the market.

“The company does, on occasion, put some of its pubs up for sale.

“This is a commercial decision. Wetherspoon understands that staff and customers will be disappointed with the decision.

“The pub will remain open and trading as a Wetherspoon until it is sold.”

Wetherspoon confirmed the appointment of CBRE and Savills to sell the properties which comprise a mix of five freehold and two leasehold units.

They are for sale either individually, in small packages or as a portfolio.

Alice Marwick, writing on the CBRE website in June, said: “Britain had a total of 116,203 licensed premises at December 2019 and this fell to 106,880 by December 2021.

“The pubs and bars industry has declined an average 6.9 per cent between 2017 and 2022, faster than the UK economy overall.

“However, this wasn’t due to consumers turning away from alcohol, as sales increased by three to five per cent in the United Kingdom in 2020 compared to 2019.”

Paul Breen, director at Savills, said: “Despite the volatility in the current market interest in the properties, which went onto the market in September, has been encouraging with terms now agreed for several of the sites.

“We expect these additional properties to be equally appealing.”

Toby Hall, senior director at CBRE added: “These additional properties are all substantial, well located pubs which are fitted to a high standard.

“Most of the properties are coming to the market for the first time in many years which should give them a broad appeal to both local and national buyers.”