Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin warns that the value of a pint might rise as soon as once more
Wetherspoon boss Sir Tim Martin warns that soaring wage bills and tax rises will force him to charge you more for your pint, with recent hikes hitting pubs far harder than supermarkets
Wetherspoon boss Sir Tim Martin has warned that you’ll soon have to pay more for a pint in a pub.
A surge in wage bills and taxes is hammering pubs much more than shops. A 10% pay rise adds just 1.5p in a supermarket but puts 15p on the cost of a pint in a pub, he said.
Wage rises hit pubs ten times harder than grocers because staff make up a massive chunk of a pub’s costs. While shoppers simply pick cans off a shelf, pub-goers require several staff members to serve them.
Sir Tim said the average pub pint now costs about £5.16. Labour accounts for 35% of the price before VAT, about £1.50 per drink. A supermarket pint, on the other hand, costs just £1.50, with labour only 12% of the price, just 15p.
Sir Tim also slammed an “unfair” VAT gap. Pubs must pay 20% VAT on food, while supermarkets pay absolutely nothing. This tax disparity, he claimed, is largely to blame for pubs losing half their beer sales to supermarkets since 2000, according to figures from Morgan Stanley.
Despite the challenging backdrop, the chain is still set on growth. Wetherspoon has announced the opening of two new pubs in November and another three in December, he told The Sun
The group, which operates nearly 800 pubs across the UK, said its like-for-like sales climbed 3.7% in the first 14 weeks of its financial year, to November 2. Growth accelerated from 3.2% in the first few weeks.
Spoons saw its bar sales rise 5.7%, food lift 0.9%, and sales from slot and fruit machines jump 8.9%, although hotel room sales slumped 6.3%. The CGA RSM Hospitality Business Tracker showed industry sales edged up just 0.2% in September, far below Wetherspoon’s 3.4%, marking 37 consecutive months of outperformance.
Chairman Sir Tim said: “The company is pleased with the continued sales momentum but is mindful of the Chancellor’s Budget statement later this month and, as a result, is slightly more cautious in its outlook for the remainder of the year.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves gave a speech on Tuesday that laid the ground for painful income tax rises in her November 26 budget. Everyone will “have to contribute” to helping rebuild the economy and repair the country’s finances, she warned.
Wages are set to outpace inflation again in April 2026, with the national living wage expected to jump by roughly 4% to at least £12.70 an hour.
Sir Tim hasn’t ruled out passing these surging costs directly onto drinkers at the bar.
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