Pub chain Wetherspoons owes much of its huge popularity to its competitive pricing – but the mega pub company’s prices are reportedly set to rise – with the price of a pint increasing by 29p.
Meal deals will cost an extra 75p, as Tim Martin’s pub chain desperately tries to make up for a shortfall in profits.
Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon told the Daily Star: “Wetherspoon has increased prices on food and drink by 7.5%”
READ MORE: Dozens of Wetherspoon pubs set to close – full list of beloved boozers facing the axe
“We believe that our prices are still very competitive in all the locations that we trade, ” he added, “even after the increase”.
(Image: Getty Images)
Eddie explained: “Most businesses in the hospitality industry have had to deal with big price increases in the past year or two.
“We have tried to keep our prices competitive, bearing in mind that customers have suffered from inflation too.
“The 7.5% increase is less than the rate of inflation.”
(Image: Jonathan Hipkiss/Birmingham Mail)
With energy costs on the increase, as well as basic food ingredients becoming more expensive, pubs are finding it increasingly hard to stay afloat.
Some 40 Wetherspoons pubs have closed in the past year, with rival chains such as Slug and Lettuce and Be At One also looking to cut less profitable boozers from their portfolios.
In September last year, the company made the “commercial decision” to put a number of its sites up for sale following previous warnings due to rising staff wages and repairs.
(Image: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock)
The pub chain, owned by Exeter-based businessman Tim Martin, originally put 32 of its sites on the market in a move that managers said they knew would ‘disappoint’ customers and staff.
A few months later, it then put a further seven pubs up for sale, bringing the total to 39.
Spoons prices have always changed in response to changes in trading conditions.
November 2022 saw a rise in booze prices rise by 29% in some London pubs, while special events in September last year and January 2023 saw the prices of a pint slashed to an almost irresistible 99p.
The pub chain’s sales fell by 1.1%, it reported on November 6, 2022, in comparison to trading before the pandemic in 2019.
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