Wetherspoon customers issued looming 20p pint price warning
According to the boss of the chain, breweries are already pushing through hikes on the back of cost pressures from the Budget.
Martin said the government kept heaping pressure on pubs through higher taxes and costs.
The pub industry had already faced demands for higher prices from breweries, which had increased their prices by around 7p per pint in the past week, he revealed.
"It means pints in pubs are going to go up by on average 15p to 20p this month", he said.
JD Wetherspoon has said that its pubs have capitalised on the spring sunshine while reiterating the impact of fresh hikes in labour costs on the bottom line.
Business Insight 📈
✍️ @ScottWWright @heraldscotland
Article: https://t.co/bszxbAgcC1 pic.twitter.com/7LyFj0wObh — Herald Business (@_HeraldBusiness) May 7, 2025
The British Beer and Pub Association recently warned that the price of a pint is expected to exceed the £5 mark, up from the current average of £4.80.
Breweries are reacting to increases in the National Living Wage and National Insurance contributions, which came into effect at the start of April.
The National Living Wage rose by 77p an hour to £12.21, while the rate of employer National Insurance contributions increased from 13.8% to 15%.
Plus, the threshold at which businesses begin paying this tax was reduced, dropping from £9,100 to £5,000 a year.
Sir Tim warned: "The risk to the country is people either in the UK or coming from abroad will think that it's too expensive to set up a business in the UK."
"Guinness is pretty expensive but we are selling plenty of the stuff.
"We have also introduced Jaipur ale, which is more pricey but doing very well.
"Our Stella also outsells Bud Light, which is cheaper."
Recommended reading:
The Wetherspoon boss confirmed he remains "very keen" on the idea of opening pubs overseas through the company's rapidly growing franchise business.
The pub giant already operates a few franchised pubs on university campuses and seven pubs within Haven Holiday parks.
He said: "It's a good sign the holiday parks are doing very well so we think it will do well with people overseas, especially where Brits holiday."
Sir Tim added that he is "open to anything," including launching pubs in airports and campsites.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Blue-haired Democrat snaps during showdown with Pete Hegseth... just days after her furious tirade at RFK Jr
In a dramatic moment on Capitol Hill Democratic congresswoman Rosa DeLauro abruptly cut off Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, raising her voice as he outlined his department's ambitious plans to ramp up submarine production. On Tuesday, Hegseth testified before the House Appropriations Committee in Washington DC, where lawmakers pressed him about the defense department's 2026 budget. The administration's $1 trillion plan includes major investments to boost Navy submarine construction in Connecticut. Among the committee members was blue-haired, Connecticut Rep Rosa DeLauro, who became visibly agitated as she demanded Hegseth clarify his plans. 'Well first of all I want to thank this committee for the flexibility alongside fiscal year 2025 and the continuing resolution,' Hegseth began, seconds before the hearing took a chaotic turn. Without letting him to finish his sentence DeLauro swiftly interrupted, snapping: 'Well I would hope that you would thank this committee for the funding that it had made'. 'We have made a serious investment, so your first statement is inaccurate,' she added. 'We have focused squarely on submarines and now we want to know where that is going and what your plan is for the continued investments to reach production levels and make sure that that is an area that is covered for our national security.' When DeLauro accused Hegseth of lacking details in his plan, he quickly fired back, acknowledging that the investment was indeed earmarked for shipbuilding and submarine production. When DeLauro accused Hegseth of lacking details in his plan he quickly fired back, acknowledging that the investment was indeed earmarked for shipbuilding The 45-year-old Defense Secretary claimed that former President Joe Biden had recklessly wasted much of the previous funding. At the mere mention of Biden, DeLauro cut in once again, snapping at Hegseth, 'Please - I want your plan!' 'I've had difficulty with the prior administration and I don't mind calling them out,' she shouted. 'What is your plan for the future?' 'Can we get that in writing and on paper so that we know where you're going? Because we don't have anything today! We have zip, nada, in knowing where you're going,' she continued, angrily raising her voice with each word. 'You can talk percentages. You can talk about whatever you want. But unless this committee sees dollars and cents and where you're going and what your plan is, then we can reconsider what you're planning to do to go forward. Give us the details!' Yet the irate congresswoman abruptly cut off the exchange, denying Hegseth any chance to respond. The fiery exchange unfolded just weeks after DeLauro found herself locked in another explosive match - this time with RFK Jr. Last month, the US Secretary of Health faced tough questions from both Republicans and Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee about his specific department's 2026 budget. During the hearing, DeLauro accused RFK Jr of breaking the law by cutting funding already approved by Congress - specifically targeting money allocated to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as reported by WSHU. When DeLauro pressed him on whether he would commit to spending the funds allocated in the 2024 budget, RFK Jr replied, 'As I said, Ranking Member, if you appropriate the money, I'm going to spend that money.' 'The money has been appropriated,' DeLauro snapped. 'If you're not willing to accept the funds that have been lawfully voted by members of the House and Senate, on the money for the National Institutes of Health.' 'Well, I'm going to hold you to your word that that funding is there; it should be transferred from 2024 to 2025,' she continued, speaking with her hands and aggressively pointing her finger in his direction. 'You've cut, already, $20 billion. Let's get that money back. You have an obligation to carry out the law and to implement what Congress has done.' Before moving on to the next topic of discussion, DeLauro angrily shuffled her papers around while repeating, 'Unbelievable. Unbelievable'. The discussion then moved to the department's plans to improve the healthiness of school lunches for children. Kennedy began calmly describing updated federal nutrition guidelines that will tell people to 'eat whole food', before getting visibly animated. 'I've been touring these Head Start facilities, and everything they eat is in a package. It's loaded with sugar and with chemicals,' he told Rep John Moolenaar of Michigan. 'We're poisoning this generation… the poorest kids in our country, and we're starting them out with this count against them.' Head Start, a federal early education program for low-income families with kids under 5, faces elimination under Trump's latest budget proposal, which would cut school funding for over 500,000 pregnant women, babies, and children. 'If anybody thinks that we did gold standard medicine in this country from these institutions, look at our children! They're the sickest children in the world,' Kennedy exclaimed. Kennedy then turned to DeLauro, who has authored legislation, written to Congress, worked with advocacy groups and pressured the industry to remove dyes and additives from food for decades. 'Congresswoman DeLauro, you say you've worked for 20 years on getting food dye out,' RFK said. 'Give me credit! I got it out in 100 days.' In April, RFK and fellow federal health officials announced they had come to 'an understanding' with food manufacturers on a proposal to phase out the use of Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2, and Green 3 by the end of 2026, and begin using natural alternatives. Foods still contain dyes and additives. 'Let's work together and do something that we all believe in, which is to have healthy kids in our country for God's sake,' RFK said.
BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Chris Mason: Reeves's spending priorities leave little wiggle room
The words Spending Review may not instantly quicken the heart rate of many, but what we hear from the Chancellor Rachel Reeves will have an impact on what your life is like in the UK in the coming could be one of the defining moments between now and the next general election, as the government divvies up spending for the health service, defence, schools, the police, prisons, courts and much plenty of words about the government's priorities, we will get a sense of the numbers. And yes, a sense of the winners and can expect ministers to claim that much of what it has done in its first year in office has been about "fixing the foundations".That is code for the tricky stuff: think those big and in many places unpopular tax rises, such as the increase in employers national insurance contributions. There is also a keen awareness that rarely has a new government suffered such a big whack to its popularity so fast. Yes a whopping majority, but just 34% of the vote last summer, and they have gone a long way backwards wonder we can expect the chancellor to claim "this government is renewing Britain" but also acknowledge "I know too many people in too many parts of the country are yet to feel it".Baked into what we can expect to hear is an emphasis from Reeves of the importance of an illustration of that, the chancellor recently returned from a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Canada, where she, not yet a year in office, was the second longest serving attendee around the table. It is a volatile the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and others have pointed out, the key decision above all others that we await in the Spending Review is how much money is allocated to the health NHS makes up such a big chunk of day-to-day government spending - about 40% - that how well or otherwise it does shapes everything has long been the case, particularly because it is often also gets a proportionately more generous settlement than on top of that, what has changed more recently as well the government's desire to spend more on defence too and to do so in an era of low growth. 'A song to sing' If we put all these things together, you have an explanation for why other budgets will be as Paul Johnson, the outgoing director of the IFS puts it, "this will be one of the tightest spending reviews in modern times, outside of the austerity period of the early 2010s".For much of the last week, the government has been leaning into the elements of its plan that it feels most comfortable selling: the long term, so-called capital spending on transport and nuclear gets squeezed and by how much is the detail we are waiting MPs have been invited in to see the chancellor and be talked through the aim, as one person put it to me, was to give them "a song to sing", things they can talk about when they are asked what the government is up of Labour MPs I talk to welcome the long-term spending but are also acutely conscious of how bumpy politics feels right now and how important it is they are seen to deliver and deliver quickly."The problem with talk of 'a decade of national renewal' is so much of this stuff is long term and so we could get half way through the decade and then lose the election," one MP in the Treasury are aware of this critique and particularly those who might point to some squeezed day-to-day budgets and claim we are experiencing what they see as has led those around Reeves to declare a "war on graphs" or, as Laura Kuenssberg reported the other day, a desire to point to graphs that help illustrate a key part of their argument in taking on this point out that when you combine day-to-day spending with capital spending, the graph is going up - the opposite of what some might describe as austerity."This is about four trillion pounds of spending," one senior figure tells me. "We reset the foundations. This is stage two: setting things out. Then, we hope for the delivery."Let's political and economic backdrop is perilous: an electorate without much patience, limited economic growth and a wildly unpredictable international landscape, not least President what the government has chosen to prioritise - the NHS and defence - and the rules it has set itself with the aim of projecting economic competence, it leaves the chancellor with little room for manoeuvre.
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Jobs tax has done serious damage – Rachel Reeves MUST reverse some of it in today's Spending Review
Taking the rise THE verdict is in on the Jobs Tax — and it's not good news. In the first set of figures since the £25billion National Insurance whammy on employers kicked in, unemployment now stands at 4.6 per cent. 1 Estimates for last month show 109,000 workers wiped from company pay-rolls — the biggest monthly drop since Covid. Vacancies are also at their lowest since the pandemic. The ONS bleakly warns: 'Some firms may be holding back from recruiting new workers or replacing people when they move on.' Reality has now bitten, making Sir Keir Starmer 's claims of having fixed the economy look distinctly shaky. The NI tax rise was always going to be a massive brake on the economy. If you make it more expensive for employers to employ people they will have to stop doing it. Today's Spending Review is a chance for the Chancellor to reverse some of the damage. By unveiling some measures proving growth really is her number one priority. China crisis WHY are ministers being so complacent about the obvious threats posed by China's planned super embassy? Spooks and MPs are worried about a nest of hostile spies being built in London — close to three major data centres linked by cables carrying highly sensitive financial information. The US also has grave doubts about the wisdom of handing Beijing such a golden chance to cause havoc in a close ally's capital. Its chief concern is the Chinese getting hold of secret shared information. Given that China already runs secret police stations targeting dissidents in Britain, such fears are justified. Could the reason for ministers being so relaxed is that it's already a done deal in return for the paltry £600million trade agreement signed in January? If so, is that really worth such an enormous risk to national security? Zero faith TAXED to the hilt, worried about losing their jobs and struggling to pay soaring bills, it's no wonder that so many skint Brits are fed up with Net Zero. Forty per cent now feel actively worse off as a result of the dash to 2050, while just a fifth believe it has led to positive change. Politicians must understand the current harsh economic reality for so many hard-working families.
