Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin sends warning to customers who buy pints

The boss of pub giant Wetherspoons has warned the prices of pints will go up not down after the Labour Party Budget. Wetherspoon chief Tim Martin shared that the pub chain's tax bill is set to jump by two-thirds next year after Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Budget.

Martin said: “Cost inflation, which had jumped to elevated levels in 2022, slowly abated in the following two years, but has now jumped substantially again following the budget. All hospitality businesses, we believe, plan to increase prices, as a result. Wetherspoon will, as always, make every attempt to stay as competitive as possible.”

Greg Johnson, analyst at City broker Shore Capital, predicts that the hike in business taxes could "add a further 5p to a pint". Mr Johnson added to warnings the cost burden will lead to pub closures saying “ultimately we expect the hospitality market will emerge smaller than it could have been”.

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Wetherspoons is expected to face a £35 million extra hit while Mitchells & Butler, the owner of All Bar One and Toby Carvery, will face a £40 millon hit, according to the analysis. The Office for Budget Responsibility also told MPs yesterday that the move to make staff more expensive would have the impact of reducing the level of employment by 50,000 people.

This is more than the entire workforce at Wetherspoons. Pub chains will be forced to increase prices to offset Ms Reeves’s blow from hiking employers’ national insurance contributions and minimum wage bills, according to analysts who've spoken out this week.

Wetherspoon said its sales grew about 6% in the 14 weeks to November 3, compared with the same period last year. Mr Martin said this marked "record" sales for the first quarter of the group’s financial year. Wetherspoon is set to open nine new locations this year, including new establishments at London Bridge Station, Fulham Broadway Underground in London, and Manchester Airport.