Great news for Wetherspoons punters as pub boss makes vow on prices of food and booze this year

SIR Tim Martin has promised Sun readers he will not increase Wetherspoons’ food and drink prices for the rest of the year.

The Spoons boss said he would be able to make the pledge as cost pressures for the business were finally easing and inflation was coming down.

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The business said that sales had risen to record levels despite having closed as many as 52 pubs[/caption]

“We are hoping to keep prices as they are for the rest of the calendar year on food and drink“, Sir Tim told The Sun.

“I’d said we’d manage on breakfast before, but we can now go much wider. I’m telling Sun readers we will keep the prices the same.”

The price promise came as Wetherspoons reported a 7.7% rise in like-for-like sales over the past 10 weeks despite rainy and chilly weather denting Brits’ enthusiasm for beer gardens.

The business said that sales had risen to record levels despite having closed as many as 52 pubs. 

“I try to filter the weather out from my emotions otherwise it would be too undulating”, Sir Tim said.

“It’s too much of an excuse, and it’s bad psychologically to blame the weather because you are not in control of it.”

Wetherspoons said that its sales per pub were 21% higher than pre-pandemic levels, which had helped to offset some of the big increases in costs it had faced.

The pub group said it was now paying £164 million extra on labour costs due to the higher living wage:

• £28 million more on labour
• £38 million on repairs due to more expensive material costs
• £16 million on debt costs because of higher interest rates. 

“Notwithstanding these cost pressures, the company continues to endeavour to ‘widen the moat’ by investing in areas such as beer gardens, staff rooms, above-bar glass racks and improved beer dispense systems”, Sir Tim said. 

Wetherspoons is working on plans to open even bigger pubs, known as “Super Spoons”, and will open new pubs in London’s Waterloo and Fulham Broadway station and in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, in the coming months.

Sir Tim also welcomed Labour’s new Chancellor Rachel Reeve’s economic “pedigree” as a former Bank of England staffer.

He said: “For the first time we have a Chancellor who understands the relationship between planning permission and the impact on the economy.

“Planning affects almost every expanding business and investment in the UK.

“There is lots of work to be done.”

He also pushed the Chancellor on his long-running campaign to bring down VAT in pubs to match supermarkets.

Sir Tim added: “I’m sure she will succumb to my charm and equalise tax between pubs and supermarkets.”

It comes as Wetherspoons confirmed that it has sold or surrendered the lease on 26 pubs so far this year.

The Cross Keys in Peebles, Scotland and The Bear’s Head in Penarth are among the boozers that have been lost.

The Alfred Herring in Palmers, Green, London, is the most recent site to shut down for good.

Many pubs were listed for sale through the estate agent Savills, but some have quietly closed and changed hands without being listed.

Spoons, which has 801 pubs, said it has largely disposed of venues which are “smaller and older”, or where it has another branch in close proximity.

Meanwhile, locals could lose as many as 10 Wetherspoon drinking spots, which remain up for sale or under offer.

But it’s not all bad news for drinkers, as the chain also opened two pubs this year, with more to come.

The Lion and Unicorn opened at London’s Waterloo station in early April.

Plus, Wetherspoon opened its first pub at a holiday park at Haven’s Primrose Valley in Filey, North Yorkshire in March.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Wetherspoons boss Sir Tim Martin previously said he is planning to ramp up plans to launch “Super Spoons” pubs – making existing sites even bigger.