Some Wetherspoon punters charged double for the same pint
United Kingdom | The UK pub chain Wetherspoon is charging its customers as much as GBP 6.29 (USD 7.70) per pint at some London pubs – more than twice that it charges outside the capital.
The average price of a pint of draught lager in the UK was GBP 4.09 (USD 4.95) in June, an increase of GBP 0.13 since January, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Tabloid newspapers were outraged by Wetherspoon’s flexible pricing. Yet, the eye-watering prices – which are themselves the result of soaring rents, wages, and transport costs – illustrate how the cost-of-living crisis is hitting drinkers in the pocket.
At the chain’s Moon Under the Water branch in London’s Leicester Square – a favourite with tourists – a pint of Stella Artois will cost you a whopping GBP 6.29, The Sun newspaper reported in early August. A pint of Guinness will set you back a hefty GBP 6.19 (USD 7.50).
Thankfully for boozers outside the capital, the same drinks can be purchased at much cheaper prices in other Wetherspoon outlets.
Wetherspoon spills more red ink
Wetherspoon, which has more than 800 pubs across the UK and Ireland, had said in May that it expected to break even in its financial year 2022 (until end of July). However, in early July, it had to revise its forecast, saying it was now anticipating losses of about GBP 30 million (USD 36.5 million).
What has happened? Although like-for-like sales were only 0.4 percent lower in the 11 weeks to 10 July, compared with the same period 2019, sales of lagers, ales, and ciders – traditionally its biggest-selling lines – were 8 percent below 2019 levels. Wetherspoon will release preliminary 2022 results on 7 October.
Analysts commented that the lack of demand for pints reflected the greater impact of inflation on older drinkers, as well as their nervousness about returning to social activities after the pandemic lockdowns.
Wetherspoon is not the only one to suffer. The hospitality industry as a whole is still reeling from covid lockdowns. And now the rising cost of energy, goods and labour is adding to its woes. According to trade bodies, only 37 percent of hospitality businesses are turning a profit.
BrewDog: “The inflation numbers are lying to us”
BrewDog is also sounding the alarm bells. The co-founder of BrewDog said its beers are to become “a little more expensive” and warned that rising inflation has the potential to “destroy more businesses than the pandemic”.
James Watt said it cost BrewDog 25 percent more to make a case of its Punk IPA beer today than it did last year. If he were to pass the cost increase on to retailers, his beers could cost 38 percent more on the shelves.
This will not happen. Instead, he suggested brewers and retailers should lower their profit margins and absorb some of the cost increases.
Mr Watt also lashed out against the government, saying that the official inflation rate of 9.4 percent for the 12 months to June 2022 was “nothing like the full picture” and would soon “catch up to the brutal reality that so many businesses are facing”.
