The boss of Wetherspoon pubs has warned drinkers to brace themselves for the possibility that the price of a pint could rise to £8 or even £10 eventually. Talking to LBC radio Tim Martin said there were "no limits" on prices during the cost of living crisis.
He said the the price of a pint will "quite probably" reach £8. He said: "There are certainly some pubs that do that, and it’s gone up more than you would imagine. Around the country – I go around the country visiting pubs and talking to our pub managers – whereas it’s not a fiver in our pubs, it’s a fiver in a lot of pubs from Penzance to Wick at the moment. So yeah, the price has gone up a hell of a lot. Will it go to eight quid? Quite probably, if things go on as they are."
Mr Martin, whose pub chain includes The Joseph Else in Nottingham city centre, The Last Post in Beeston and The William Peverel, added that some breweries are reportedly watering down beer in order to save on costs and qualify for a tax break, which he labelled a “crazy move.”
Keep up to date with all the latest food and drink news by signing up here
He said: “Everybody at the moment, one way or another, is struggling with inflation and rising prices, and some of the big breweries are diluting the alcohol content with their beers to avoid these charges, these extra charges. It’s financed by tax, because if you bring beer down to 3.4%, which is much lower than almost any beer you’d ever buy in a pub, you get a big tax break on the basis of the incredibly stupid reasoning that people will drink less alcohol if they drink weak beer.
"That’s just not the way people are. So, I think it’s a bad idea. Brewers have jumped on the bandwagon, they can’t resist the 25p tax break, but we are going to try and avoid doing it. Well, we might have, but we want the proper strength beers.”
