Wetherspoon’s Tim Martin hits out at ‘dinner party’ politicians amid £60m Budget burden
JD Wetherspoon’s vocal founder and chairman Sir Tim Martin has called on the Prime Minister to cut pub food taxes ahead of a jump in costs linked to the autumn Budget.
His appeal to Sir Keir Starmer came as the hospitality giant, which runs almost 800 pubs across the UK, revealed stronger sales for the half-year so far despite selling off more venues.
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Hide AdMartin said the company is set to face a £60 million jump in labour-related costs come April, amid the hikes in employers’ national insurance contributions and the minimum wage, announced in the last UK Budget. In a trading update, he stressed that the business was in a “reasonable” position but that forecasting is “difficult” in the face of impending tax and wage increases.


As a result, he renewed calls to equalise the VAT paid on food by pub and restaurant businesses with that of supermarkets. Most food and drink in shops has zero VAT whereas restaurants and pubs have a standard rate of 20 per cent.
“It is a clear principle of taxation that taxes should be fair and equitable, as between different types of companies,” Martin said. “The VAT distortions that exist today will inevitably create more supermarkets and less [sic] pubs.
“Given the public’s love of pubs, the only possible explanation for this tax discrepancy is that prime ministers and other legislators, in the 45 years since Wetherspoon started trading, have been dinner party goers, rather than pub goers.
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Hide Ad“Wetherspoon therefore calls upon Sir Kier Starmer to redress this imbalance, thereby striking a blow for tax equality and ending discrimination in favour of dull (yawn, yawn) dinner parties.”
His comments came as the group said like-for-like sales rose by 5.1 per cent over the 25 weeks to January 19 compared with a year earlier. It said rising food sales were a key driver, increasing by 5.6 per cent year on year, while bar sales were up 4.5 per cent.
Wetherspoons also highlighted that sales accelerated around Christmas, with a 6.1 per cent increase over the three weeks from December 16 to January 5.
The group currently runs an estate of 796 pubs after selling six sites over the past year, while it has opened two new venues. It plans to open a total of nine pubs in the year. In addition, a further four franchised pubs will open at Haven Holiday Parks, bringing the total number of franchises to seven.
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Hide AdCharlie Huggins, manager of the Quality Shares Portfolio at Wealth Club, said: “The extent of cost increases for the sector is crippling. The £60m annual increase in labour related costs Wetherspoons is facing is almost equivalent to the entire profit it made last year.
“Price increases are inevitable, but for Wetherspoons this is a delicate balance. Raise prices too much and it risks ostracizing its loyal customer base. Not enough, and margins could come under serious pressure.”
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, added: “Wetherspoons continues to rail against the authorities on a number of issues which it feels are detrimental to its business, and most vociferously on the issue of tax inequality with regard to VAT and business rates compared to the supermarkets.”
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