Food & Drink
Wetherspoons is slashing food and drink prices for one day only next week
Punters heading to their local Spoons boozer can enjoy around 7.5% off food and drink
Bargain pub chain Wetherspoons has said it will slash the price of its food and drink items for one day only next week.
The one-day promotional offer will be held on Thursday September 14th, which is National Tax Equality Day, and is part of a campaign to highlight the burden of tax on the hospitality industry.
Chairman of Wetherspoons Tim Martin said they want to expose the ‘vast disparity’ in how pubs and restaurants are taxed, compared with supermarkets.
He also hopes to highlight how a permanent VAT reduction would help benefit pubs and restaurants in seeing more customers come through their doors.
Those heading to their local Spoons boozer can enjoy around 7.5% off their order.
The drop in price means, for example, a customer spending £10 on a food and drink order could get it for £9.25 instead.
Wetherspoons has also added a VAT calculator to its website to show how much customers could save at their local Spoons boozer.
Mr Martin said: “The biggest threat to the hospitality industry is the vast disparity in tax treatment among pubs, restaurants and supermarkets.
“Supermarkets pay zero VAT in respect of food sales, whereas pubs and restaurants pay 20%. This tax benefit allows supermarkets to subsidise the selling price of beer.
“Pubs have been under fantastic pressure for decades because of the tax disadvantages which they have with supermarkets.”
He argued that the hospitality industry is ‘subsidising supermarkets’ due to these tax rules, adding: “We urge the Chancellor to tax equality between pubs and supermarkets.”
It’s not the first time Mr Martin has been vocal about the issue and has even accused some senior politicians of a ‘lack of understanding’.
Wetherspoons has already closed 29 of its sites this year with several more up for sale.
It now runs over 800 pubs across the UK and Ireland. The chain is set to report record total sales across its pubs for the latest financial year after having bumper Easter and May Bank Holiday trading weekends.