{
  "id": 18094488,
  "title": "‘How deep is your love?’, Wetherspoon asks punters",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/04/how-deep-is-your-love-wetherspoon-asks-punters",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-11-04T08:13:57.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "City AM",
    "slug": "city-am",
    "url": "https://www.cityam.com/how-deep-is-your-love-wetherspoon-asks-punters/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Wetherspoon, the pub chain, criticized the increasing cost of pints in pubs compared to supermarkets, urging customers to continue patronizing their local establishments despite higher prices. Sir Tim Martin, the chairman of JD Wetherspoon, highlighted during a shareholders meeting that the Conservative and Labour governments have exacerbated the price difference between pubs and supermarkets by increasing labor costs. He posed the question, \"How deep is your love?\" referencing the Bee Gees, inquiring about the public's desire to maintain pubs' role in the UK's social fabric.\n\nThe pub group reported that labor costs for each pint served in a pub amount to £1.68, while the average pint price in May was £5.34. In contrast, supermarket pints cost between £1.30 and £1.50, with labor costs making up about 15p of that price. The widening price gap between pub pints and supermarket pints has contributed significantly to pubs losing half their beer sales to supermarkets since the turn of the millennium, according to Wetherspoon.\n\nRising minimum wages and hikes to employer national insurance contributions have also driven up labor costs, resulting in job losses and increased pint prices. Despite backing a campaign for the government to reduce VAT for hospitality to 10%, JD Wetherspoon found that the proposed change was not implemented by Chancellor John Healey during the last Budget. Instead, the government increased beer duty by 2p per pint, which was met with criticism from the British Beer and Pub Association as \"breath-taking\" and expected to further raise the price of a pint.\n\nDespite these challenges, JD Wetherspoon remains on track to meet market expectations, having reported a 9.9% sales growth in September, surpassing the industry-wide 2.7% growth. The company has experienced a 9.4% increase in bar sales, a 6.8% rise in food sales, and a 7.1% boost in slot machine revenue over the past 14 weeks. However, a 1.4% decline in room sales at Wetherspoon's 55 hotels has offset these gains. Sir Tim Martin expressed optimism about the company's start to the financial year, emphasizing that there are three quarters left to go and that profit forecasts are highly dependent on continued sales growth. The group, which operates 797 pubs across the UK, has opened six new sites this year, including locations at Manchester and Heathrow airports, and plans to open between five and 10 more managed pubs and between 10 and 15 franchised sites before the end of the financial year.",
  "summary": "JD Wetherspoon has hit out at the rising cost of pints in pubs relative to supermarkets, challenging punters to continue visiting their local despite higher prices. Sir Tim Martin, chairman of the pub firm, told shareholders on Wednesday that recent Conservative and Labour governments have worsened the existing price disparity between pubs and grocers by [...]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}