Wetherspoon starts 2010 by selling a drink and meal for under £3

JD Wetherspoon has followed the tradition of other retailers by putting on a January sale. The popular pub chain will be selling four varieties of drinks for 99p and two meals at £1.99 each.

The drinks on sale for under a £1 are: Greene King Ruddles; a 125ml glass of Fetzer wine; a measure of Gordon’s gin with a mixer and a bottle of Carlsberg Export. The £1.99 meals are ham, eggs and chips and spicy tomato pasta. Wetherspoons decision to sell alcohol at under a pound will undoubtedly be contentious in the context of the upward pressures in the pub trade caused by duty and taxes. It will also add another twist to the debate about minimum pricing, which is firmly on the legislative agenda in Scotland.

Wetherspoons Chairman Tim Martin has been a strong critic of increases in taxes and regulation, which, he argues have resulted in more 'unsupervised' drinking, because of cheaper off-trade prices. In September, Wetherspoons announced a pre-tax profit of £66.2m in the year to 26th July. Mr Martin ascribed the robust performance to the key ingredients of standards, service, staff training and incentives, as well as selling more coffee and food, including breakfasts. Last month Wetherspoon said that it will open 250 pubs over the next five years, on the basis of lower property prices. It said that it will consequently be creating 10,000 jobs in areas including Sheffield, Livingston, Leominster, Otley, New Malden, Liverpool, Haverfordwest and Newcastle.

Interestingly, in the context of Mr Martin’s comments on the off-trade, Majestic Wine, the bulk wine retailer, has just said its like-for-like sales rose 11.7% in the nine weeks to 4th January, with more trying Majestic for the first time. Although, off-licence chain Threshers did fall by the wayside before Christmas.

06 January 2010