The boss of the UK’s best-known pub chain has hit back at Ed Miliband after he suggested pubs should serve warmer beer to keep energy bills down.
Tim Martin, chairman of JD Wetherspoon, told City AM pubs will be swiftly overtaken by supermarkets if they opt to cut their serving standards, saying the energy secretary is a “non-expert” on running pubs.
Pubs are bracing for energy bills to rise as a result of shipping disruption in the Middle East, with trade body UKHospitality warning some landlords could face “devastating” cost rises.
Responding to calls for the government to offer energy bill relief to hospitality firms, energy secretary Ed Miliband launched an advice tool to help landlords save money.
The tool encourages pubs, bars and restaurants to reduce electricity usage by turning off fridges at night and monitoring hotspots like extraction fans, ovens and lamps.
In a video posted to X on Thursday, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage mocked Miliband for suggesting pubs should serve warm beer.
He said: “He is a cretin. Warm lager so the pubs can save on energy bills – why don’t [they] just reduce the energy bills?”
Pubs ‘need help’ to compete
Tim Martin said the government must help pubs to compete with the beer prices offered by supermarkets by cutting taxes, saying landlords have lost 50 per cent of their commerce to shops in the last quarter-century.
He said: “Pub’s biggest competitors are supermarkets. People put supermarket beer in their fridge. If they serve warm beer they’ll lose the other 50% much more quickly.
“Miliband has three areas of non-expertise: running pubs, eating bacon sandwiches and energy policy.”
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), told The Telegraph the tool fails to address the other costs faced by pubs, including rising wages and business rates.
Martin has long been critical of the VAT burden on pubs which he says is widening the gap between his industry and supermarkets.
He said: “If the public and the government want pubs to retain their traditional role as the societal melting pot, they need to become less expensive compared to supermarkets.”
Wetherspoon ‘straining every sinew’ not to raise prices
New analysis of BBPA data by money.co.uk suggests that UK pubs could be making as little as 3p profit for every £1 spent on a pint.
Wetherspoon revealed on Friday it had failed to meet profit expectations, taking £22m in the first half of this year – down 18 per cent, more than double the eight per cent fall forecast by analysts.
Martin said the company is facing a £60m annual burden of national insurance and minimum wage hikes, with a further £30m of costs expected to kick in from April.
The pub boss suggested last week that rising energy costs due to the Iran war may force his company to hike pint prices, and he told City AM the conflict will affect the entire UK economy.
“The lesson of the 1970s is that rising energy costs make everyone poorer, since every product is made using energy. So every area of the economy will be affected.”
Asked if Wetherspoon pubs will be forced to raise prices, he said: “We’ll be straining every sinew to be as competitive as possible.”
Shares in the FTSE-250-listed pub chain plummeted by as much as 12 per cent on Friday, to 541p, leaving the stock down 27 per cent in the year so far.
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