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JD Wetherspoon Pubs Launch Discounted Menu Including £1.29 Pints

JD Wetherspoon Pubs Launch Discounted Menu Including £1.29 Pints

The discounts will apply to 764 JD Wetherspoon pubs across the UK

Jess Hardiman

Jess Hardiman

JD Wetherspoon has announced it will be cutting costs on many of its menu staples, following news of the government's VAT reduction for hospitality businesses.

Last week Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said the government would be slashing VAT from 20 percent to five percent in the hospitality and tourism sectors for six months - a move that has inspired a range of 'Sunak's Specials' in Wetherspoon pubs.

While the government scheme will only cover food and soft drinks, discounts will also be available on alcohol at your local 'Spoons, including pints of Ruddles Bitter for £1.29 (down 50p on average).

Doom Bar will also be on sale for £1.79 (down 31p on average), while Abbot Ale and other guest beers will be sold for £1.99.

JD Wetherspoon

Lavazza coffee and tea will be discounted to £1.29 (down 16p on average), and soft drinks will start at £1.69 for a Diet Pepsi and £1.79 for a standard Pepsi (down 11p).

Food-wise, customers will see a traditional breakfast reduced to £3.49 (down 41p), with pizza and burger meals including a soft drink starting at £4.99 (down 66p).

There's a slight catch, as the pub chain has said these cut prices will only apply to 764 of its pubs, and real ale will remain up to £1 more expensive at the company's other 103 pubs in town and city centres, airports and stations.

However, these pubs will see price reductions of at least 10p per drink and 20p per meal, which is better than nothing.

Wetherspoon founder and chairman Tim Martin said: "Wetherspoon will invest all the proceeds of the VAT reduction in lower prices, spread across both bar and food products, with the biggest reductions on real ale.

"Supermarkets pay no VAT on food sales and pubs pay 20 percent.

"Supermarkets pay about two pence per pint of business rates and pubs pay about 20 pence.

JD Wetherspoon

"These tax differences have helped supermarkets to subsidise their selling prices of beer, wine and spirits, enabling them to capture about half of pubs' beer sales, for example, in the past forty years.

"A VAT reduction will help pubs and restaurants reverse this trend - creating more jobs, helping high streets and eventually generating more tax income for the government.

"Not every UK hospitality business will be able to reduce prices immediately.

"Some will need to retain the benefit of lower VAT just to stay in business. Others may need to invest in upgrading their premises.

"However, lower VAT and tax equality will eventually lead to lower prices, more employment, busier high streets and more taxes for the government."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Food, News, Wetherspoon, Drink, Pubs, Beer