JD Wetherspoon will cut the price of all food and drinks for one day this week in a bid to highlight tax burdens on the hospitality industry.
The pub chain will reduce prices by 7.5 per cent across the UK and Ireland venues on Thursday. It means that, for example, a customer spending £10 on food and drinks will pay £9.25 for one day only.
The move is being done to mark Tax Equality Day, highlighting the benefit that a permanent VAT reduction would have on pubs and restaurants across the UK, according to founder Tim Martin.
Wetherspoon will reduce prices by 7.5 per cent in pubs across the UK and Ireland on Thursday
Prices in Scotland will be reduced on food and non-alcoholic drinks, in line with Scottish licensing laws.
Wetherspoon said it wants to expose the ‘vast disparity’ in how pubs and restaurants are taxed, compared with supermarkets.
Tim Martin, the group’s founder and chairman, 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 per cent. 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.
‘It means that the hospitality industry is subsiding supermarkets because of the tax rules’
In July, Wetherspoon said 22 of its pubs remain up for sale or under offer, after shutting 28 sites in the past year.
The pub group said the 22 sites in question were in locations with another Wetherspoon pub in the area.
It said it was a ‘misinterpretation’ to suggest the move was down to difficult trading conditions and claimed energy cost pressures appeared to be easing.
Martin added: ‘We urge the Chancellor to create tax equality between pubs and supermarkets.’
Martin has been vocal about the issue, arguing that the lower price of beer in supermarkets has deterred some consumers from getting a pint at their local pub.
He has also accused some senior politicians of a ‘lack of understanding’ over inflation and how higher costs are piling pressure on the sector.
Wetherspoon has 827 pubs in the UK and Ireland. It is set toreport record total sales across its pubs for the latest financial year thanks to a bumper Easter and May bank holiday trading.
