PUB giant Wetherspoons’ £7-a-pint airport price hike has gone nationwide – with even alcohol-free options topping the £4 mark for the first time.
The “bargain” beer chain is charging holidaymakers flying from Gatwick, Stanstead, Heathrow and Edinburgh £7.10 for a Leffe lager, a Sun probe revealed last week.
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But prices have now been ramped up at selected Spoons boozers in other areas in another cost-of-boozing blow.
London’s trendy Moon Under the Water branch in Leicester Square is now charging an eye-watering £7.09 for a Leffe Blonde – up from £6.85.
The same tourist-packed pub charges a hefty £6.78 for a Corona and San Miguel and £6.68 for a Stella Artois.
And even drinkers of alcohol-free Stella Artois and Heineken, low alcohol BrewDog Punk and Kopparberg Strawberry & Lime are being asked to cough up £4.09 a pint.
Elsewhere in the capital a pint of Leffe is £6.77 at the Victoria Station branch, while a Corona and a San Miguel come in at £6.44 and a Stella Artois is £6.33.
In Edinburgh at The Booking Office a pint of Leffe Blonde is £5.84 while a Corona, San Miguel and Staropramen are all on sale for £5.39. A Tennent’s is a high £5.18 a pint.
And a pint of Leffe Blonde at The Paramount in Manchester is now £5 while San Miguel and Corona are priced at £4.56. Alcohol free options are priced at between £2.34 and £3.17 a pint.
But huge regional price disparities were also revealed at branches further north – where Spoons booze bargains were still up for grabs.
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At The Swatters Carr in Middlesborough a pint of Leffe Blonde is priced at just £4.28 while a pint of Worthington’s Creamflow is a rock bottom £1.96.
Meanwhile The Thomas Sheraton in Stockton-on-Tees a pint of Leffe Blonde can be snapped up for £4.06 and a Corona and San Miguel for just £3.61 a pint.
Marc Gander of the Consumer Action Group, said: “The use of the airports for the initial price rise was simply a testing ground to see if the public would bear it.
“It is extraordinary that a large chain like this with huge buying power and huge economies of scale should ramp their prices per pint up to some of the highest in the country.”
Paul Dales, Chief UK Economist at Capital Economics, said: “Not only are we all paying more for boring stuff like utilities and petrol, but we are all now having to pay more for fun stuff.”
Martyn James, Sun Squeeze Team member, said: “For many Brits, a pint at the airport is a bit of a tradition – especially after the stress of getting through security.
“But hearing Wetherspoon’s is going to be charging them up to £7.10 for an airport pint will be hard to swallow for many cash-strapped travellers.”
Wetherspoons, like many other pub chains and retailers, has been hit hard by rising costs fuelled by inflation which has sparked a surge in drinking more cheaply at home.
Boss Tim Martin also said far more people now drink in their homes rather than in pubs and has put 32 boozers up for sale – with more closures planned.
Wetherspoons said: “These price increases tie in with higher prices in central London reflecting higher rents.”
