Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin explains exactly how his pubs sell beer so cheap

06 June 2024 , 20:54

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Sir Tim Martin has spilled the secrets on why its drinks are so cheap (Image: PA)

Wetherspoons boss has denied that the chain buys short-dated beer which is about to go off.

Sir Tim Martin, 69, busted the myth in a tell-all interview, admitting his doctor even once repeated the lie to him. The entrepreneur instead said prices are so cheap in his approximate 800 pubs because the chain buys and sells in bigger quantities than any other in the market.

Sir Tim said: "There’s no real secret, we sell a lot of beer. We’ve got bigger pubs than average and we’ve got very long term relationships with our beer suppliers, so they know that we're not buying it for three months or six months."

Wetherspoons is set to open 50 giant “Super Spoons,” Sir Tim added. This is despite selling dozens last year, including several across Greater London. Last year, Wetherspoons made almost £2billion in sales from 826 pubs across the country.

Guinness originated in a brewery in Dublin, Ireland (Getty Images)

Sir Tim, born in Norwich, was inspired by US retail giant Walmart, which used to own Asda, which undercut its competitors on price because it sold more than anyone else. Sir Tim said Wetherspoons takes almost the entire production of Greene King’s Ruddles beer, which is the cheapest beer the pub chain sells.

Wetherspoon announces huge change to drink prices - but it won't last long

But, earlier this year, the businessman said the surging popularity of Guinness among young people helped Wetherspoons continue to grow. Sir Tim said: "The gods of fashion have smiled upon Guinness, previously consumed by blokes my age, but now widely adopted by younger generations."

Following a successful last financial year, work on its "Super Spoons" in Newcastle is now underway which will include a 26-bedroom hotel and 3,000 sq ft beer garden. Sir Tim told The Sun that he was now planning to ramp up Super Spoons by making existing sites even bigger.

“We are probably going to enlarge 40 or 50 more of our pubs over the next few years, in a similar style to Ramsgate and Newcastle”, he said.

Sir Tim has put in place exacting standards about how drinks are served across all the Wetherspoons estate so customers can rely on knowing what they are getting.

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