THE boss of Wetherspoons has spilled the secrets on why its drinks are so cheap as the chain gears up for 50 giant “Super Spoons”.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Sir Tim Martin busted the urban myth that Wetherspoons’ drinks are so cheap because it buys short-dated beer that is about to go off.
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Sir Tim expressed his frustration with the myth, revealing one of his doctors even repeated the lie to him.
The boozer boss instead said that Wetherspoons was able to sell beer and spirits so cheaply because it bought and sold in bigger quantities than anyone else.
“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.
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“Our longest contract now has got 17 years to go.”
Sir Tim said that he had been inspired by US retail giant Walmart, which used to own Asda, which undercut its competitors on price because it sold more than anyone else.
“Sam Walton used to say ‘we sell three for two’, and that’s true of Wetherspoons.
“Our average sales per pub are probably far more than double most pubs.”
Sir Tim said that Wetherspoons’ takes almost the entire production of Greene King’s Ruddles beer, which is the cheapest beer the pub chain sells.
“I’ve never hung outside the brewery gate waiting for it to go out of date. It would be impossible.”
He also said the myth was easily busted when it came to spirits, which have very long shelf lives.
“The cheapest spirit we sell is probably gin, Gordon’s gin. I’ve never heard of gin going out of date.
“They pick it up out of a shipwreck from 300 years ago, and it’s still drinkable.”
Last year Wetherspoons made almost £2billion in sales from 826 pubs across the country.
How to save money at Wetherspoons
Every year, Spoons holds its Tax Equality Day to highlight the benefits of a permanently reduced tax bill for the pub industry.
It usually takes place in September, and last year it fell on Thursday, September 14.
As well as its 12-day Real Ale Festival every Autumn, Wetherspoons also holds a Spring Festival.
Wetherspoons is known for its meal deal offers that run all week long.
These include Tuesday’s Steak Club, Thursday’s Curry Club and Fish Friday.
For example, a standard curry club meal with an alcoholic drink is between £8.55 and £9.19.
Outside of the deal, you would expect to pay around a fiver more for the same meal.
You can enjoy bottomless brews all day in participating Wetherspoons pubs by buying one hot drink.
The offer includes Tetley tea and a range of Lavazza coffee including a flat white, latte, cappuccino, and Americano.
Prices start from just 99p but they can vary depending on your location.
It has recently made a big bet on giant pubs, such as its one in Ramsgate which can cater up to 1,4000 punters and has the biggest beer garden in Britain.
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.
He also used to have sign off on each pub’s carpets, which have become infamous for their wild designs.
Sir Tim said that he wanted each pub to have its own carpet design because he “wanted pubs to be individual”.
He said: “We discovered that’s part of the DNA of a pub. So we give it a personal identity, we put history on the walls.
“We give to an individual name, with a link to the building or area.
“And eventually we found out we could get carpets made for us for not much extra with individual patterns.”
Sir Tim also busted another myth that Wetherspoons was named after a teacher who said that he would never make it.
The chief said that it was named after his teacher “who couldn’t control his class” after he struggled to tame his rowdy punters in the early days of being a landlord.
Sir Tim said: “This is a story that got twisted and a bit out of hand. I named it after Mr Wetherspoon, who was a very nice man, but couldn’t control his class because at the time I couldn’t control my punters.
“I had my first pub, Martins, and when I was replacing a window that had been smashed by one of my punters, I thought of him.
“He never said I wouldn’t make it that or anything, and I have worried that the rumour made him appear a bit mean.”
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