Wetherspoon Reports 8.2% Like-for-Like Growth as Tim Martin Warns on Pub Labour Costs
J D Wetherspoon has reported like-for-like (LFL) sales growth of 8.2% for the first 14 weeks of its financial year, as chairman Tim Martin used the trading update to argue that rising labour costs hit pubs far harder than supermarkets.
The figures cover the 14 weeks to 1 November 2026, comprising the first quarter and a further week. Total sales were up 9.1% year to date.
Bar sales rose 9.4%, food sales rose 6.8% and slot and fruit machine sales rose 7.1%. Hotel room sales fell 1.4%.
In September, the latest month for which data is available, the NIQ RSM Hospitality Business Tracker reported industry LFL sales growth of 2.7%, against 9.9% for Wetherspoon. The company said it has now outperformed the tracker for 49 consecutive months.
Growth has eased slightly during the period. The company reported LFL sales of 8.6% for the first nine weeks of the quarter in its recent annual results, but said the most recent five weeks came in at 7.5%.
Net debt at the end of the first quarter stood at £736m, down from £756m at the same point last year.
Excluding franchises, Wetherspoon has opened six pubs so far this financial year: at Manchester Airport (Terminal 2), Heathrow Airport (Terminal 2), Crewe in Cheshire, Ferndown in Dorset, Dibden Purlieu in Hampshire and Kempston in Bedfordshire.
The company expects a further five to ten managed openings this financial year. It sold one pub in the period and now has 797 trading managed pubs.
A total of 25 pubs now operate as Wetherspoon franchises, two of which opened in the year to date. The company estimates a further 10 to 15 franchised openings this year.
The update includes a section in which Wetherspoon sets out its case that labour cost increases affect pubs more than supermarkets, responding to repeated assertions on the issue from trade body UKHospitality.
Using an average pub pint price of £5.34 in May, the company calculated a net price of £4.45 after VAT. With labour costs at around 38% of ex-VAT sales (Marston’s annual report shows 37.7%), it put the labour cost of a pint at about £1.68.
For supermarkets, it took an average pint price of £1.40, or about £1.17 excluding VAT. Citing wages at around 13% of sales (Tesco’s accounts show 12.8%), it estimated the labour cost of a supermarket pint at about 15p.
On that basis, Wetherspoon said a 10% rise in labour costs would add about 17p to the cost of a pub pint, compared with about 1.5p in a supermarket. It said this has widened the price gap between the two in recent decades and was a major factor in pubs losing half their beer sales to supermarkets since the millennium.
The company added that the “service element” of a pub pint means far more jobs per pint or meal than in a supermarket, and argued that successive Conservative and Labour governments have pushed up the cost of pub drinks and meals relative to supermarkets, reducing the number of jobs in the economy. It also pointed to the VAT advantage supermarkets enjoy, paying zero VAT on food while pubs and restaurants pay 20%.
Whether the effect is desirable, the company said, is “above all, a question for the public”, asking to what extent people want pubs to retain their place in the UK’s social fabric.
Tim Martin said: “The company has had a good start to the financial year. There are still three quarters to go and profit forecasts are very dependent on the level of sales growth. We are comfortable with current market expectations, once adjusted for the 53-week period.”
The company-compiled consensus of seven analysts puts FY27 profit at £76.4m on a 53-week basis. The financial year runs to 1 August 2027.
The next trading update is expected on 20 January 2027.