Wetherspoon’s boss: hospitality holding off price rises could be ‘catastrophic’

Tim Martin says Bank of England is right to ask firms to be mindful but advice should not be taken too literally

• Bank boss urges firms to hold back price rises or risk higher rates

The boss of JD Wetherspoon has warned it could be “catastrophic” for pubs and restaurants to hold off raising prices as costs continue to soar, as the pub chain revealed that the “ferocious” impact of inflation has fuelled a dramatic increase in its bills.

Tim Martin said that Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, was right to warn companies to be mindful of how much they put up prices to avoid continuing to fuel an inflationary cycle, after the headline annual rate unexpectedly rose to 10.4% last month.