Landlord targets ‘stupidity’ of Wetherspoon with 98p pint

A pub landlord in Lancashire today launches a 98p pint to “highlight the stupidity” of JD Wetherspoon’s new offer of a 99p pint of Greene King IPA.

Nick Hogan, who runs the Swan With Two Necks in Chorley with his wife Denise, has arranged for the Baron's Revenge brewery to commission a traditional hand-pulled 3.5% ABV bitter, which he has called “With a Spoon”.

Each pint comes with a plastic spoon and when a customer has collected ten spoons they get a free pint.

“I've done this to highlight the stupidity of Wetherspoon. Its 99p pint will not benefit the general pub trade - just its chain,” Hogan told the Chorley Guardian.

“This is at a time when the pub trade is in serious decline for a number of reasons - not least the smoking ban. This will not help the industry and will encourage the sort of drunkenness that the public is thoroughly fed up with. It is irresponsible and stupid.”

A spokesman for JD Wetherspoon said: “If another publican wants to lower his prices it is his choice. We're not for it or against it.

“What I will say, however, is that the people set to benefit are the customers in Chorley who will have an even greater choice.”

Hogan, who was a high-profile opponent of the smoking ban, is a UK Independence Party candidate.

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By Daniel Thomas

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