Is Wetherspoons really banning champagne because of Brexit?

Wetherspoons pubs are to stop serving champagne and German wheat beer, replacing them with British alternatives ahead of Brexit.

Instead of French champagnes, from 9 July punters at the chain’s 880 pubs will be quaffing sparkling wine grown on the Denbies wine estate in Surrey.

In a nod to the renewed importance of Britain’s Commonwealth trade partners, Australian sparkling chardonnay will also be on the menu.

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Luckily for prosecco-lovers, the pub chain has not announced any plans to stop serving the Italian bubbly.

However, it does plan to phase out its German wheat beers, replacing them with home-grown brews.

Swedish cidermaker Kopparberg escaped the chop, after the company “confirmed that it will be producing its cider in the UK post-Brexit”, The Guardian reports. Other existing contracts with EU suppliers will be honoured until they expire.

JD Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin has been a vocal proponent of Brexit and has “repeatedly suggested that leaving the EU will allow the pub to sell more cheap alcohol from outside the continent”, The Independent reports.

Announcing the change, Martin said that the “inevitable” increase in trade beyond the EU will lower costs for consumers. “The products we are now introducing are at lower prices than the EU products they are replacing,” he said.

However, the motive for the switch is probably financial as well as political.

Drinks industry website Imbibe reported in March that champagne sales to the UK have slumped for the second year in a row, as the falling value of the pound makes imported wines less attractive to British pubs and bars.

“Earlier this year, pub group Fullers said its decision to replace house champagnes with English sparkling wines had paid off, resulting in a 50% gain in sparkling wine sales at that price level, and a five-fold surge in sales of English sparkling,” the site reports.