Beloved Wetherspoons breakfast under threat as pub chain sounds alarm over egg shortages
15 November 2022, 13:32 | Updated: 15 November 2022, 13:39
Pub-goers may not be able to order the familiar Wetherspoons full English breakfast, the pub chain has warned, as the UK faces a severe shortage of eggs.
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Wetherspoons said that punters may be offered hash browns, sausages or onion rings instead of eggs for breakfast in future.
A spokesperson for the pub chain said: "We can confirm that there are temporary issues with egg supplies at some Wetherspoon pubs, due to the current impact of Avian flu on egg production."
We are experiencing issues in receiving all the supplies we require to satisfy demand in every pub.
“This is not specific to Wetherspoon and other hospitality operators and supermarkets are facing similar issues."
It comes after some stores also told customers of limits on the number of eggs they can buy.
Shoppers can buy a maximum of three egg boxes in Lidl, with reports of shelves in some Sainsbury's stores and other chains also looking bare.
Many birds that would have produced eggs are also thought to have died in the extreme summer heatwave, exacerbating shortages.
But one farmer claimed that egg shortages were also driven by supermarkets not paying enough to producers like him.
The man said: "To be fair, there has been a lot of cases of avian flu. But do you want to know the real reason for the shortages?
"It's because the supermarkets won't pay the farmers for the eggs. The supermarkets have upped the price for you, the consumer. But they haven't filtered that price increase down to us, the farmers.
The unnamed man claimed that farmers have ordered eight million fewer free range hens this year than last year - equating to nearly eight million fewer eggs produced every day.
Addressing the avian flu issue, Christine Middlemiss, chief veterinary officer, said: "Many poultry keepers in England have excellent biosecurity standards but we know that one small mistake is all it takes to introduce bird flu on to premises and kill flocks.
"A housing order alone will not be enough to reduce infection rates. Implementing scrupulous biosecurity and separating flocks from wild birds remains the best form of defence.
"Whether you keep just a few birds or thousands, from today onwards they must be housed under cover to protect them from this highly infectious disease."
"But our cost of producing the eggs has skyrocketed. Electric, the price of new birds - that's gone up. But our price of eggs has stayed the same.
"So we. physically, can't afford to produce these eggs."
It comes after Wetherspoons revealed the seven latest pubs to be sold off, taking the total this year to 39, amid difficult conditions for the hospitality sector.
None of the pubs will close until the company has found a buyer, Wetherspoons said.
Wetherspoons now has 23 fewer pubs than it did in March 2021, when the company had 870 locations and was investing £150 million in upgrades and refurbishments.
Read more: Wetherspoons sells off 32 pubs as it faces £30m loss – is your local up for sale?
The full 39 so far are below:
Barnsley – Silkstone Inn
Beaconsfield – Hope & Champion
Bexleyheath – Wrong ‘Un
Bournemouth – Christopher Creeke
Cheltenham – Bank House
Crediton - General Sir Redvers Buller
Derby - Thomas Leaper
Durham – Water House
Fareham - Lord Arthur Lee
Fraserburgh - Saltoun Inn in Fraserburgh
Halifax – Percy Shaw
Hammersmith - Plough & Harrow
Hanham – Jolly Sailor
Harrow – Moon on the Hill
Holloway - Coronet
Hove – Cliftonville Inn
London Battersea – Asparagus
London East Ham – Miller's Well
London Eltham – Bankers Draft
London Forest Gate – Hudson Bay
London Forest Hill – Capitol
London Hornsey – Toll Gate
London Holborn – Penderel's Oak
London Islington – Angel
London Palmers Green – Alfred Herring
Loughborough – Moon & Bell
Loughton – Last Post
Mansfield – Widow Frost
Middlesborough – Resolution
Peebles - Cross Keys
Purley – Foxley Hatch
Redditch – Rising Sun
Sevenoaks - Sennockian
Southampton – Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis
Stafford – Butler's Bell
Watford – Colombia Press
West Bromwich – Billiard Hall
Willenhall – Malthouse
Wirral – John Masefield
