JD Wetherspoons have announced they will be slashing prices of a select number of drinks to just 99p after the budget announcement from Rishi Sunak yesterday.
The popular British pub chain will be reducing the price of Greene King IPA, Beck's bottles and whiskey measures to 99p, amongst other offers.
Between Monday 1 November and Tuesday 30 November, these cheap pints will be available in bars across the UK, though due to minimum pricing in Scotland and Wales, prices will be slightly higher.
Hot drink prices have also been slashed, with JD Wetherspoons introducing 99p refillable tea, coffee and hot chocolate.
JD Wetherspoons are known for their strong political opinions and have used government announcements to promote their pubs for years.
During the Eat Out to Help Out scheme in August 2020 and in the following months, the pub chain shared a number of 'Sunak Specials', including £1.29 ales.
Wetherspoons also displayed posters with images of the Chancellor of the Exchequer with the phrase: "Rishi Sunak, legend: the man who instigated tax equality between supermarkets and pubs."
Regardless of your political opinion, the reduction in prices will give everyone cheaper pint or whiskey measure throughout November.
Rishi Sunak has been the unofficial face of many Wetherspoons campaigns throughout the pandemic. / Image: HM Treasury
The prices to many alcoholic beverages were changed, including a 3p reduction in tax per pints in pubs and 87p reduction in prosecco tax.
Overall, it appears that there will be a 30p price hike across the hospitality industry after the news yesterday.
However, many taxes rose: red wines, sherry and port face an increase of 47p - £1.09 in tax.
These changes are set to come into effect in February 2023.
On average, the price of a bottle of bin is already charged with 70% tax, so additional tax on high ABV drinks will present challenges to some businesses.
However, it appears that Tim Martin has taken the changes in his usual stride.
The Wetherspoons chairman spoke out about the unforeseen offer, announcing: "our pubs are known for their excellent choice of drinks at value-for-money prices at all times".
Hedley Verity on Woodhouse Lane will be participating in the 99p offer. / Image: JD Wetherspoons
There are 20 pubs within a 10-mile-radius of Leeds city centre, many of which are located in the city centre.
In LS1 customers at Beckett's Bank and The Hedley Verity will be taking full advantage of the price cut to their favourite drinks and undoubtedly the rest of Leeds will be too at their local.
The 99p drinks offer will run throughout the entire month of November. For more information, visit your local branch or the JD Wetherspoons website.
There's another new opening in Farsley - this time an incredibly cool listening bar and cocktail bar.
Tucked away in Sunny Bank Mills, Pardon Me is a bar built around 'music, atmosphere, and detail'.
Bartenders here create well-made cocktails and pour natural wines in front of a wall of vinyl records, while a playlist of hip hop, soul, jazz, funk, deep house, and disco soundtracks your evening.
The stylish space features a considered sound system that's been built around Danley speakers.
Pardon Me has opened with the intention of creating a space where 'sound sits at the centre, and everything else supports it'.
It's been launched by Scott Rapson, who grew up in the Scottish Highlands and fell in love with music around the time of the arrival of hip hop in the early 80s.
He then spent time travelling for raves, and visiting venues like Glasgow’s Sub Club and London’s Plastic People, giving Scott an appreciation for how 'music can shape a room, not just fill it'.
Scott and his partner Laurie have then spent the past three years travelling Europe, visiting listening bars across the continent to shape the foundations of Pardon Me.
Inside Pardon Me in FarsleyCocktails at Pardon Me
They say that sound, look, atmosphere, service and style are treated with equal importance.
Whether it's for coffee during the day, or drinks into the evening, they want Pardon Me to be a place to spend time, looking out across Sunny Bank Mills.
Scott says he's built the bar with the support of family and friends, plus Laurie helping to bring the idea to life, already finding a warm welcome within the Farsley community.
Pardon Me is open now at Sunny Bank Mills in Farsley.
Posh bakery chain Gail’s is finally coming to Yorkshire
Daisy Jackson
Gail's has finally set its sights on Yorkshire for the first time, with a new bakery set to open this year.
It's one of the UK's most famous bakeries, launching in London in the early 1990s to supply restaurants, before opening its first retail site and cafe in Hampstead in 2005.
Gail's founders set out on a mission to bake bread as it used to be baked: by hand, using quality ingredients and time-worn artisanal methods.
While Gail's has expanded aggressively into the north, opening around a dozen bakeries in Greater Manchester and its surrounds, it hasn't made the journey across to Yorkshire just yet.
All that looks set to change, with job ads now listed for roles within a brand-new Yorkshire branch of Gail's.
Based on the job advert, Gail's is heading straight to the spa town of Harrogate - which is a fairly predictable move.
It looks like Gail's is heading for HarrogateGail's will make its Yorkshire debut
When it does open, you'll find loaf choices including classic white and brown sourdough, Gail’s ‘wasteless’ loaves (made using a specially-created recipe designed to incorporate unsold bread crumbs), alongside seeded varieties, baguettes and batons.
Must-tries include Gail’s famous cinnamon buns, still-warm cheese and ham croissants, chocolate chip cookies, and – given the weather we’re having this week – iced coffees, all day long preferably please.
Gail's has now confirmed the opening, with a spokesperson saying: "GAIL’s is excited to confirm it is opening a new bakery in Harrogate later this year. The opening will bring GAIL’s craft baking to the community, including creating a number of craft baking, barista, and management roles.
"We will also be donating surplus baked goods through our Neighbourly partnerships. This is part of our ongoing commitment to giving back to the communities we serve and improving access to quality food and drink on the high-street."
But given the number of fantastic local bakeries all over Yorkshire, the question is, does anyone want Gail's?
Sophie Smith -
28th October 2021 
