Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin has revealed the pub chain’s biggest seller is a somewhat surprising item. Fans of the high street boozer will often pour praise on its selection of ales, affordable lagers as cheap as £2.40 and fish bowl cocktails.

But according to Martin the biggest sellers these days are not Guinness, Stella Artois or Smirnoff Ice, in fact, they all relate to a daily ritual people don’t often associate with the pub.

“The biggest single items now are breakfasts which is a weird idea since most pubs don’t open for breakfast,” the founder of Wetherspoon told the Express.

“[The biggest seller] is one which we didn’t have on the menu some years ago; tea and toast.”

When it comes to drink it is not Martin’s beloved Abbot Ale which punters are supping in record numbers these days, its biggest sellers are all caffeinated rather than alcohol enfused.

“Our biggest selling draft product now is Pepsi and we sell more coffee than Pepsi,” Martin continued.

“I would say pubs have moved on from just selling beer to a wider variety of products; food and soft drinks.

“When we put [Wetherspoon] on the stock market in 1992 our average food sales per pub per week were £500, last week they were £23,000.

“So it’s certainly progressed. We’re still selling a lot of beer as well [but compared to the 90s] we sell much more wine, more cocktails [and] probably more spirits.”

Going back as far as the Roman times, the local seller of alcoholic drinks has played a key part in British culture from Chaucer’s medieval taverns to the alehouses of Shakespeare’s age.

So the Express asked Martin what the consequences were if the local watering hole was breaking with centuries-old traditions around booze?

“If you do a survey and ask people why they go to pubs, the number one issue is atmosphere,” he replied.

“People will say it’s a wooly concept, but we all know what it is when we see it.

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“[Pubs] have got to have a good atmosphere, more than price, more than variety of beers. It’s an elusive thing to try and improve.”

Martin takes great effort to monitor the atmosphere in his own establishments. Each week he spends a couple of days touring different parts of the country making surprise visits to Wetherspoon venues.

The Express joined the eccentric landlord on his tour of pubs in the Black Country and found the 69-year-old was accross even the finest details.

As well as providing a snapshot into what makes the famous brand run so well, Martin revealed the shocking impact of Rachel Reeves National Insurance hike, which came in at the start of April.

The pub chain boss also let slip what his favourite items from the menu to order were and confessed that he sticks to tea when doing his rounds otherwise his career “would have been over many years ago”.