Wetherspoon’s chief Sir Tim Martin said he would be having a “stern word” with the maker of Guinness after pubs were struck by shortages of the Irish stout in the crucial festive run-up.

Sir Tim, the founder and chief executive of JD Wetherspoon, called for Diageo to “get brewing” following weeks of Guinness rationing across Britain.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Sir Tim said: “I’m going to be having a stern word with them and say: ‘What’s happened to your crystal ball?’

“I think someone at Guinness has made a mistake . . . since we’ve worked with them for so long, we intend to forgive them.”

It comes weeks after restrictions were put in place for Guinness to ensure Diageo could keep supplying pubs up to Christmas and New Year.

The drinks giant is understood to have stressed that it needs to manage supply after surging sales of the Irish stout strained supplies.

The recent boom is believed to have been driven by the annual Autumn Internationals rugby fixtures as well as the cold spell of weather.

Guinness sales were around 19pc higher in the four weeks through to early November than they were last year, according to figures from industry group CGA.