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The 12-day festival will feature ales and lagers from breweries across the world, including China and Denmark

Pubgoers are being offered the chance to try dozens of new beers at bargain prices this autumn.

Wetherspoon is preparing to shake up its drinks selection, with pints expected to cost around £2.40 on average.

The pub chain will serve 30 new beers during its Autumn Beer Festival, which will run for 12 days from October 7 to October 18.

The range will include ales and lagers from breweries in China, Denmark, Singapore, Ukraine and the United States.

Prices will vary between pubs, but Wetherspoon said they will "average around £2.40 a pint".

Customers who want to try several of the new beers can choose three one-third-of-a-pint tasters for the same price as a full pint.

The festival will feature a mixture of malt and hop-based beers, with flavours including coconut, mango, lime and coriander. Tasting notes and information about the brewers will also be available at each pub.

Wetherspoon marketing manager Jen Swindells said: "The festival is a great celebration of cask beer."

She added: "The festival gives customers the chance to enjoy beers which have not previously been available in the pubs, as well as those brewed especially for the festival and there are plenty of new beers to try."

Before the festival begins, Wetherspoon customers will also be able to take advantage of a one-day price cut across its menu.

On September 17, the chain will reduce the price of all food and drink by 7.5 per cent at every pub in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to mark Tax Equality Day. The discount will include alcoholic drinks.

Pubs in Scotland will also take part, although the reduction there will apply only to food and non-alcoholic drinks.

The 7.5 per cent reduction represents the difference between the current 20 per cent VAT rate charged to pubs and restaurants and the 12.5 per cent rate Wetherspoon believes should apply to the hospitality industry.

The one-day promotion is intended to demonstrate how much customers could save if the Government permanently lowered VAT for the sector.

Wetherspoon argues that pubs and restaurants are at a disadvantage because supermarkets do not pay VAT on most food sold for consumption at home.

The chain's founder and chairman, Sir Tim Martin, has called on the Chancellor to address what he believes is an unfair difference in the way pubs and supermarkets are taxed.

Sir Tim Martin said: "A VAT cut to 12.5 per cent is needed to ensure that pubs, bars and restaurants do not continue to close, but instead thrive, invest and create new jobs."

He added: "We call on the chancellor to create tax equality between the hospitality industry and supermarkets."

Mr Martin has long argued that the current tax system unfairly penalises hospitality venues. Pubs and restaurants must charge 20 per cent VAT on meals and drinks, while supermarkets selling food are exempt from the levy entirely.

This disparity, he contends, puts high street hospitality businesses at a significant commercial disadvantage compared with grocery chains.

The Wetherspoons chairman is pressing the chancellor to bring the VAT rate for pubs, bars and restaurants down to 12.5 per cent permanently.

He believes such a move would not only prevent further closures across the sector but also encourage fresh investment and job creation.

The Tax Equality Day promotion on September 17 serves as the chain's latest effort to build public support for that campaign.