TIMPSON REPORTS 680% RISE IN BELT HOLE REQUESTS

James Timpson, chief executive of the shoe and key repair chain Timpson and a former minister in Sir Keir Starmer's government, has said the firm has recorded a 680 per cent rise this year in the number of free extra holes added to customers' belts. Writing on X, he said the increase reflected the growing popularity of weight-loss injections Ozempic and Mounjaro in the UK. He confirmed to The Independent that the rise stemmed from customers losing weight while using such medication. Timpson branches do not charge for the extra holes but ask customers to make a donation instead.

Timpson offers repair services covering shoes, clothing, watches and key cutting, alongside the belt alterations. Rather than a set fee, branches ask customers to put £1 into a collection box for the Alex Timpson Trust, a charity, meaning the rise in demand has also increased money raised for the cause. Official figures suggest around 2.4 million people in the UK have been prescribed weight-loss medications, with most paying privately for semaglutide, sold as Wegovy for weight loss or Ozempic for diabetes, and for Mounjaro, owing to restrictions on access through the NHS. In June, the medicines regulator approved a tablet form of Wegovy.

Olivier Picard, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, said the trend was encouraging, framing the need for extra belt notches as a sign that efforts to address obesity were having an effect. He said it was positive to see more people requiring extra notches in their belts after starting weight management treatments.