Weight loss jabs cause 680% rise in people needing extra belt holes, Timpsons boss says

Weight-loss jabs like Mounjaro have led to more people needing extra holes in their belts, the chief executive of Timpson has said.

James Timpson, a former minister in Sir Keir Starmer’s government, said his company had seen a huge rise in the number of people asking for more holes, which he attributed to the rising popularity of Ozempic and Mounjaro in the UK.

He wrote on X: “You can tell Ozempic and Mounjaro are popular… in our Timpson shops we have seen a 680 per cent increase in the number of free holes in customers’ belts we’ve been doing this year.”

Timpson, which offers services for a number of repairs including shoes, clothing, watches and key cutting, adds holes to belts where branches instead ask for a small charitable donation to the Alex Timpson Trust.

The chief executive confirmed the news to The Independent: “We have seen a massive increase as a result of customers going on weight-loss drugs. We ask customers to put £1 in the charity box so much more is being raised for good causes too. A double win!”

An estimated 2.4 million people in the UK have been prescribed weight-loss medications. The vast majority of people taking semaglutide (Wegovy for weight loss or Ozempic for diabetes) and Mounjaro pay privately, owing to restrictions on who can access the medicines via the NHS.

In June, the medicines regulator approved Wegovy in tablet form.

Olivier Picard, chair of the National Pharmacy Association, celebrated the news, suggesting it meant efforts to counter obesity were succeeding.

“It is encouraging to see more and more people needing extra notches in their belts after starting weight management treatments,” he said. “Obesity is one of the biggest health challenges facing society and weight-loss treatment can have a transformative effect on health outcomes for those who are eligible.

“There must now be a redoubling of efforts within government and the NHS to use pharmacies to make sure more eligible patients in clinical need can get this for free from the NHS, rather than the current postcode lottery that exists for weight management services via GPs.

“We are concerned that the NHS rollout remains extremely slow and community pharmacy is ready to support a wider rollout, which will help eligible patients access treatment safely and help mitigate the impact of obesity on the NHS.”