McDonald's puts up price of cheeseburger for first time in 14 years

McDonald's has put up the price of its cheeseburger for the first time in more than 14 years, due to growing cost pressures.

The fast food chain said its UK restaurants would be adding between 10p and 20p to a number of items.

The price of a cheeseburger has increased from 99p to £1.19.

Companies are facing increased costs for things like fuel, wages and ingredients, with prices rising at their fastest rate for 40 years.

In an email to customers, McDonald's UK and Ireland chief executive Alistair Macrow said the company was facing "tough choices" about its prices.

"We understand that any price increases are not good news, but we have delayed and minimised these changes for as long as we could," he said, adding that some prices were unaffected.

Some prices will continue to vary across different restaurants as some are operated by franchisees, who can set prices based on recommendations from McDonald's.

Other items that are increasing in price include breakfast meals, large coffees, McNugget share boxes and upgrades from medium to large meals, the company said.

If the price of a McDonald's cheeseburger had increased in line with inflation it would now cost £1.41.5

McDonald's has more than 36,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries.

On Tuesday, it said it was considering whether to add more discounted menu options because the increased cost of living, particularly in Europe, was leading to some lower-income customers buying cheaper items and fewer big combination meals.

It came as the company reported a jump in global sales of 9.7% for the three months to the end of June, compared with the same period last year