Tim Martin: JD Wetherspoon boss in tirade against Covid lockdowns as pub chain swings to profit
The boss of JD Wetherspoon, Tim Martin, has launched a tirade against the UK’s Covid-era lockdown policies, as the popular boozer swung to a full year profit for the first time since the pandemic.
The outgoing chair, cited two UCL and Trent academics, who stressed that countries with less harsh policies were hit less hard. Pubs and other hospitality industry bodies were hit very hard by lockdowns, after they were prevented from serving as normal, forcing many to shut down.
It came as the budget pub chain swung to a £42.6m pre-tax profit this year, down from a £30.4m loss in 2022, shrugging off wider macroeconomic issues including inflation and supply chain snarl ups.
Like-for-like sales rose sharply by 12.7 per cent year-on-year, driven by its food and bar segments, as well as a significant jump of more than a quarter in its slot and fruit machine sales.
During the year, the company sold 13 pubs, terminated the leases of 14 pubs and closed 4, giving rise to a cash inflow of £7m.
However, the figures were not enough to stop Martin going on a long rant, citing pandemic-era problems for recent struggles.
The eccentric pub boss cited reports which claim Sweden “had a Covid-19 fatality rate ‘of about half the UK’s’ and that “the worst performer, by some margin, is Peru, despite enforcing the harshest, longest lockdown.”
He said the academic who wrote the report shows “that ‘the strength of mitigation measures does not seem to be a particularly strong indicator of excess deaths,'” as Martin claimed the UK “jettisoned” pre-pandemic plans which would have favoured not locking down “in favour of copying China’s lockdown approach”
“An example, perhaps, of Warren Buffett’s so-called ‘institutional imperative’ – ‘everyone else has locked down, so we will, too'”
It comes after a bullish year for JD Wetherspoon, which is now well on the way to recovery in the post-pandemic era.
The London-listed boozer reported its highest-ever sales figure during the easter weak as pub goers sought out cheap pints amidst the cost of living crisis, prompting shares to soar 7 per cent. Shares are trading up 59.16 per cent in the year to date.