Wetherspoon’s boss Tim Martin has today called on the Government to open its pubs at the same time as non-essential shops as bars remain shut across Britain during the third lockdown.
Ministers are said to be considering plans to allow hospitality firms to serve customers outside by Easter, which falls on the weekend of April 2.
But a full reopening is not expected until May at the earliest – and Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin warned that the industry is ‘on its knees’ and must reopen to save jobs.
It comes as Mitchells & Butlers, which owns All Bar One, Toby Carvery and Harvester said it will raise £350million from its largest investors to shore up its finances.
M&B, which is Britain’s largest listed pub company, operates around 1,700 restaurants and pubs across the UK but cut about 1,300 jobs last year.
The developments follow a bust-up between pub groups and the Government which has seen companies pull out of regular business roundtables in frustration.
The head of industry body UK Hospitality warned today said there will need to be more support for businesses if restrictions continue.
Kate Nicholls said that flexible furlough and grants would need to be extended past its March 31 cut-off without some way of opening to make money.
Today, Mr Martin spoke of the huge contribution pubs make to the economy, with Wetherspoon alone paying about £10 of tax for every pound of profit it makes.
‘Many people have correctly pointed out that the three lockdowns of the last year have been a disaster for the hospitality, retail, arts and entertainment industries, but our calculations show that they have been an even bigger disaster for public finances.
‘The taxes paid by Wetherspoon are mirrored by thousands of companies which have been annihilated by lockdowns.
‘As a result, government finances have been annihilated even more.’
Mr Martin said Wetherspoon has registered more than 50 million customer visits to its pubs, using the Test and Trace system, without a single outbreak of Covid-19, as defined by the health authorities.
He maintained that hospitality groups have provided the Government with information that ‘clearly demonstrates’ that pubs and restaurants are Covid-secure environments, following the investment of hundreds of millions of pounds in safety and hygiene measures.
‘The Government knows this is correct, since it has access to Test and Trace information.
‘Yet the Government has ignored this information and has even banned golf – the ultimate social distancing sport.’
He added: ‘Surely it is possible for the hospitality industry to reopen at the same time as non-essential shops, now that a vaccine exists, on the basis of the social distancing and hygiene regulations.
‘Unless the industry does reopen on that basis, economic mayhem will inevitably follow.’
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