Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin blames "dinner party classes" for catastrophic decline of pubs
Share:
Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin today blamed dinner party loving politicians for the decline in the pub trade as he revealed the chain will have to shoulder £60 million in extra costs from April. In a trading update for investors the outspoken chairman of the pub chain said Prime Ministers and other politicians who preferred entertaining at home to visiting their local did not understand the impact of the different tax treatment of alcohol bought in shops, which does not attract VAT, and drinks ordered in pubs, which does.
He said: “It is a clear principle of taxation that taxes should be fair and equitable, as between different types of companies. “The VAT distortions that exist today will inevitably create more supermarkets and less pubs. “Given the public’s love of pubs, the only possible explanation for this tax discrepancy is that prime ministers and other legislators, in the 45 years since Wetherspoon started trading, have been dinner party goers, rather than pub goers.
“Food at dinner parties is VAT-free, subsidised by the legendary “man on the Clapham omnibus”, who has fish and chips at his local pub. “Wetherspoon therefore calls upon Sir Keir Starmer to redress this imbalance, thereby striking a blow for tax equality and ending discrimination in favour of dull (yawn, yawn) dinner parties. “.
