Tim tells it straight

The ever-outspoken Tim Martin of Wetherspoon’s certainly didn’t mince his words when laying into the Government over its policies towards pubs:

Tim Martin, the chairman, said the high level of tax being levied on the trade was “contributing to the closure of pubs in record numbers”. He said each of Wetherspoon’s pubs generated average taxes of £530,000 but earned only £50,000 in after-tax profits.

“The Government seems not to understand the economic impact of new taxes and legislation and continues to impose new burdens at a huge rate,” Mr Martin said.

“Opportunistic 'tax grabs' and employee legislation to 'curry favour' with voters which businesses cannot afford will prove to be counter productive for the Government,” he said.

The report shows, though, that Wetherspoon’s are doing much better than many of the competition in combating the recession, which underlines the point that how a pub is run can make a big difference even when overall trade is down.