Outspoken Wetherspoon founder and boss Tim Martin has been knighted in the New Year honours. The businessman, who was a vocal Brexit supporter during the 2016 referendum campaign, has been recognised for his services to hospitality and culture.
He said the news of the knighthood came as a surprise. 鈥淚t had never been expected, so it came out the blue,鈥 he told the PA news agency.
鈥淚 always think that, in the pub world, it is a team effort 鈥 even if you鈥檝e just got one pub there are many people involved. I think it鈥檚 the Wetherspoon colleagues and customers who are getting the award really, that鈥檚 the way I look at it. I鈥檓 just the lucky recipient.鈥
Sir Tim built up the pub group after buying his first venue in Muswell Hill, London, in 1979. The Norwich-born businessman initially called it Martin鈥檚 Free House but changed it to JD Wetherspoon the following year.
The pub chain, which is well known for its low pricing, floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1992 and continued a rapid expansion across the 海角视频. The company currently runs 816 pubs across the country.
Sir Tim, who trained as a lawyer, said: 鈥淚f I had been any good at the law, which I wasn鈥檛, then I probably would have stuck at that鈥 so it鈥檚 quite lucky I wasn鈥檛.鈥
He said Wetherspoon owes its success to four key elements; the staff, the design of the pubs, not playing 鈥渃anned music鈥, and sticking to selling real ale. Last month, the business revealed sales jumped by almost a tenth in its latest quarter as its value-focused food and drink drew in punters facing tighter budgets due to the cost of living crisis.
Sir Tim gained notoriety in 2016 as one of the highest profile pro-Brexit business-owners. He reportedly donated 拢200,000 to the Vote Leave campaign as a result. According to reports in the Daily Mail, Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch is said to have pushed for his nomination behind the scenes, arguing that Brexit-supporting entrepreneurs should not be overlooked.
Sir Tim told PA: 鈥淓veryone had a vote, everyone had a view, and I suppose I did more campaigning than most. I鈥檇 like to think that (the knighthood) is not for my rarely disclosed political views 鈥 I hope it is for what it says on the tin.鈥
He added: 鈥淚 think the most important thing for the future of the world is that democracy takes root everywhere. I鈥檝e always made that argument.鈥
The pub boss was also a significant critic of Government shutdowns of hospitality firms, and other businesses, during the pandemic through lockdown measures. This saw him accuse former Prime Minister Boris Johnson of 鈥渉ypocrisy鈥 during the Partygate scandal, arguing that the situation could have been avoided had pubs been allowed to remain open.
Sir Tim said the 鈥渇inancial legacy鈥 of Covid has been inflation, which has pushed up costs for business. He added: 鈥淢ost pubs have done very well to get sales back to where they were, but they haven鈥檛 quite managed to get profits back.
鈥淪o the industry is hopeful that over the next year or two, it can get profits back to where they were.鈥
