Brexit backer invests in EU

JD Wetherspoon, headed by vocal Brexitbacking chairman Tim Martin, has announced its biggest ever single investment – into the European Union.

The pub chain is ploughing £13.1million into developing a new pub and 98-bedroom hotel in Dublin city centre, which will create 200 new jobs in the Irish Republic.

Development work at the site – currently a row of derelict properties – will begin in February 2018, with the pub and hotel due to open early 2019.

Since the Brexit vote, Mr Martin has accused the EU of bullying the

“It will result in our largest hotel alongside a superb pub”

UK and used several company updates to rip into German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former French president Francois Hollande and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

He has also lashed out at former chancellor George Osborne, the International Monetary Fund, the Bank of England, the CBI, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and PwC, claiming they were too negative about the impact of a Leave vote.

Announcing the Irish project, he said: “It will be the biggest single investment undertaken by Wetherspoon and will result in our largest hotel alongside a superb pub.”