Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
EU Brexit chiefs told to wise up Pub giant boss fires off tough warning
THE boss of pub giant JD Wetherspoon said EU bigwigs should take a “wise-up pill” over Brexit talks.
Tim Martin claimed that Commission President Jean Claude Juncker and others would make Eu-made goods more expensive by blocking a trade deal with the UK.
He warned that Wetherspoons could ditch some products it buys from Europe as a result, hitting supplies of some booze and Lavazza coffee from Italy – its biggest seller.
Brexit backer Martin said: “Wetherspoon is confident it can switch from EU suppliers.” He said Juncker and other EU officials “need to take a wise-up pill in order to avoid causing further economic damage to struggling economies like Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy.”
It came as Wetherspoon’s announced annual profits jumped 25% to £103million, with sales up 4.1% to £1.6billion.
The firm’s share price leapt 13% to a record high yesterday, boosting the value of founder Martin’s stake by £48m to £398m.
Martin repeated calls for the VAT on pub grub and drink to be cut to supermarket levels, claiming the company could open up an extra 300 pubs as a result.
He also slammed the celebrity chef Jamie Oliverbacked sugar tax, which would cost it £4m this year.
“He feels you should tax soft drinks, which he doesn’t make, but not desserts, which he does,” he said.
Martin joked that he didn’t have plans for new product lines “unless they legalise cannabis”.
Oil = $55.46