Pub landlords have reacted with dismay to news that Tim Martin has been handed a knighthood 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.
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’s 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 UK.
But it was his vocal support of the UK’s split with the EU that really won Sir Tim notoriety.
He campaigned passionately alongside MPs, printing a magazine of pro-Brexit propaganda that he circulated in his pubs and reportedly donating £200,000 to the Vote Leave campaign.
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.
But that isn’t the prevailing opinion among landlords, who have hit out at the nomination.
Speaking to the i newspaper, Matt Fallaize, of the Kicking Donkey in Ormskirk, Lancashire, said: “Spoons does what it does. I can’t say it’s my cup of tea. And it does seem a bit rich that someone whose vocal support for Brexit has done so much to make trading and staffing conditions worse is being given a gong.
“Is it for services to pre-poached eggs?”
While Tom McNeeney, who runs the Oxford pub in Rochdale, added that his knighthood is “once again a sign of the current Government being totally deaf to the hospitality trade.
“Feels a lot like a Government that knows it won’t survive another election [and so is] making sure its mates get their promised moment in the sun.”
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