Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin calls on Government to open pubs at same time as non-essential shops

He said that the pub industry is “on its knees” and that pubs across the UK need to reopen in order to save the industry and the associated jobs.

Mr Martin said the pub industry makes a massive contribution to the economy, with Wetherspoon alone paying about £10 of tax for every pound of profit it makes.

He said: “ In the last 10 years Wetherspoon has generated £6.1 billion of taxes, something we are very proud of.

“In the financial year to July 2019, before the pandemic, Wetherspoon, its customers and employees generated £764 million of taxes, one pound in every thousand collected by the UK government.

“The amount of tax paid by Wetherspoon is replicated, according to the size of the company, throughout the pub industry, and shows just how important pubs are to the economy.”

Mr Martin continued: “ Many people have correctly pointed out that the three lockdowns of the last year have been a disaster for the hospitality, retail, arts and entertainment industries, but our calculations show that they have been an even bigger disaster for public finances.

“The taxes paid by Wetherspoon are mirrored by thousands of companies which have been annihilated by lockdowns.

“As a result, government finances have been annihilated even more.

“Since pubs reopened last summer, following the first lockdown, Wetherspoon has registered more than 50 million customer visits to its pubs, using the test and trace system, without a single outbreak of Covid-19, as defined by the health authorities, among customers in our pubs.

“Industry organisations UK Hospitality and the BBPA have provided the Government with information that clearly demonstrates that pubs and restaurants are Covid- secure environments, following the investment of hundreds of millions of pounds in safety and hygiene measures.

“The Government knows this is correct, since it has access to test and trace information.

“As the BBPA has pointed out, outbreaks have been concentrated in environments such as care homes, households and hospitals.

“Yet the Government has ignored this information and has even banned golf – the ultimate social distancing sport.

“The big worry in the hospitality industry is that the government is playing a PR game, creating an illusion of positive action, and will find an excuse to tie the industry down with restrictions by, for example, allowing outside eating and drinking only when the pubs reopen – as a result the entire industry would be heavily loss making.

“Since the 1970s, UK governments have run out of money three times when they’ve paid insufficient attention to financial common sense.

“The last time was in the Great Recession in 2010 when the Chief Secretary to the Treasury said: “ I’m afraid there is no money.”

“Before that, billions were spent in an effort to remain in the disastrous exchange rate mechanism in 1992, and in the 1970s the government had to rely on financial aid from the IMF.

“However, this government is spending money at a faster rate than any government in history,

“In spite of that, around a million UK jobs have been lost already.

“Surely it is possible for the hospitality industry to reopen at the same time as non-essential shops, now that a vaccine exists, on the basis of the social distancing and hygiene regulations, which were agreed with the health authorities, after full consultation, for the July 4 reopening last year.

“Unless the industry does reopen on that basis, economic mayhem will inevitably follow.”

Ministers are to begin reviewing coronavirus lockdown restrictions in England after more than 15 million people across the UK received their first dose of a vaccine.

Boris Johnson hailed the achievement – just over two months after the vaccination programme delivered its first jab – as a “significant milestone” in the fight against the disease.

The Prime Minister will this week begin considering how restrictions in England may be eased ahead of a statement on February 22 setting out his “road-map” out of lockdown.

He is already under pressure from some Tory MPs to push ahead amid frustration at the damage that is being done to the economy and the impact on people’s lives.

During the weekend more than 60 lockdown-sceptics in the Covid Research Group (CRG) signed a letter calling for him to commit to a firm timetable, starting with the re-opening of schools on March 8 and ending with the lifting of all legal controls by the end of April.

Ministers however remain more cautious. Mr Johnson said they would need to study the data “very, very hard” for evidence that the rollout of the vaccines is driving down the incidence of the disease, as the numbers of cases fell.

While he was “optimistic” that a “cautious” easing of lockdown measures would be possible, he said that he did not want to be forced into a “reverse ferret” if there was a fresh resurgence of the disease.