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Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin promises to SLASH his beer prices to an ‘unbelievable low’ if we achieve Brexit by October 31
WETHERSPOON boss Tim Martin has pledged to SLASH his beer prices to an "unbelievable low" after Brexit but only if Boris Johnson leaves by October 31.
Martin promises to keep cash in punters' pockets if the PM ends Britain's Brussels "hell" and stays true to his Halloween deadline.
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The Brexiteer boozer baron told Sun Online: “If we leave the customs union on October 31 Wetherspoon will bring the price of beer to down to an unbelievable low.
“That’s a guarantee – but we have to leave properly, Boris Johnson. No messing around with customs union or any of that funny stuff.”
LEAVE BY HALLOWEEN
Martin believes the EU are a “protectionist cartel” and claims he can plunge his pint prices because Wetherspoon can do better deals with firms outside of the EU.
The import tariff on wine from Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, the US and plonk from South Africa is set to fall to zero per cent in the result of a No Deal Brexit.
He said: “We can get our supplies cheaper, everything we buy from outside the EU can be tariff free or mostly tariff free – which will also make our customers better off.”
If we leave the customs union on October 31 Wetherspoon will bring the price of beer to down to an unbelievable low. That’s a guarantee.
Tim Martin
Martin’s price pledge comes as No10 turbo-charges its preparation for a No Deal Brexit with Brussels chiefs increasingly concerned the UK will walk away without an agreement.
Boris has warned the EU that we will be leaving “do or die” by the Halloween deadline.
The PM has been on a post-Brexit charm offensive with plans to meet Donald Trump in Paris this weekend to discuss a bonanza trade deal.
In his first week he also sent Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to Canada, the US and Mexico to boost new links further afield.
EU HELL
Martin, 64, claimed Brits face years of “hell” unless we embrace No Deal and cut all ties with the bloc.
He said: “The key thing is if we don’t leave on October 31 we’ll have years of wrangling ahead.
“That will be two years of hell, of which the current hell continues, with the elite, who don’t want us to leave at all, continuing their campaign.
“So the message to Boris is 'we have got to go now' and staying in the customs union and having anything to do with Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement is an anathema.”
The Wetherspoon boss, who runs 879 pubs across Britain, is taking a leaf out of the PM’s book and looking to far and distant shores for a brighter future.
How often does Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin eat at his own pubs? And will there be a Brexit beer?
BREXIT BEER & BREAKFAST WRAPS: Tim Martin's Wetherspoon favourites
Was your pub always going to be called Wetherspoon?
“I’d called my first pub Martin’s free house but someone unkindly broke our window with my name on it, so on a whim I changed the name to Wetherspoon.
“He was a teacher I had in New Zealand who couldn’t control the class – I felt I couldn’t control the pub.
What is your favourite beer at Wetherspoon?
“My favourite beer over the years, I hesitate to say it now because it has been bought by someone in Hong Kong, is Abbot Ale – 5 per cent ale, made in Bury St Edmunds.
“It’s very nice. But I also like Exmoor Gold and Adnams Cider.
How often do you eat at Wetherspoon?
“I eat at Wetherspoon four or five times a week, some days when I’m out on the road I’ll have three meals there - breakfast, lunch and an evening meal. That’s why I’m so skinny!”
What is your favourite meal at Wetherspoon?
“My favourite meal is fish and chips but I try and walk 10k a day on average to justify it. I also like our breakfast wraps.
“If I’m feeling more virtuous I go for a jacket potato with tuna which is supposed to have ingredients that make you live for more than 100 years, it’s rumoured.
Are you going to brew your own beer?
“I’ve been asked whether we brew our own beers, but there are so many out there which are good it’s better for us to stick to running pubs – which is hard enough.”
What about a Brexit beer?
“There probably will be a Brexit beer or two or many, if we leave on the October 31, so I’m looking to selecting one or two for our customers.”
He even hinted that we could see a "Spoons" in China.
He told Sun Online: “The future for Wetherspoon is the world – if we can have as many as pubs in the UK in China we’ll be bigger than Microsoft.
“I might have to live a long time to see it and change the habits of many countries in the world who don’t go to pubs.
“In all seriousness we’ve got good prospects – whether we can go abroad a not is up to question it’s a UK culture and culture of a few other countries like Ireland.
“I think we can do well if we doing what the customers want and keep our prices low.”
TYCOONS TOO SCARED TO BACK BREXIT
Martin is an outspoken Eurosceptic and claimed other tycoons are either too scared to speak up or can’t be bothered.
He told Sun Online: “They possibly feel it’s just not worth it for them.
“They’ve often been seduced by remain – the CBI for example has been rabidly pro the UK joining the Euro and pro Remain - so I think its perceived opinion and ‘can’t be asked’ would be the two main issues.”
Martin, who claims to eat and drink at his pubs five times a week, scrapped a third of his Euro wines and beers to back Brexit.
He swapped German Jägermeister for an alternative made in Chorley, Lancs, French champagne for English sparkling wine and stocked up on plonk from New Zealand Australia.
The dad-of-four said: “They’ve been very successful and selling very well and our trade is good.
Everything you buy from Europe you can buy from the UK or from the rest of the world that isn’t part of the EU - that's 93 per cent of the world.
Tim Martin
“That’s the issue for the EU - everything you buy from Europe you can buy from the UK or from the rest of the world that isn’t part of the EU - that's 93 per cent of the world.”
Martin believes Boris will have no problem following his lead and building lucrative trade links outside the EU.
He said: “As long as they lose the Ashes we’ll work with the Australians or anyone – I think everyone is keen to trade with the UK, why wouldn’t they?”
BO-JO IS A 'WINNER'
The publican, who opened his first boozer aged 24 in 1979, is a backer of of the PM but remains tight-lipped on who he will voting for if there's a general election.
He said: “I think Boris is a winner. I’ve been a supporter for the Brexit Party in the past because when the Conservatives failed to deliver Brexit they [the Brexit Party] worked really hard to correct the imbalance.
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“But having said that, Boris’ start as Prime Minister has been good – but he must not be seduced by the Europhiliac Remainers in his party.
“I don’t know – I feel myself a neutral I think the Brexit Party did a fantastic job – but they’ve got a very difficult job now.
“I’m not sure [how he’s going to vote] - everyone is waiting to see what will happen on October 31.”
VAT'S ENOUGH: Wetherspoon boss calls on Boris to save our pubs
WETHERSPOON boss Tim Martin has called on the government to ditch “unfair” food taxes on pubs - with nearly 1,000 closing their doors last year.
Martin slammed VAT breaks given to supermarkets meaning shoppers flock to grocery stores for cheap booze rather than picking up a pint at their local.
He said: “The main issue about pub closures has been a tax system that favours supermarkets.
“They pay no VAT on food and pubs pay 20 per cent and that disparity allows supermarkets to subsidise the price they sell beer at.
“Also pubs pay around 20 pence a pint at business rates and supermarkets around pay two pence – so it’s fantastically damaging for pubs to pay this disparity.”
A total of 914 pubs disappeared in 2018, according to real estate data company Altus Group
Around 76 pubs vanished each month in 2018, a slight slowdown on the previous year. In 2017, 1,292 disappeared from the high street — at a rate of more than 100 a month.
In the seven years prior to the 2017 change in business rates, the number dropped from 54,674 to 43,066.
Martin, who named Wetherspoon after one of his school teachers, said: “Pubs play and important part of the high streets and the culture of so many communities – if you want pubs you have to have tax equality.
“The current system isn’t fair pubs are treated more harshly than supermarkets – if you can equalise them governments will get more tax overall.”
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