The chairman of JD Wetherspoon has fired a warning shot that the pub chain could stop selling drinks brands from other European countries if senior EU leaders maintain a “bullying” approach to Brexit negotiations.
Tim Martin accused Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commission, of putting unfair pressure on European firms to be hostile to UK trading partners, and said Britain was in a stronger position than people think.
He said: “I don’t think Wetherspoon or British buyers are in a weak position because we can switch from Swedish cider to British cider. So the people put in a weak position are the sellers and I think that is the paradox that has not been illustrated. The UK is in a much more powerful position than most economists would assume.”
Martin said the German leader Angela Merkel and the French president François Hollande were supportive of Juncker and the idea that the UK must pay a price for voting to leave the EU.
He added: “According to press reports, Juncker told European business leaders in October not to negotiate with UK companies and to adopt an intransigent attitude. I would not advise any EU companies to follow that advice.
“If we, and companies like ours, are unable to agree on tariff-free transactions, it will inevitably result in a loss of business for European companies which have done nothing to deserve this outcome.
“The ultimate sanction will be in the hands of UK consumers, should they take offence at the hectoring and bullying approach of Juncker and co. French wine, champagne and spirits, German beer and Swedish cider, for example, are all at extreme risk.”
Martin was an active supporter of the Brexit campaign in the runup to the 23 June referendum and since the vote he has criticised the political and economic establishment for doom-laden predictions about the impact of a vote to leave the EU that he says have turned out to be false.
The Wetherspoon chairman made the latest comments in a trading update for the first quarter ending 23 October. Like-for-like sales over the period increased by 3.5%, and total sales were up 2.3%. Like-for-like sales strip out the impact of pubs open for less than a year.
Wetherspoon said that trading had slowed in recent weeks, adding that its wages bill, business rates, and repairs costs were all expected to rise in the remainder of the year.
Martin said: “The company has made a reasonable start in the current year, but any forecasts for the full year are inevitably tentative, with nine months still to go – and the outlook for the current financial year is unchanged.”
