Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin calls on the Government to reopen The Pilgrim's Progress in Bedford at the same time as non-essential shops

Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin is calling on the Government to open pubs - including his own in Bedford - at the same time as non-essential shops reopen.

He says that the pub industry is “on its knees” and that pubs across the UK - including Wetherspoon's The Pilgrim's Progress in Midland Road - need to reopen in order to save the industry and associated jobs.

Mr Martin says 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 £6.1billion of taxes, something we are very proud of.

“In the financial year to July 2019, before the pandemic, Wetherspoon, its customers and employees generated £764million 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 added: “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 50million 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."

He went on to say: “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.”