Wetherspoons' profits up as chairman blames government for binge drinking

JD Wetherspoon's founder and chairman Tim Martin has criticised the government for saddling the industry with an ‘unsustainable' tax burden, and for creating a ‘vodka-drinking culture' by driving young people out of the pubs and into the street. Wetherspoons has also reported strong half-year results with total sales up 6.5per cent to £469m, and profits up 2 per cent to £30.8m.

Martin argues that government legislation is making the problem of bnge drinking worse by forcing 16-18 year olds to drink drinking away from the ‘civilising' influence of adults.

However  Wetherspoon seems to be riding out the storm better than most. Sales were up 1.9% on a like-for-like basis, a trend that has continued this year (thanks partly to the success of its new breakfast offering), and after cancelling its dividend, the group has plenty of cash in the bank to pay down its debts. It also said today that it would use its war-chest to pick up new pubs on the cheap, just like it did in the last recession.

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