𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Tim Martin, the founder of the Wetherspoon pub empire, is in no doubt what he would say to Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves if he came face to face with the Prime Minister and the Chancellor.

We are sitting in a booth at the Metropolitan Bar, a stone’s throw from Madame Tussauds. The room is loud as people from all walks of life stream in to grab a post-work drink with mates or tuck into a hearty meal.

He would relish the chance to dispense hard-earned wisdom to the present occupants of Downing Street: “I’d say to them, Keir, Rachel, listen, put away your colouring books and crayons and listen to Timbo.”

It is no surprise that Mr Martin, 71, relishes political debate. He has spent most of his working life in pubs and clearly loves convivial watering holes where people aren’t afraid to speak their mind over a pint.

The JD Wetherspoon network has served up millions of pints, and Mr Martin has contributed to national debates ranging from Brexit to the Government policies pushing thousands of pubs across the country towards extinction. His television appearances in the run-up to the 2016 referendum made him a household name, and he has a rare ability to debate complex subjects with warm humour and plain speech.

This father-of-four and grandfather-of-14 has made a fortune and price-conscious families across the country love his pubs, which have helped prevent the emptying of high streets. In many countries, political parties would race to recruit such a figure. He even studied law before taking over a pub (after a spell “putting jelly in pork pies”) – so has he considered swapping the pub trade for politics?

“My wife has said she would divorce me if I ever go into politics,” he says. “So, it would be particularly expensive.”

This does not stop him detailing the measures he wants the Government to take to stop the collapse of the hospitality industry, which you can read in this week’s Sunday Express Big Interview.

“My own view is that democracy is essential for the future of humanity,” he says.

He aims to create pubs where people from all backgrounds converge, describing it as the “opposite of a dinner party” and the sometimes “stultified” conversation of the dining room.

His own life story demonstrates that wonderful things happen when people gather for a celebration. He met his wife, Felicity, on his 20th birthday and he invited her to his party.

It is not only important that customers enjoy being in a Wetherspoons. It is critical that staff are happy.

He realised as his empire rapidly expanded that its success depended on being a good employer. The most recent company report describes how the company has just awarded £24million of bonuses and free shares to employees; the “average length of service of a pub manager has increased to 15.7 years, and of a kitchen manager to 11.7 years”.

When staff bring drinks to the table, he thanks them by name. He sees employees on the frontline of hospitality as a vital source of ideas that can be rolled out across the business.

“I’ve often said it should be a prerequisite of being a Government minister that you should have worked and qualified as a grade four shift manager for Wetherspoon, never mind Oxford or Cambridge,” he says.

A big concern is that the Government is hurting the sector with a tax system which he argues favours supermarkets over pubs and makes it more expensive to give people a job. Well-intentioned policies which damage prosperity can hold back people’s standards of living.

“Governments can’t make people better off by legislating for higher wages,” he says. “They think they can, and some economists think they can but, by and large, that’s not what makes the world go round.”

His favourite tipples, it turns out, are Greene King’s Abbot Ale and Guinness’s Foreign Extra Stout.

He could have long since retired, but you get the sense there is nowhere he would rather be than in this happy pub on an early summer evening. As they say in Ulster, where he spent much of his childhood, the craic is good.