JD Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said last week’s budget was for ‘dinner party goes not pub goers’
THE pub and restaurant industry in Derry could be damaged by this week’s Budget, says an entrepreneur from the North of Ireland.
JD Wetherspoon pub chain chairman Tim Martin tore into Brisith Chancellor Philip Hammond, accusing him of delivering a “Budget for dinner parties” rather than pub-goers
Mr Martin also highlighted the crippling cost of drinks licences in the region.
He said it could put off entrepreneurs from starting up new businesses in Northern Ireland.
And pub goers can also expect a hike in drink prices, with a pint of lager expected to rise by 20p by the end of 2017.
Mr Martin said the cost of licenses continued to hold back some of the region’s biggest towns and cities.
He said: “You have to pay an astronomical amount for a drinks licence here, whereas in Dublin and London they have removed most of the restrictions and you get a quicker response to changing trends in the industry.
“In London and Dublin at the moment there’s a lot of craft beer bars set up by small entrepreneurs, but here a licence could set you back anywhere from £100,000 to £1million.
“This absolute restriction on the number of licences is unhelpful to the industry.
“I think pubs and restaurants are an important part of the economy both north and south of the border and it’s very important they’re regenerated.”
Speaking about the Budget, Mr Martin calculated the firm would face nearly £30m of extra charges over the next five years, including a business rates bill of £7m, a £2m apprenticeship levy charge and a £4m hit from the sugar tax.
The 61-year-old said the Budget was “not helpful” to the industry and warned that it put supermarkets at an advantage to the hospitality trade.
Last year JD Wetherspoon sold two of its pubs in Derry.
They were among five of its nine pubs in the North which have been snapped up by local business The Granny Annie’s group.
The deal was said to be worth £3 million.
Wetherspoon’s seOLDoff The Diamond Bar in Derry to Granny Annie’s last year
The Diamond Bar and The Ice Wharf in Derry have been offloaded along with The Old Courthouse in Coleraine, The Spinning Mill in Ballymena and The Linen Hall in Enniskillen.
Granny Annie’s Group operates three pubs — one in Derry, one in Limavady and at the former Victoria’s in Chichester Street, Belfast.
The company is run by Limavady brothers Willis and Ryan McLaughlin.
Tags: