THE outspoken chairman of JD Wetherspoon has branded restrictions imposed by government to limit the spread of Covid as “kryptonite” for the hospitality industry, while highlighting pressure from rising food, drink and energy costs.

Tim Martin declared this morning that the “readiness” of major UK political parties to “resort to lockdowns and extreme restrictions” represent the “main threat to the future of the hospitality industry”, as it reported a loss before tax of £21.3 million for the 26 weeks ended January 23. This compared with a profit of £57.9m for the same period in 2020.

The preliminary results come after Wetherspoon had previously reported that sales were adversely affected in the first half, which ended on January 23, by Covid restrictions. Labour costs were also high largely because of Covid-related absences, the company said.

Restrictions were introduced by government in December in response to the Omicron variant, which in Scotland resulted in the reimposition of one-metre social distancing in hospitality settings, and the mandatory requirement of table service where alcohol was sold for consumption on the premises. Those restrictions began to be lifted in February.

The company has around 70 pubs in Scotland.

Wetherspoon said this morning that like-for-like sales were 11.8% lower in the first half compared with the six months ended January 26, 2020, before the pandemic struck, and were 12.4% lower for the first four weeks of the second half of its current financial year, ending February 20, compared with the same period two years ago.

The company reported that sales have improved in the most recent three-week period to March 13, though were 2.6% lower than the equivalent period in 2019.

Mr Martin said: “Draconian restrictions, which amount to a lockdown-by-stealth, are, of course, kryptonite for hospitality, travel, leisure and many other businesses. The company is confident of a strong future if restrictions are avoided.

"The readiness of the leaders of all the UK’s main political parties to resort to lockdowns, and extreme restrictions, which were not contemplated in the UK’s 2019 plans for pandemics, is the main threat to the future of the hospitality industry, but also to the economy.”

Addressing the surge in inflation, Mr Martin noted that the company is protected to some extent by the fact most of its pubs are freehold, and by long-term contracts on food, drink and energy.

“Overall, the company expects the increase in input prices to be slightly less than the level of inflation,” he said.