JD Wetherspoon Tim Martin: Regulations are capricious and damaging

JD Wetherspoon has released its full year results which lay bare the impact of the coronavirus on sales and profits. Sales were down 30.6% to £1,262m while it made a £34.1m pre-tax loss, down 133% on the previous year. Chairman Tim Martin slammed the government’s handling of the situation and the effect it’s having on the hospitality industry. “For the two months following reopening, it appeared that the hospitality industry, in difficult circumstances, was adapting to the new regime and was getting ‘back on its feet’, albeit in survival mode,” he said.