Wetherspoon has been helped by Sunak’s eat out scheme – but will diners stick around when it’s gone?

There’s an awful lot riding on whether the initiative becomes habit-forming, writes James Moore

The chain says it expects ‘a period of more subdued sales’ once the dining initative ends (PA)

Credit where it’s due to Tim Martin: the mouth-almighty chair of pub chain JD Wetherspoon put the relevant part of his company’s latest update – concerning current trading, property and the group’s financial position – right at the top of the windy, near-4,000-word missive.

There was the de rigueur whinge about VAT, a complaint about the “unfair” treatment suffered by the pub trade in comparison with supermarkets, and a plea in the middle of the useful stuff for more help on that front, which I don’t propose to address because you’ve heard it all before.

But the layout meant it was easy enough to take in the sensible stuff while ignoring the more than 3,000 words of Timbo ranting about the media (they’re mean and they’re misrepresenting me), lockdowns (I’ve found some people that don’t like them and here’s a Sky News Australia interview transcript to prove it), and Sweden. Why Sweden? Arch-Brexiteer Martin has found some Europeans he’s a fan of because they’re not so keen on lockdowns either. So, Absolut Vodka in the pubs?