Sir Tim Martin, founder and chairman of JD Wetherspoon, has said it is “not up to” Prime Minister Andy Burnham to decide which shops operate on Britain’s high streets, in response to government plans to crack down on vape shops, gambling centres and other “rogue operators”.
In an interview with City AM, Martin said vape and betting shops were being made scapegoats of the government’s plans to revive town centres.
“I think it’s not up to the Prime Minister, or the leader of the opposition, to say what shops should be in high streets,” Martin told City AM. “In my view, if there’s demand for vape shops, and there are no other takers, then there’s no point in criticising vape shops.
“A huge number of people vape, it’s legal, and they’re paying rent and rates, and they’re employing people. […] Vape shops and betting shops are legal businesses, and there’s no point in demoralising people who run legal businesses.”
Government plans for pubs and high streets
The government has said its 20 per cent reduction for pubs, social clubs and live music venues in England will take effect from April 2027, covering about 32,000 venues, with a typical pub saving an estimated £1,100 a year.
In August, the government set out plans under which vape shops will need planning permission to prevent openings near schools, and councils will get stronger powers to refuse new betting shops. It cited Centre for Social Justice analysis showing nearly 1,800 pubs and bars have closed since 2016, while vape and tobacco shops have risen to about 2,200.
Martin said he agreed with Mike Ashley, the Frasers Group owner, who attacked the Prime Minister’s high street policies as “populist”. Ashley told the Prime Minister the crackdown on vape and gambling shops was a pursuit of “good media soundbites” rather than an attempt to “address the real underlying issues of how the country’s financial affairs are managed”.
“I’m not a vaper,” Martin said. “I’m an ex-smoker, but so long as there are vapers and smokers in the land, and it’s not illegal, it’s pointless to suggest that high streets would be better off without those transactions taking place in the town centre.”
Tourist tax and VAT
Last week, the government set out plans to give England’s mayors powers to impose tourist taxes, with no cap, on accommodation fees. Hospitality leaders said the levy would add to the “significant tax burden” already facing the industry.
Martin said: “The UK has become a heavily taxed economy. If it’s a tax and it removes money from the public by meaning they have to pay more, I’m against it. I think we’ve had a lot of tax increases in recent years, and we don’t need any more.”
Pub sector leaders cite higher employer national insurance contributions, above-inflation minimum wage rises and supply chain costs driven up by the Iran war, and say pubs make small profits on the sale of a pint.
Martin said supermarkets had taken half of the beer trade away from pubs since he started in the sector, and that VAT was “the big disparity” between the two.
“We realise that the government would lose money if it stopped VAT on food in pubs, but I think it needs to rebalance taxes between pubs and supermarkets so that they’re approximately the same. Now they’re much higher in pubs,” he said.
On Thursday, Wetherspoon will cut the price of all its food and drink by 7.5 per cent to illustrate the savings it could pass on if the industry received a tax break.
Martin has backed a campaign led by chef Tom Kerridge for the VAT rate on hospitality to be cut from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. The campaign has faced accusations that the largest operators would keep the savings rather than pass them on to customers.
Martin, who bought his first pub in 1979, said conditions were “infinitely more difficult now” and that he would think twice about starting a pub company today.
“I think it’s quite important the type of business you get involved in, and with hindsight, maybe you wouldn’t go into a business whose main product has lost over half [of] its volumes to supermarkets,” he said.
Amy Ingham
Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College's journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel's nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.
