The Wetherspoon founder expressed his delight at the pledges announced by Reform UK last week.

11:43, Tue, Feb 10, 2026 Updated: 11:44, Tue, Feb 10, 2026

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The Wetherspoon boss praised the pledge by Reform (Image: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire)

The founder of JD Wetherspoon has called on pub bosses to back pledges by Reform UK that would see £3billion allocated to help the industry. Writing in a stock exchange filing, Sir Tim Martin, who is chairman of the budget-friendly chain of pubs, gave his approval to the plans that would see VAT cut by 10% for the hospitality industry.

He claimed that the industry has been offered “something many had assumed impossible: in effect, tax parity with supermarkets.” Sir Tim told investors and industry leaders in a lengthy filing on Monday that “there’s no question that this initiative would utterly transform the competitiveness of pubs”. He said: “By eliminating the tax differential between supermarkets and the hospitality industry, and restoring margins to devastated businesses, these changes would enable pubs to regain some, or all, of their lost trade.

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Reform UK announced a raft of measures to help pubs last week (Image: Getty)

“You would think that this offer from Reform would have been greeted by a crescendo of enthusiasm, ecstasy and support from the licensed trade and its supporters.

“However, surprisingly, initial support has been underwhelming, at least from the great and the good in the hospitality industry.”

Nigel Farage made the pledge last week, which would also see beer duty cut by 10%, employers’ National Insurance contribution increases reversed for businesses in hospitality and the gradual phasing out of business rates for pubs.

The move would be funded by reinstating the two-child benefit cap, the party claims.

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Martin is a longstanding critic of tax policy for pubs (Image: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire)

Martin has been a long-standing critic of tax policy for pubs, previously blaming the short tenure of most CEO’s of large pub chains for an indifference to the plight faced by thousands.

He previously lamented the time and effort given by pub bosses to “tackle an unfair tax regime which might take a long time to fix”, in an interview with the Times.

He added: “If you do believe in tax equality then you’d better support it, because the supermarket industry has nicked half your trade in recent years — and it will gobble up most of the rest in no time flat.”

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In her budget last year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves slashed a discount on business rates for pubs introduced during the pandemic.

Following anger from pub owners, a £300 million “lifeline” for pubs was announced in January in a bid to ease concerns.