JD Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin has offered Rishi Sunak a bar job, saying the ‘Oxbridge crew’ should get out in the real world more.

The pub chain’s founder told Metro.co.uk that he believes ‘the level of practical intelligence in any lounge bar’ outstrips that of academia.

He spoke after the first day of indoor reopening under the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown and warned the licensed trade should not become an ‘easy target’ if the ‘Indian’ Covid variant torpedoes the plans.

The Chancellor experienced the hospitality sector’s ‘frontline’ for himself yesterday as he served pints at the relaunch of The Buck Inn, in his Richmond, North Yorkshire constituency, which the pub chain has spent £2.6million redeveloping with the creation of 70 jobs.

Martin quipped: ‘Rishi has talent. He could be a team leader in a few months, he would get through his training modules in a couple of years and could be a pub manager a couple of years after that.

‘If his political career fizzles out, he has my number.’

The pitfalls of politicians making public appearances in pubs were underlined when Sir Keir Starmer was thrown out of The Raven in Bath last month by a landlord unhappy with Labour’s stance on the lockdown.

The Chancellor, who enjoyed a more cheerful reception from staff and customers at The Buck Inn in Northallerton, has previously told how his parents ‘sacrificed a great deal’ so he could study at Oxford.

But the Wetherspoon founder and chairman believes MPs would benefit from longer spells ‘on the frontline’ with the chain. 

‘I visit a dozen or so pubs a week,’ he said.

‘It can’t do politicians any harm to get out and about.

‘I often feel that the Oxbridge crew would benefit from a few years on the front line with the Mighty Organisation, ie Wetherspoon.

‘The world of university can be hierarchical and theoretical.

‘Pubs create a grounding in reality and the level of practical intelligence in any lounge bar far outweighs that of any academic.

‘As baseball coach Yogi Berra said, “in theory, there is no difference between practice and theory. In practice, there is”.’

While Monday’s indoor reopening has been a welcome relief for the hospitality sector, Martin cautioned against making pubs an ‘easy target’ amid concern at the spread of the new variant. 

‘It would be illogical,’ he said:

‘For example, Wetherspoon has fifty million customer visits post-July 2020 with zero outbreaks as defined by the health authorities.

‘SAGE [Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies] and the Government know that transmission occurs in hospitals, care homes and households but politicians find pubs an easy target.’

Martin believes vaccinations rather than lockdowns are key to reaching the Government’s scheduled June 21 date for a full lifting of the curbs.

‘There is cautious optimism, cautious since there have already been three lockdowns,’ he said.

‘The vaccine and low hospitalisations are the best hope. Professor John Ioannidis of Stanford University, possibly the foremost authority in the area, says that Covid is half as dangerous as flu for those under seventy years old.

‘Once you vaccinate the vulnerable, things should get back to normal.’

Beyond Covid, Martin wants further tax cuts for pubs to put the amount levied on a pint of beer on a par with that paid by supermarkets.

Asked if Sunak, who extended a VAT cut for hospitality in The Budget, had won him over, he replied: ‘He’ll win me over if there’s tax equality.’

The Treasury has previously said it is providing ‘significant support’ for pubs, including through grants, the furlough scheme and VAT cuts for hospitality businesses.

Optimism for the trade was spurred along yesterday with an estimated three million beers sold across 45,000 pubs in the UK, according to the British Beer and Pub Association.

However, the Prime Minister has called on the public to exercise a ‘heavy dose of caution’ in enjoying the new freedoms amid the spread of the ‘Indian’ variant.

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