Tim Martin

Wetherspoons mass posted a pro-Brexit magazine to an unknown number of households in January 2019, attracting criticism in the press. The magazine claims to have a readership of two million. The employee campaign group Spoons Workers Against Brexit, labeled the publication dangerous propaganda, and asserted that Martin was exploiting his position as CEO. Wetherspoon responded by defending the mass mailing, claiming it contained "... pro and anti Brexit articles to stimulate debate"; the proportionately minor mentions of views critical to a no deal Brexit were preceded by statements by Tim Martin, deriding expert opinions and "the elite".

In June 2018, Martin announced that Wetherspoons would be ceasing the sale of products from other European Union countries in a 24-month plan, with the immediate example of Prosecco and Champagne being replaced by Australian wines. He believes the prediction of food prices rising and food shortages leading to stockpiling of supplies in the UK post-Brexit is merely scaremongering tactics deployed by pro-EU journalists, and mentioned the fact there were no increased queues in his restaurants as a result; after he removed French brandy from sale in his restaurants as an example. Despite the claims, a wide range European alcoholic beverages remain on sale in Wetherspoons venues, with many actually discounted in a post-Brexit promotion during February 2020.

In January 2017, Wetherspoons published figures showing an increase in sales of more than 3%. Martin used this as evidence that there was no post-Brexit referendum slowdown as predicted by economists.

Martin is a staunch supporter of Brexit, representing these views for journalists and on political TV programmes such as BBC Politics Live and Sky News, and BBC Radio 4 programmes including Today, Question Time and Farming Today. In 2016, Martin donated £200,000 to the Vote Leave campaign.

In 2005, Martin was voted the fifth most influential person in the UK pub industry. He is an admirer of Sam Walton's business philosophy. He visits at least 15 Wetherspoon outlets each week.

He earned a bachelor's degree in law from the University of Nottingham, and qualified as a barrister in 1979, but has never practised.

Martin is the founder and chairman of Wetherspoon. He bought his first pub, in Muswell Hill, in 1979. His brother Gerry also ran a pub chain, Old Monk, which was listed in 1998, but went out of business in 2002.

Timothy Randall Martin (born 28 April 1955) is a British businessman best known as the founder and chairman of Wetherspoon, a pub chain in the UK and Ireland. A prominent critic of the European Union, he is a vocal supporter of Brexit.

Martin was born on 28 April 1955 in Norwich. His father served in the Royal Air Force and then worked for brewing multinational Guinness plc and became Malaysian marketing director. Martin was educated at eleven schools in New Zealand and Northern Ireland, including Campbell College, Belfast.