An unusual subhead on this week’s RNS from JD Wetherspoon: Misrepresentations.
The house Tim Martin built notes:
“Wetherspoon has almost never requested corrections or apologies from newspapers or broadcasters, with which it has had a close association, in the four decades of its existence, to the start of the pandemic.
However, since March 2020 many misrepresentations and inaccuracies have appeared in the media. The company has successfully sought corrections and apologies from the organisations concerned.
Corrections and/or apologies were received in 2020 from, among others, The Times, The Daily Mail, Sky News, The Daily Star, the Independent and the Guardian.”
It is interesting that ‘Spoons chose to showcase its fights with the media in a statement to the City – I guess a sign of how irritated Martin gets at being (intentionally?) mis-interpreted.
The most recent row was the suggestion that he is facing a staff shortage due to Brexit, something he championed.
He wants a flexible visa scheme for workers from Europe, but that’s what he has always thought. The reason he wanted out of the EU (drum roll) is because he doesn’t like the EU (it’s really not that complicated).
A City PR man – he doesn’t use any – might advise him not to keep picking a fight with the press in this way.
I think it is brilliant that he doesn’t care, and I suspect his customers don’t either.
Our poll today by Find Out Now sought the views of the public on the pub chain. You can see the results below.
Nearly three in five employers expect to see an increase in staff resignations this year, says this from Cendex. They might have to review pay more often to keep the top talent, the research suggests.
I think staff retention is going to be a huge story this year.
