Statement re Press Comment

Wetherspoon (JD) PLC

05 January 2024

 

Correction Regarding Daily Mirror Article (29 December 2023) and Daily Record Article (30 December 2023)

The Mirror and Daily Record have issued corrections and apologies, following inaccurate statements in recent newspaper articles. 

A RNS issued by Wetherspoon on 2 January 2024 highlighted the inaccuracies in articles in the on-line version of the Daily Mirror of 29 December 2023 and the Daily Record of 30 December 2023 (see Appendix 1)

Wetherspoon wrote to both papers on 31 December 2023 requesting corrections to the articles.

The publications have removed the inaccurate statements and published the following clarification/apology after both articles: 

"A previous version of this article reported that during the pandemic, Tim Martin 'suggested his 40,000 staff should go get jobs in supermarkets amid uncertainty, and said he wouldn't pay staff that weren't working during the lockdown'. This is incorrect. In fact, Mr Martin had said that if staff were offered a job in a supermarket, he would understand if they wanted to take it. We have also been asked to clarify that Mr Martin did not tell staff they would not be paid, and that all Wetherspoon staff were paid during the lockdown. We are happy to clarify this and apologise for the error"

Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said:

"Wetherspoon is grateful to Reach plc and the publications concerned for setting the record straight, by issuing prompt corrections and apologies."

Appendix 1

Correction Regarding Daily Mirror Article (29 December 2023) and Daily Record Article (30 December 2023)

An article in the on-line version of the Daily Mirror of 29 December 2023 was headlined "Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin's mysterious life from rarely-seen wife to simple rule that made £448m".

A similar article in the on-line version of the Daily Record of 30 December 2023 was headlined "Mysterious life of Wetherspoons boss Tim Martin from rarely -seen wife to rule that made £448m".

Both papers are published by Reach plc.

The articles contained inaccurate and misleading statements relating to Wetherspoon's and its chairman, Mr Tim Martin's responses to the closure of pubs in March 2020, as a result of the Covid -19 pandemic.

The Daily Mirror article said:

"During the pandemic, he [Mr Martin] also suggested his 40,000 staff should go get jobs in supermarkets amid uncertainty, and said he wouldn't pay staff that weren't working during the lockdown"

The Daily Record article said:

"During Covid-19, he [Mr Martin] suggested that his 40,000 staff should get jobs in supermarkets and said that he wouldn't pay staff that weren't working during the lockdown"

Both statements are incorrect.

At no time did Mr Martin tell employees that they would not be paid. 

All employees were paid in the usual way, on the usual payment date of Friday 27 March 2020 for work done up to 22/23 March 2020. 

Following the closure of pubs on Friday 20 March 2020, the company sent an email to all employees on Wednesday 25 March 2020 confirming that furlough payments would begin on Friday 3 April 2020 and would continue weekly thereafter (for weekly paid staff), and monthly on 27th of every month for salaried employees. 

All staff were paid weekly / monthly throughout the pandemic - not one payment to employees was missed or delayed.

Mr Martin also did not suggest that employees "get jobs in supermarkets". 

This is a distortion of what was actually said in a video issued to staff on 23 March 2020. 

What Mr Martin said to staff in the video was as follows:

"If you're offered a job in a supermarket, many of you will want to do that, if you think it's a good idea to do it, I can completely understand it."

Immediate corrections are being sought from both the Daily Mirror and the Daily Record.

The statement is very surprising given that the Daily Mirror published stories on 30 April 2020 and 4 May 2020 during the pandemic itself, which contained the same or similar misleading statements.

The company wrote to the Daily Mirror at the time pointing this out to them, and successfully requested a correction to which the Daily Mirror agreed.

The correction is summarised below, as set out in the "Does Truth Matter?" version of the Wetherspoon News magazine, published in 2021, which highlighted similar inaccurate media reporting of Wetherspoon's response to the pandemic - and the many apologies and corrections Wetherspoon secured as a result.

Extract from Wetherspoon News "Does Truth Matter?" Edition

"In two articles dated 30 April 2020 and 4 May 2020, the Daily Mirror incorrectly said that Wetherspoon's chairman, Tim Martin, "sack[ed] his staff and [told] them to work for Tesco".

Following Wetherspoon's representations, the Daily Mirror printed the correction below:

Correction: The article originally stated Mr Martin "prompted anger and eventually a U-turn on wages after suggesting staff should 'go and work in Tesco'". A video caption also stated Mr Martin "tells 40,000 staff to 'go to work at Tesco'".

We accept Mr Martin did not tell staff to work in Tesco or use the words "go and work in Tesco". Instead, he said if staff thought it was a good idea to take a supermarket job, "do it, I can completely understand it."

We are happy to make this clear and apologise for the confusion.

J D Wetherspoon also dispute that there was a "U-turn on wages", because staff wages were paid on March 27 for hours worked up to March 23.

We have clarified the story to make clear there was an argument about furlough pay, not past wages, and that the firm confirmed on March 25 that staff would receive furlough pay from April 3 onwards."

The full version of "Does Truth Matter?" can be downloaded from the Wetherspoon website here.

https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/

Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said:

"There is an old joke among journalists about not letting the truth get in the way of a good story. The Mirror got its facts wrong the first time - and apologised. Making almost exactly the same derogatory comments a second time is unacceptable behaviour and beyond a joke."

Enquiries:

Nigel Connor                 Legal Director                           07876 232529

Eddie Gershon              Company Spokesman               07956 392234

Please send any questions by email to [e-mail]

Notes to editors

1.     J D Wetherspoon owns and operates pubs throughout the UK. The Company aims to provide customers with good-quality food and drink, served by well-trained and friendly staff, at reasonable prices. The pubs are individually designed, and the Company aims to maintain them in excellent condition.

2.     Visit our website:  www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk

 

END