My thanks to veteran Peteborough leading citizen, discerning beer drinker, fellow Guardian letter writer and beard wearer Toby Wood, for a picture of Wetherspoon’s Tim Martin addressing a Brexit Party rally in the City tonight. My understanding is that Farage is also there.
For the avoidance of doubt while I’m not the biggest fan of the EU (although like 76% of Tottenham residents I voted remain) I regard the Brexit Party as racist and something no one on the left, however defined, should be anywhere near.
I’ve been struggling to enter Wetherspoons pubs for a while due to Martin’s increasingly aggressive pro-Brexit stance. He appeared at the 2018 Tory conference and has been pictured knocking about with Farage and Rees Mogg.
So what you might say? After all historically nearly all leading brewers were part of what was known as the Beerage, Tories who gave money to the Party. If you entered one of their pubs and drank beer you were indirectly donating money to the Tory Party.
The Beerage still exists at regional brewery level. Fullers were part of it (the Board not the workers) until Asahi too over on 29th April. One of the few positive aspects of Big Beer however is that it doesnt do things like donate to the Tory Party. When you are a worldwide beer company you need to focus on getting along with whatever Government is in office in the countries you sell beer in.
All that said on the whole, unless you knew about the Beerage, you probably wouldnt notice drinking in the pubs of its brewing members. They did not on the whole produce beer mats and posters at Election times telling customers to vote Tory.
Tim Martin’s recent approach, for example in his Wetherspoons pub tour, has been to promote Brexit while arguing it with customers. Now he seems to be taking a more upfront approach. More upfront certainly than the historic Beerage.
I will struggle to enter a Wetherspoons pub even more.
Not been in Spoons for years totally agree