Eat Out to Help Out (Tim Martin) & the politics of ‘Old Corruption’
Never caught wanting in his perpetual and indeed decades long quest for ‘how low can we go’ Wetherspoon’s Tim Martin has confirmed that all his pubs will participate in the August Eat Out to Help Out scheme where people can get 50% off meals (he has also reduced beer prices but that relates to VAT changes which don’t actually apply directly to beer) on Mondays-Wednesdays up to a maximum of £10.
It should be noted that this will be good news for many on lower incomes. For those who may be tempted to think Wetherspoons only sell unhealthy meals this is far from the case. On Monday Johnson announced that in his battle against obesity pubs will be required to display calorie counts on meals they sell. By a strange coincidence one major pub chain has been doing this for ages: Wetherspoons.
While people will benefit (assuming they are not boycotting Spoons, something not encouraged by unionised Spoons workers btw) Tim Martin will also be a beneficiary of Eat Out to Help Out. It will get people into his pubs on the quieter days of the week and no doubt encourage them to spend a bit more (if they have any money to spend).
Like so many Johnsonian initiatives Eat Out to Help Out does seem be benefiting a political ally.
William Cobbett in the first decades of the nineteenth century used the term ‘Old Corruption’. This meant not corruption as we might mainly understand it today. Rather it was about sinecures for favoured people, jobs and advancement based not on merit or worth but on who someone knew. In summary running Government at least partly to help out its friends.
The Things They Say
Chairman Tim Martin said: “Thanks to the government scheme, an individual is £2.93 better off eating and drinking at Wetherspoons than purchasing a similar range of products at Tesco.
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