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RNS Number : 2527Y
Wetherspoon (JD) PLC
29 December 2023
Correction Regarding Independent Article - 28 December 2023
An article in the Independent newspaper, of 28 December 2023,
was headlined "Brexit-backing boss to be knighted in New Year
Honours".
The article contained a number of 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 article said:
"But he [Mr Martin] has also sparked controversy, including by
suggesting his 40,000 staff should go to work at Tesco amid
uncertainty over their futures due to the coronavirus pandemic"
"In the early days of Covid-19, Mr Martin indicated the company
would not continue to pay employees who were not now working after
pubs in the UK were closed to stop the spread of the virus"
The statements are incorrect.
At no time did Mr Martin tell employees that Wetherspoon would
not continue to pay them during the initial Covid-19 lock down.
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 did not suggest that employees "should go to work at
Tesco".
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 the Independent.
It is very surprising that the Independent published a number of
stories during the pandemic itself, which contained the same
misleading statements.
The company wrote to the Independent on 4 occasions at the time
pointing this out to them, and successfully requested
corrections.
The resulting corrections from 2020 are 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
"Three articles by the Independent (dated 30 April, 11 June and
10 July) and one Indy 100 article dated 24 June have been amended
following complaints from JD Wetherspoon:
All four articles were amended to clarify that at no point did
Mr Martin tell employees that Wetherspoon would not continue to pay
them.
The publications accepted the fact that all staff were paid by
the company up until the point pubs closed, following which all
staff received furlough pay.
In addition, all four articles were amended to clarify that Mr
Martin did not direct staff that they "should work at Tesco
instead". The publications acknowledged that their reporting on
this point was inaccurate and that Mr Martin had, in fact,
expressed that he 'understood' if employees were offered a job in a
supermarket and wished to take it up"
The full version of "Does Truth Matter?" can be downloaded from
the Wetherspoon website here.
https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/
Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said:
"This is a very unusual set of circumstances. The Independent
newspaper has repeated, almost exactly, false allegations that it
previously retracted. The public, and the Independent's readers,
expect better from a national newspaper."
Enquiries:
Nigel Connor Legal Director 07876 232529
Eddie Gershon Company Spokesman 07956 392234
Please send any questions by email to investorqueries@jdwetherspoon.co.uk
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
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END
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