Pub operator Wetherspoon posts half-year loss due to pandemic curbs By Reuters

(Reuters) – J D Wetherspoon reported a half-yearly loss on Friday, compared with a year-earlier profit, as hundreds of its pubs across the UK were shuttered through the key holiday season due to the coronavirus-led restrictions.

Its chairman Tim Martin, a critic of the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, warned that the future of the industry depended on a “consistent set of sensible policies” and the ending of lockdowns and tier systems.