Private equity groups and property investors are having a “pretty disastrous” impact on the British pub industry, the founder and chairman of pub group JD Wetherspoon has warned. Tim Martin, an industry veteran of 30 years, said overzealous government regulation and excessive debt taken on by private equity and property investors in the pub sector was “running down” the institution that is the British pub; “stupidity” and “greed” had helped drive the collapse of groups such as Laurel Pub Company and Orchid Group, he added. His remarks come after Jon Moulton, founder of Alchemy Partners, said a “good chunk” of the £20bn of debt in the pub sector was “unsustainable”.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 5:23 and is filed under Capital markets, People, Private equity. Tagged with JD Wetherspoon, Laurel, Orchid. Edit this entry.