Brewdog Boss: Train strikes kill businesses
Brewdog’s boss has claimed train strikes are ‘killing British businesses’ and have cost his company £3.5 million.
James Watt said sales in the craft beer brewers’ bars had fallen by half on strike days and the Treasury had lost £1million on national insurance, VAT and beer tax – and that was from Brewdog alone.
In a lengthy tirade on LinkedIn, founder and CEO Watt urged the government to “step in and clean up this mess.”
Hit hard: James Watt said sales at craft brewers’ bars fell by half on strike days
He even offered to organize a meeting of ministers and unions over beer and sandwiches at a Brewdog pub to make a deal.
Hopes for an end to the long-running dispute over wages and working conditions rose last week when a planned stoppage of the London Underground was called off.
But unions are not ruling out further strikes and actions on the train network are still planned.
“Everyone, including the government, is losing big time,” Watt wrote. The strikes threaten the viability and future of hundreds of thousands of businesses and jobs across the UK.
“All this comes at a time when pubs, bars and restaurants are closing at the fastest rates since records began.”
Watt has been accused of leading a “culture of fear” in an open letter signed by staff, allegedly promoting a toxic work environment.
In a recent interview, he admitted that mistakes had been made, but insisted that some of the allegations against him and his company have been blown out of proportion.