A publican with 3 huge pubs in our West Cumbria CAMRA branch area was recently Knighted

Arise Sir Tim Martin of Wetherspoons fame.

Tim bought his first modest little pub in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1979, calling it Martin’s Free House. A year or so later he changed the name to JD Wetherspoons, named after an old school teacher of his, who told Tim that he was destined to failure.

When Tim bought and ran this free house, this was at a time when most pubs were owned and tied to big breweries.

Like him or loath him, this giant (6ft 6 inches tall) of the British pub trade has now notched up over 45 years in the business and his pubs overall sell a huge volume of real ales.

Sir Tim’s favourite tipple is a pint of Greene King Abbot, brewed in Bury St. Edmunds and his chain of over 800 outlets is the brewery’s No 1 customer for this Wetherspoons’ flagship real ale.