Dear John

When JD Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin went on a six-month sabbatical last year, managing director John Hutson was left holding the baby. Lorna Harrison went to meet him.

After 25 years at the helm of one of Britain's most successful pub companies, Tim Martin, founder and chairman of JD Wetherspoon, decided to take a well-earned break from it all. To many, the six-month departure from the company last September was viewed as nothing more than a long holiday but in the City eyebrows were raised, fuelled by national press speculation of a possible management buy-out.

According to Wetherspoon's managing director John Hutson there was no story to tell and the speculation was, indeed, just that.

"After 25 years he fancied a break," said John. "The company was doing well, he had the right people capable of running it in place and he wanted to take time out at home.

"Tim is a hugely influential individual and his departure could not escape attention but he still keeps in touch and six months really isn't a very long time. He's back at the end of March."

So has the absence of the big boss prompted ferocious activity among the management team, all eager to prove themselves and make wild and wacky changes in order to impress?

"No," says John. "We didn't set out to make any changes. The management team has all worked together for a long time. It is our job to make any necessary changes and we will do so with or without Tim. We're not striving for any form of recognition - the company is bigger than that."

It won't have escaped anyone's attention, however, that certain changes are creeping in, which go against Wetherspoon's strong founding principles. Tim has always maintained, for instance, that Wetherspoon will not be all singing and dancing and the noticeable absence of any form of music or entertainment, along with the pioneering no-smoking at the bar stance, have helped win-over many a magistrate. One could argue that Tim's empire has grown to 590 built on its low-key, no-nonsense, middle-aged image.

Yet the company's Lloyds No 1 division, which accounts for around 10 per cent of the estate, is big on entertainment boasting state of the art music systems and late-licences.

With average weekly sales of around £40,000 per site, the younger sister to the original Wetherspoon pub accounts for a bigger chunk of the group's sales.

Even Wetherspoon's outlets are bowing to customer pressure with 30 of them trialling TV screens for sports events.

John said: "We need to constantly evolve and tweak our pubs. Ten years ago, pubs with TVs were seen as a certain kind of pub. Technology has moved on and people now feel more comfortable around TV screens. If managers say they want to show football, we will now consider it. Our philosophy is to consult and go with the flow.

"This is, however, a big move for us and any changes are not taken lightly. We will have 100 pubs in the estate showing matches during Euro 2004 but they will definitely not appear everywhere - we are not a Walkabout."

TVs and music in pubs may not be considered as a contentious issue to some but Wetherspoon has made a habit of leading the way on a number of issues which are not always welcomed by its competitors and the wider public.

Tim Martin's controversial stance on the euro resulted in an appearance of BBC1's Question Time not so long ago and Wetherspoon's cut-price promotions continue to come under scrutiny all over the country.

By John's own admission, his managers receive a fair bit of stick from local operators about their pricing policy with many feeling they are being pushed out of the market.

"It's true that our average turnover is 30 to 40 per cent higher than other pubs on the high street. This is characterised by our low prices but this company is not successful as a result of our pricing policy. People have a choice and can afford to eat and drink anywhere nowadays. They wouldn't choose a Wetherspoon if it had dirty toilets, rude staff and dirty tables and it's our core values that lead to success. We are aware of our presence in the pub market but our approach is not to brag about it because ultimately customers will come and judge us on their own experience."

It's true that Wetherspoon does have a huge presence in the industry. It has led the way on many industry initiatives and Tim has never failed to speak his mind on issues close to his heart. But Wetherspoon has steered away from an active lobbying role which could almost been seen as a major snub against the industry.

"Yes, there are more issues that we could get involved in," said John. "I saw Ian Payne from Laurel quoted in your article regarding a trade meeting with Tessa Jowell over smoking and thought we've been doing this for much longer and perhaps should be contributing. It's something we need to talk about. We are doing a lot behind the scenes. We must have set the record for launching Pubwatch groups. Social responsibility and professionalism are high on our list of priorities."

It is ploughing ahead with pub openings at a rate of about 30 a year. Driven by location, sites will open as Wetherspoon's or Lloyds No 1, the brand acquired from Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries in July 2000. In fact, many major towns are now home to both.

"We don't look upon Lloyds as a separate brand," said John. "The Wetherspoon principles run across both - CBSM, which stands for cleanliness, beer, service and maintenance. We've added an "e" to Lloyds for entertainment."

So love 'em or hate 'em, Wetherspoon looks set to stay. And with latest trading figures showing like-for-like sales growth of 4.9 per cent for the 25 weeks to January 18, it's hard to knock it.

"I firmly believe there will always be Wetherspoon pubs," said John. "However, I can never say never and if you don't do the job properly, you can lose it. For the time being though Wetherspoon is totally in tune with what people want and in my opinion that's timeless."