Tim Martin (businessman)

Tim Martin (born April 1955) is the founder and chairman of the British pub chain Wetherspoon.

Biographic details

Timothy Randall Martin was born April 1955 in Northern Ireland. He was educated at eleven different schools in Northern Ireland and New Zealand, including Campbell College. He studied law at the University of Nottingham. His father worked for Guinness and became Malaysian marketing director. His parents divorced in the early 1970s.

He has been married to Felicity since 1975, and they now have four children.

The first J D Wetherspoon pub was opened in 1979 in West London by a young 24-year-old law student called Tim Martin. Wetherspoon was the surname of Tim Martin's lecturer, while he was studying, who allegedly wrote in his report card "Tim will amass to nothing" the J D comes from Jessie Duke from the eighties TV show 'Dukes Of Hazzard' - Tim was a big fan in the early years!

External links

* [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,660754,00.html Observer Profile]
* [http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=300498 Tim Martin CatererSearch 100 Profile] (voted 5th most influential person in UK pub industry in 2005)